The next time you see a wedge of cheese, a plate of spaghetti, or an ice-cold tray of oysters on the half shell, look more closely: it might just be one of the hyper-realistic sculpted cakes created by Baton Rouge’s talented bakers. Local dessert artists are taking what you thought you knew about cake and turning it upside down. Take a look at a few favorites:

This all-American cherry pie is actually a multi-layered turtle-flavored cake. Laura-Kate Amrhein of Sweet Stirrings brought it to life for a customer who actually entered it into a real pie contest. Even the judges were fooled—right up until the minute they sliced in and realized that even the pie plate was an edible confection. sweetstirrings.com

Crawfish season is finally here, so why not dive into this pot full of the spicy mudbugs? Or wait, is that one of the fanciful creations made by cake artist Kyna Rogers, aka The Unbirthday Baker? For this Louisiana-centric gateau, Rogers made a “double-barrel” chocolate cake—that’s two stacked multi-layer cakes—then iced the pot using only buttercream. All the other intricate details—the crawfish, potatoes, pot handles and even Mike the Tiger—are handpainted fondant. theunbirthdaybaker.com

This tower of pancakes would definitely be welcome at our breakfast table—and even more so knowing that it’s actually a mountain of round cakes wrapped in a rope of sweet fondant and topped with a generous drizzle of caramel sauce that stands in for maple syrup. The team at Cake Goddess all worked together to dream up this clever design. facebook.com/cakegoddessllc

The over-the-top edible handiwork of Holly Sigur Broussard of Sweet Elizabeth Cake Designs has been seen by dessert lovers around the world, thanks to her winning appearance on Food Network’s Cake Wars, but for one local couple’s wedding, Broussard took a more restrained but equally remarkable approach, crafting this cake to closely resemble a carton of the groom’s favorite ice cream. sweetelizabethcakes.com