Contestants are given eight hours to complete a task and must adhere to the competition rules; for example, edible art cake competitions often require that a cake reaches a minimum height, exhibits a certain theme, and is able to be moved to a judging table without falling over.

Episodes are shot in front of a live audience, usually at tourist attractions such as the Mall of America or Disney World.

[citation needed] The way in which the results were read also changed for most of, but not all of the shows; where previously only the winner was announced, the newer format's results began with announcing the third- and fourth-place finishers, who were then asked to leave the stage before the victor was revealed.

The finale was the longest in challenge history, giving the last three remaining competitors — Courtney Clark, Mary Maher, and Bronwen Weber — 24 hours to design and create their cake for a set of sextuplets.

In April 2011, Food Network launched a second series of Last Cake Standing, in a separate 'spin-off' format with eight competitors and a $100,000 grand prize.