If you're doing something for fun, cheating just ruins the experience. If you're doing something for the result, or for a trophy, cheating becomes more appealing.
Cooking can be fun. Take a simple recipe and refine it until you are an artisan. I made little pizzas at work. It was fun but I upped my game significantly. I only needed a toaster oven, a rolling pin, store bought dough. But used high quality ingredients.
The fun for me was in the refinement to perfection.
