Can YOU tell what's real and what's cake? Amateur baker fools fans with her VERY realistic creations

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An ex-secretary whose TikTok videos of illusion cakes have gained her 8 million likes and 420,000 followers has challenged her fans to pick which items are real and which are cake.

Marian Sarkisian, 29, from Los Angeles, quit her office job to launch a baking business in 2016 after a birthday cake made for her sister was hailed a triumph.

The 29-year-old honed her cake making skills on a week-long 'basics' course in Britain, where she thinks the best bakers originate and her cakes became more and more elaborate as she got orders for birthdays, christenings and weddings.

But as business began to boom, Covid and the lockdowns halted her progress. 

'Orders stopped coming in as large gatherings stopped. I had a lot of time on my hands and saw the video of a banana that was actually a cake online.' Marian said. 

'I love a challenge and it looked really difficult, so I thought, 'Why not try it?''.'

Scroll down for reveal  

Marian Sarkisian, 29, from Los Angeles, quit her office job to launch a baking business in 2016. One of these bananas is made from cake, but can you tell which one? 

 Which item in this washroom is made out of cake? Marian only had a week of training in the UK on the basics of baking before starting to make her creations

The 29-year-old now enjoys making hyper-real sweet treats that fool her 420k audience on her TikTok account @cakesbymarian with edible versions of everything from candles to sauce bottles. Can you spot the cake in the kitchen? 

The 29-year-old now enjoys making hyper-real sweet treats that fool her 420k audience on her TikTok account @cakesbymarian with edible versions of everything from candles to sauce bottles, pictured left

Marian began to make illusion cakes and post videos online, improving her technique through watching YouTube videos to get tips on colour icing and shaping and using trial and error. 

She realised she had developed a talent for cake art and said: 'I had a few videos go viral and realised this was my niche!'

The 29-year-old now enjoys making hyper-real sweet treats that fool her 420k audience on her TikTok account @cakesbymarian with edible versions of everything from candles to sauce bottles.

Her cakes are so realistic that she posts them alongside the original item or in amongst other genuine things asking her followers to guess which is the cake.

She quipped: 'A lot of my messages from followers say the same thing- 'You got me!'

Talking of how she comes up with bake ideas she said:  'I usually go to the supermarket and browse until I find something that inspires me.

'I look around, see, hold and touch things and think about what I want to recreate.

'Something will catch my eye and I'll think, 'That looks a little funky,' or that it's a hard shape, or challenging and I just go from there.'

Talking of how she comes up with bake ideas she said that she goes to the supermarket and browses until she finds something that inspires her. Pictured is her ham and knife cake 

Marian's specific details for a bake depend on what she is intending to recreate. Pictured are two of the 29-year-old's noodle bowl cakes 

Marian's specific details for a bake depend on what she is intending to recreate but she begins each by making standard round cakes that she stacks on top of each other. 

Afterwards, the 29-year-old, then begins the slow and steady process of carving the shape by hand.

She colours the sponge, dyes fondant icing or models chocolate with edible colour and starts to recreate the look of the original item.  

Marian's specific details for a bake depend on what she is intending to recreate. Pictured are her onion and tuna can cakes 

Marian begins each cake by making standard round ones which she piles up on top of each other. Pictured is her taco cake 

Some of Marian's bakes take her up to 10 hours to perfect but she loves the process of creating her designs. Pictured are her pickle and lemon cakes 

Some of Marian's bakes take her up to 10 hours to perfect but she loves the process of creating her designs.

She said: 'I love finding new ways to make up colours. My recent bottle of ranch dressing had flecks of black on the white bottle.

'I had to crush up Oreos into the fondant and use colour as well. I then used an edible printed label to recreate it.'

One of her favourite creations is a replica onion which is covered with edible paper to look like the skin and even sounds 'crunchy' when cut.   

She admits that her own favourite flavour of cake is 'boring vanilla' but endeavours to make all of her bakes taste as good as they look. Pictured is her breakfast illusion cake 

Marian said that her family would eat the cakes when she started posting videos but now they are sick of being surrounded by it and no longer eat them

Online. Marian's candle cake was a huge hit and she lit it by inserting a small birthday candle into the middle.  

She admits that her own favourite flavour of cake is 'boring vanilla' but endeavours to make all of her bakes taste as good as they look. 

When it is revealed that her creations are cake, the 29-year-old is not sure what to do with the bake.  

She said: 'At first, when I started posting videos, my family would eat them. Now they're so used to being surrounded by cake that they are sick of it.

'I try to give them out to friends and cousins. Otherwise, I just have to toss them.

'That's the hard part, as I may have spent 10 hours on something just for it to end up in the trash.'

Marian has a huge fan base for her videos and is always looking for new things to recreate for videos. Pictured is her hot chocolate illusion cake 

The 29-year-old had been unhappy in an insurance job before starting her cake business. Pictured is Marian's steak cake 

The 29-year-old focuses on social media content and working with brands but enjoys challenging herself by making things for fun

Marian has a huge fan base for her videos and is always looking for new things to recreate for videos.

She had been unhappy in an insurance job before starting her cake business.   

The 29-year-old, who studied nutrition at college, said: 'I was working in a job that definitely wasn't me. I was just there to make money.

'I always watched my mum bake as a child, but the first time I really did it myself was when I offered to make a birthday cake for my sister in 2016.

Marian, pictured left and right, said it was funny finding her high school diary about wanting to be a famous baker as she was not into it at the time 

The 29-year-old, pictured, is feeling grateful for the opportunities that her following has given her and is hoping to inspire others to follow their dreams

'It was a basic, round, naked cake with flowers on. When I look back, I actually don't like it much, but after that people kept asking me to make them cakes.

'So, I decided to quit my job and see where baking could take me.'

The baking star focuses on social media content and working with brands but enjoys challenging herself by baking things for fun.

She is hoping that her next creation will be a bottle of milk, adding that her cake making success is a dream come true.   

Marian said: 'I recently found an old diary I wrote in high school. In it I'd written that I was going to be a famous baker one day.

Marian, pictured with one of her cakes and the real product, wants to inspire others to follow their dreams 

Marian, pictured left and right, says that she has learnt she can do what she loves, go places and not have to settle for less 

'It's funny as I wasn't even really into baking at the time.'

She feeling grateful for the opportunities that her following has given her and is hoping to inspire others to follow their dreams. 

Marian said: 'I just want to encourage people to follow what they enjoy.

'I have been in miserable jobs before. Things that didn't make me happy or challenge me.

'I am so much happier and healthier now I am doing something I really love.

'My biggest take away from all this is that you can actually do something you love, make money, go places and not have to settle for less.'

Did YOU guess the cake correctly? 

Fruity fun! The banana in the centre is made from cake and the other two are real  

 The candle on the shelf is made from cake, but has its own wick and can be lit for a realistic touch 

The bottle of ranch dressing is made from cake but looks incredibly realistic

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