LEWISVILLE, Texas — Aside from the sweet treats, the most authentic thing at The London Baker in Lewisville is the London Baker herself.
“A little bit rock ‘n roll, a little bit Mary Poppins,” said bakery owner Elizabeth Rowe.
No one would ever call Rowe fake.
“I do not have a poker face,” Rowe said. “What you see is what you get.”
Despite that, Rowe has gotten pretty good at fooling people. Her realistic looking cakes are often mistaken for the thing they represent.
“They’re like, ‘This is actually a cake,’ and people are like, ‘Whaaaat??’” Rowe said, referring to the way her customers often react to her cakes.
It’s similar to the reaction she had after getting an email inviting her to compete on season two of the show, ‘Is it Cake’ on Netflix. The show features cake artists who try to fool judges by making the most realistic cakes they can.
Unfortunately, the competition was no cake walk. Rowe says her first cake, a yoga mat and blocks, was a smashing disaster.
“I thought that they were gonna send me home after the first one,” she said. “And I was convinced that I was never gonna get to show people that I could do some pretty good work.”
However, she survived and not only showed she can do good work but proved nobody can do it better.
Rowe, who earned the nickname "Stitch Queen" for her expertise in creating realistic edible stitches, was crowned the winner. She walked away with $90,000 and a whole bunch of confidence.
Since the show was released on Netflix, Rowe says requests for realistic cakes have been pouring in to The London Baker.
She says although the show has certainly made her cakes more popular, it hasn’t changed her one bit.
“Are you kidding?” Rowe said. “I’m the same person I was before. I’m still here 12 hours a day. Still making cakes. Still delivering cakes. Still working hard.”
And still definitely not fake.
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