The Cake Is a Lie is one of the most iconic phrases in gaming history, originating from Valve's 2007 masterpiece, Portal. Throughout the game, the rogue AI GLaDOS promises the player character, Chell, a delicious cake as a reward for completing grueling tests. However, hidden messages scrawled on the walls by a previous test subject named Doug Rattmann warn that 'the cake is a lie,' revealing the sinister nature of the facility. The phrase quickly transcended the gaming community, becoming a universal metaphor for a promised reward used to lure someone into a trap or a situation that isn't as it seems. Today, it remains a staple of internet culture, used to describe false promises in everything from software updates to real-life disappointments.