Katy resident on Netflix’s ‘Is It Cake?’ has been flooded with orders since show dropped - Chron

Before Hemlata Basumatary appeared on Netflix’s “Is It Cake?” baking game show, the Katy resident—known simply as Hemu on the series—received one, maybe two order requests per day for her Hemu’s Sweet Sensation bakery.

Since the season dropped on the streaming service last week, however, her inbox has ballooned to roughly a dozen inquiries a day.

“I never thought that something like this would happen,” Basumatary said. The baker of more than a decade had appeared on Food Network's "Halloween Wars" back in 2020, but the viewership Netflix offers is much broader, she added.

“Is It Cake?” is a reality TV series that seeks to capture the very brief, early pandemic phase where realistic cakes were all over our social media feeds. A seemingly real object would appear in a post, only to be cut open by a large knife and reveal a layered cake interior.

The Netflix show is hosted by a somewhat unhinged Mikey Day, a comedian currently on the cast of “Saturday Night Live,” and presents baker-contestants with the challenge of creating cakes realistic enough to fool a panel of judges.

Comedian Mikey Day was an over-the-top host on Netflix's "Is It Cake?"
Courtesy of Netflix

Basumatary, 40, wowed viewers with her skillful elephant and bust statue cakes. She made it to the finale, but Andrew Fuller of Iowa ultimately won the “Is It Cake?” title.

“I’m proud of what I did on the show, though I didn’t win,” said Basumatary, who is now overwhelmed with messages of love and support from new fans and, of course, far more cake requests than she can handle.

Many people have asked Basumatary if she can ship her frosted works of art across the country. The answer is no—her intricate cakes don’t exactly travel well. But viewers in Houston are in luck, as Hemu’s Sweet Sensation is based out of her own home in Katy.

Basumatary, who’s originally from northern India, was living in Scotland in November 2012 when her son asked her for a firetruck cake for his birthday. She had baked simple cakes and cupcakes since she was a teenager, but she wasn’t sure how she could possibly do this.

Her son insisted that he absolutely needed this firetruck cake. So, she obliged.

The cake turned out great. Friends of hers started putting in orders for their own family events, and her talents spread through word of mouth, eventually blossoming into a custom cake business.

Hemu Basumatary's award-winning, 5-foot-tall cake sculpture of Durga The Shakti, a powerful goddess of Hindu mythology who protects women from violence against various forces of evil, including men.
Hemu Basumatary

In 2015, the family moved to Houston after Basumatary’s husband, who works in oil and gas, transferred here. Settling into the suburb of Katy, she was concerned at first about finding clients, but once she wrote a business plan the next year and began posting her creations on social media, her bakery took off once again in its new home.

Years later, a production company messaged her on Instagram, inviting her to apply to a baking show—she did not know it would be for Netflix at the time. The whole process took 6 months, she says, entailing back-and-forth interviews and auditions.

Finally, “Is It Cake?” saw the light of day this month. It’s been in the Top 10 most-watched on Netflix since it was released.

Basumatary won’t be able to accommodate all the cake requests she’s received since the show aired. She’s a one-woman show, but she doesn’t want to hire anyone as she’s concerned about quality control. “I’m a perfectionist,” she admitted.

She wants to be selective about her clients moving forward, favoring those who respect her “edible art,” as she calls it, and the painstaking work that’s involved in it. But once she’s in, she can deliver magic.

“I can do anything,” Basumatary said. “You dream it and I will convert it into a cake.”

Hemu's Sweet Sensation is based in Hemu Basumatary's home in Katy, but may have a brick and mortar location by the end of this year.
Colt melrose photography

Even though she didn’t win “Is It Cake?” Basumatary took home a $10,000 prize for appearing in the finale. She said she may use it to buy bigger and better equipment; she’s currently using a 10-quart mixer.

Perhaps, Basumatary teased, she will save the money to open her own bakery, moving her operations out of her home in Katy and investing in a brick and mortar somewhere in Houston. She hopes to have more details to share soon.

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