Is It Cake? Valentines Contestants: The 3 Couples + Their Cake Styles (Guide)

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Netflix’s Is It Cake? Valentines puts a romance twist on the original “is it cake?” illusion format: instead of solo bakers, three real-life couples team up to build ultra-realistic cakes, play all-new games, and try to fool celebrity judges (and each other).

This guide is spoiler-light and focused on what most people actually Google: who the Valentine’s contestants are and the cake styles each couple brings into the kitchen (think: 3-D sculpting, trompe l’oeil realism, airbrush finishing, and structural “engineering”).

Meet the 3 baking couples (and what makes their cakes look “not cake”)

Release date: • Host: Mikey Day • Celebrity judge couples: Ashlee Simpson & Evan Ross, plus Casey Wilson & David Caspe.

If you want the trailer, the player below pulls up the most relevant YouTube results for the official Netflix trailer by search (useful if your platform blocks direct embeds).

Official trailer (YouTube)

At-a-glance: contestants + cake styles

Couple Where they’re based Business / brand Their “cake style” in one line
Kimberly & Taurus Adams Milwaukee area (Wisconsin) Signature Sweets 3-D shaped cakes + trompe l’oeil realism (sculpting-heavy)
Jason Hisley & Tyler Alexander Stiff Timonium area (Maryland) CakeByJason Big “showpiece” designs + sculpted celebration cakes from a competition veteran
Alex & Amanda Rivera New Jersey A Couple of Layers (formerly Drizzle by Snacks) Clean, modern builds: structure + flavor (Alex) + airbrush/painting/molding (Amanda)

Kimberly & Taurus Adams: the 3-D sculpting + trompe l’oeil couple (Signature Sweets)

Kimberly and Taurus Adams are one of the three real-life couples competing on Is It Cake? Valentines. Kimberly is the cake pro in the duo, and Taurus supports her in the kitchen (including piping and deliveries, per their show intro coverage).

Kimberly runs Signature Sweets, a bakery brand that explicitly emphasizes 3-D shaped cakes. That’s a perfect fit for Is It Cake?, where the “win condition” is usually about silhouette accuracy, believable textures, and convincing surface finish.

Her cake style: “trompe l’oeil first, flavors second, then a ton of finishing detail”

  • Core strength: sculpting in 3-D (Kimberly has described sculpting as a key part of her artistic edge).
  • Signature vibe: object-illusion cakes (“surprise cakes” / trompe l’oeil) that play with realism.
  • Common materials: fondant as a base and modeling chocolate when she wants better taste/finish; then edible paints and layered color work for realism.

Why this matters on a Valentine’s special: romantic-themed challenges often include glossy props (gift wrap, satin bows, jewelry, keepsakes). Kimberly’s trompe l’oeil approach is built for “convincing surfaces” where a cake’s usual softness would give it away.

“Tell-tale realism” tricks to watch for

  • Micro-imperfections (tiny scuffs, uneven shine, realistic seams)
  • Color layering (not one flat tone)
  • Texture changes (matte vs. gloss in the same object)
  • Hard-edge geometry where cakes usually round off

Jason Hisley & Tyler Alexander Stiff: the showpiece builder + the calm support (CakeByJason)

Jason Hisley and Tyler Alexander Stiff are another of the three competing couples. Coverage around the special notes that Tyler comes from a military background, while Jason has years of baking experience and competition TV history.

Jason is the owner of CakeByJason, a brand known for celebration desserts and custom work. Even his official site positioning leans into “award-winning” credibility and a broad custom menu—exactly what you’d expect from someone comfortable building high-pressure, high-output cake designs.

Their cake style: bold, theatrical “competition energy” (big silhouettes, big details)

  • Competition mindset: Jason has a long track record in TV food competitions (including winning a Cake Wars episode, plus other Food Network appearances).
  • Build approach: large-scale celebration storytelling (the kind of designs that read instantly from across the room).
  • What couples teamwork adds: Tyler can act as the “second set of hands” that makes repetitive finishing work (smoothing, paneling, polishing textures) more consistent under a clock.

A fun detail tied directly to this Valentine’s special: reporting on the couples notes that Jason and Tyler’s honeymoon in Greece inspired a statue cake concept. That clue points to a style that values realistic material finishes (stone, marble, patina) and strong sculptural form.

What can give a “showpiece” illusion away

  • Scale mismatch (cake slightly larger/smaller than the decoys)
  • Over-clean edges (real objects have wear patterns)
  • Uniform texture (real materials vary when light hits them)

Alex & Amanda Rivera: the structure-and-finish duo (A Couple of Layers)

Alex and Amanda Rivera are the third competing pair. Their public interviews around their cake business show a clear division of strengths: Alex focuses on recipe development, internal structure, and “will this hold up?” engineering, while Amanda focuses heavily on design, look, airbrushing, and increasing use of painting/molding.

Their cake style: “taste + clean design + modern finishing”

  • Alex: structure, stability, recipe development (so the illusion doesn’t collapse or bulge).
  • Amanda: design execution—airbrushing, painting, and molding to push realism.
  • Shared edge: strong creative collaboration habits (brainstorming, iterating, personalizing designs beyond “just add a name”).

In coverage of their Valentine’s appearance, they’ve been linked to a romantic “proposal memory” build featuring a velvet pillow and a magic lamp motif—an example of how their style can lean into crisp props and rich textures (velvet, metallic shine) that read as “real object” from a distance.

Their biggest “Is It Cake?” advantage is balance: realism isn’t just surface-level paint; it’s also proportion discipline, internal support, and the ability to keep the silhouette believable while stacking cake layers and coatings underneath.

What Reddit Theories Say About this: why “fairness” and “camera time” change how you judge the cakes

A lot of Is It Cake? fandom discussion (especially on Reddit) isn’t just “which cake was best,” but how the rules, editing, and judging pressure affect outcomes. People frequently debate whether judges are truly fooled, whether contestants can “game” decoys, and whether the camera holds on the cakes long enough for viewers at home to play along.

LET ME SEE CAKE.
by u/ in r/isitcakenetflix
Is It Cake?
by u/ in r/netflix
Update: all the hyper-realistic cakes my bf has made for my birthday
by u/ in r/cake

Reddit takes you’ll see again and again (and how to watch smarter)

  • “It’s obvious… until it isn’t.” From far away, silhouette and color dominate; up close, seams, shine, and micro-textures become the giveaway.
  • Decoy strategy matters. The best cakes are designed with the decoys in mind, not in isolation.
  • Editing can change your confidence. If the show cuts quickly, pause and compare edges, reflections, and symmetry.

Social check: what people are sharing right now

The Is It Cake? franchise tends to live on social because the visual “reveal” format is perfect for clips and screenshots—especially when the special format adds couple dynamics and new games aimed at viewers at home.

FAQ: Is It Cake? Valentines

When did Is It Cake? Valentines come out?

Netflix released Is It Cake? Valentines on .

How many couples compete in Is It Cake? Valentines?

Three real-life baking couples compete in the Valentine’s special.

Who are the Is It Cake? Valentines judges?

The celebrity judges are couples Ashlee Simpson & Evan Ross, and Casey Wilson & David Caspe (with Mikey Day hosting).

What’s different about the Valentine’s special versus the regular seasons?

Netflix’s synopsis highlights all-new games for the special and mentions viewer-focused games (a franchise first), with couples competing together rather than solo bakers.

Sources