Don’t know what to get your significant other for their birthday? How about a sports car? Cake that is. In case you haven’t noticed, in the last few years, bakers have been churning out the most mind-blowing cakes that look so much like the actual items they portray, it’s hard to know the difference. So popular are these “hyper-realistic” cakes, as they’re called, baking shows have been created to spotlight them and their talented designers – many of those being home bakers like Carencro native Nina Charles, owner of Nina Bakes Cakes. 

In March of 2022, Charles appeared in eight episodes of the newest hyper-realistic cake show, Netflix’s “Is It Cake?” vying for the $50,000 grand prize. The show asks judges to look at a group of like objects and try to distinguish a decorated cake from the real deal. But making people wonder, if only for a moment, whether her cakes are the real objects is something Charles has been mastering for years now.

While she was always artistic (painting cartoon characters on her nails, backpack and shoes in middle school) she admits that she wasn’t a baker until her later years. A love of shoes initially led to a career choice in fashion design and a degree from the Art Institute of Dallas. She once owned an online store, selling a line of showstopper shoes known for heels depicting scenes such as Tweety bird on a swing, or the Pokémon-heeled boots she wore for this story.

Charles clearly has the personality for whimsical baking. She embarked on her career designing cakes after making one for her godson’s second birthday, shaped and decorated like Snoopy sleeping on the top of his doghouse. “After I posted it online, people started asking where they could order a cake, and I said to myself, ‘I guess I’m a baker now,’” Charles says with her contagious laugh. The self-taught baker and decorator opened Nina Bakes Cakes and has been tricking the eye since creating her nearly unbelievable watermelon cake in 2016.

After 15 years in Dallas, she returned to Carencro for what she thought would be just a break from the city. But at the end of one day spent in a quarantine-induced baking spree in 2020, she posted a photo of her lemon-blueberry cheesecake cake; the response was just as strong as it had been for her first cake years earlier, and Nina Bakes Cakes was opened for business in Acadiana.

On any given day you might walk into her home kitchen, where she works, and see a beautiful, healthy-looking salad in a white bowl on the counter, only to discover that it’s cake. Actually it’s a chocolate cake she made in response to those who said they don’t like fondant. “The lettuce and fixings are all hand painted – except for the croutons, which are made of vanilla cake,” she notes.

Charles is detail oriented, and it’s that level of detail that sets her apart from many. Her cake in the image of a bowl of gumbo might be the best example. It’s more delicious-looking than many real gumbos, from the shape and peachy color of the shrimp and the placement of the rice to the delectable pieces of sausage, the crab claw that makes you want to reach and crack it open,  and the spot-on color of the roux.

To make the sugary replicas, Charles relies on essentials like her supply of Wilton’s coloring, a buttercream smoother, her favorite rolling pin and a host of sugar shapers. For those wondering how the cakes taste under all the icing, she answers by pointing out, “Taste is actually part of the competition on ‘Is It Cake?’ In fact, it can be the tie breaker.” Top-selling cakes from Nina Bakes Cakes include butter pecan, the lemon blueberry cheesecake cake and her strawberry shortcake, a staple at her other business, the Nina Creole food truck. 

The 41-year-old balances her fun, mischievous artwork with the elegance of her wedding cakes. She kicked off the 2022 wedding season with an exquisite three-tiered cake, the front of which revealed part of the bride’s favorite painting Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss,” and accented it with gold leafing. Charles says she’s seeing a trend of larger six and seven-tiered wedding cakes and the use of gold leaf.

Charles is currently limiting her orders to wedding and large celebration cakes, for the time being, in efforts to give equal time to her food truck business. Although, she has stayed in touch with some of her fellow contestants from the show and collaborates on ideas. Charles is also increasing her social media presence, posting tutorial videos that offer step-by-step lessons on designing, choosing colors and sculpting cakes. 

Describing herself as “just a girl who wants to have a little fun with cakes and all things sweet,” Charles says she’s amazed where her journey has taken her. “I never thought about baking or cooking – things just happened,” she says with wonder. “I want my cakes to continue to please, wow and fool others.” And with so many cool things around her to duplicate, the world is her inspiration.