Sometimes you want your cake and to eat it, too. From angel food to the pound category, we all revel in the sweet delights from time to time. But I think its safe to say that the majority of us gamers would rather be holding a controller
instead of a mixing bowl. I mean, c'mon, that stuff is for grandma, right? Well not anymore. Move over Betty Crocker -
there's a new baker in town, and she ain't playin' around when it comes to whipping up a dark chocolate chiffon. Enter the world of Cake Mania, the story of fresh culinary school graduate Jill. Upon her arrival home to the grandparents' family bakery she discovers a nasty truth (drum roll, please): Mega Mart is monopolizing the town's dessert business, and it's up to Jill to save the cakes! You better button your aprons for this one.

Cake Mania presents you with an isometric view of Jill in the sweets shop. There's a basic point and click mechanic, giving you the control of an oven that mixes cakes itself and an icing gadget that sprays on color. When I say control I mean that in the lightest way, as you're limited to clicking the tools once and then literally waiting on them to finish the job. In the first stages of the game Jill will have moments of just standing around, but after a few days of pleasing customers with your delectable treats there will be no time to lick the icing off the spoons. They'll start to line up at the counter to get your desserts, and this is when the fast clicking begins. The only real challenge is to not forget what order your guests requested their cakes in, or to not accidentally ice a cake with the wrong color. And believe you me - you don't want to put your purple in place of your chocolate, as each person's satisfaction is represented by a set of hearts that will disappear if you can't keep them happy. Mess up cakes and you mess up the family business, and we don't want to let Mega Mart take over the treat industry.

If you can last a whole day in the grind of customer service you'll have met your daily baker's goal. You can then choose to upgrade your kitchen with a variety of items that attract more business, like a cupcake maker, a display tray, and a superior cake oven, among others. You'll need to save your hard earned cash to purchase these fairly necessary products. As each month goes by you will be visited by holiday themed guests such as Cupid or the Easter bunny, and they'll often ask for cakes that need special decoration. Other than that and the rare old lady it seems as if the town is populated by clones of the same caucasian average Joe, or your regular customers are a set of identical quadruplets. The developers must've been busy eating too much cake themselves when it came time to add a little variety to the characters.

Aside from the lack of an assorted population, the game holds up okay in the visuals department. The graphics aren't going to take advantage of your Radeon X1900 or much of anything else, but the cartoon style design compliments the gameplay. Unfortunately for cake fans, however, both are just about on the same level of repetitiveness. Cake Mania brings a fun idea to the table in the form of running a bakery, but I really don't feel like it is as nearly involving as it could've been. Clicking a customer, clicking their requested cake's shape, and choosing their selected icing becomes tedious after a while, even with the addition of upgraded equipment and a house full of customers. Watching Jill walk from the oven to the icing table isn't very rewarding, and leaves little to be desired about playing after the first few in-game days. I wanted to create new treats, be surprised by unique visitors, and see a variety in customer taste, but I was left with an incessant chain of dull events instead.

So is this title a gourmet chocolate genoise or a dry cupcake? More like your great grandma's tapioca pudding. Cake Mania could be fun for children, but even they'll tire of its click happy baking after a short while. And at a download price of $19.99, this dessert just isn't tasty enough to warrant a sweet tooth gamer's purchase, so sorry, Jill - looks like Mega Mart is gonna win this time.

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