Black Cake is an American drama television series. It is based on Charmaine Wilkerson's novel of the same name, and premiered on Hulu in 2023. It stars Chipo Chung, Mia Isaac, Adrienne Warren, Ashley Thomas and Glynn Turman. The show was produced by Harpo Productions, with Oprah Winfrey as one of the main executive producers. It received generally positive reviews from critics.
Black Cake was canceled after one season.
Premise Two siblings learn about their late mother's dark past after she leaves her recordings to them.
Cast Main Chipo Chung as Eleanor Bennett Mia Isaac as Coventina "Covey" Lyncook Adrienne Warren as Benny Bennett Ashley Thomas as Byron Bennett Lashay Anderson as Bunny Pringle Faith Alabi as Pearl Thomas Glynn Turman as Charles Mitch Ahmed Elhaj as Gibbs Grant
Recurring Jade Eshete as Mathilda Jeremiah Birkett as Bert Bennett Rupert Evans as Everett Lorenzo Bulgin as Percival Henry Anthony Mark Barrow as Clarence "Little Man" Henry Simon Wan as Lin Karise Yansen as Eleanor "Elly" Douglas Elliot Cowan as Steve Sonita Henry as Mabel Mathilda Martin
Episodes
Release The trailer of Black Cake was released on October 2, 2023. The television series premiered on Hulu in the United States, Disney+ under the Star banner internationally and Star+ In Latin America. on November 1, 2023.
Reception
Critical response On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 15 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.80/10. The website's consensus reads: "Cleverly plotted and viscerally well-acted, Black Cake is an engrossing drama that can have its surprising twists and eat them, too." On Metacritic, the series has a score of 68 out of 100, based on 9 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Ronda Racha Penrice of TheWrap described Black Cake as groundbreaking and entertaining, praised the performances of the cast, and said, "It cracks open the door for never-ending narrative possibilities for truly diverse and dynamic stories." Judy Berman of Time stated Black Cake is one of the few examples of a show in which the "floridly emotional tone serves the story," praised the performances of the actors, and complimented how the television series approaches the concept of family secrets.
Accolades Black Cake was one of 200 television series that received the ReFrame Stamp for the years 2023 to 2024. The stamp is awarded by the gender equity coalition ReFrame and industry database IMDbPro for film and television projects that are proven to have gender-balanced hiring, with stamps being awarded to projects that hire female-identifying people, especially women of color, in four out of eight key roles for their production. +YearAwardCategoryNominee(s)ResultRef.2024Black Reel AwardsOutstanding Drama SeriesBlack Cake Outstanding Directing in a Drama SeriesGLAAD Media AwardsOutstanding Limited or Anthology Series Humanitas PrizeDrama TeleplayMarissa Jo Cerar NAACP Image AwardsOutstanding Drama SeriesBlack Cake Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic SeriesMarissa Jo Cerar
References
External links Black Cake at Hulu