Every Jaw-Dropping Creation from Season 1 of 'Super Mega Cakes'

In a first-of-its-kind cake baking competition, Food Network judge and host Duff Goldman of Charm City Cakes bakery took on six teams of veteran bakers — all at the same time. Seasoned Food Network competitors (from shows like Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking and Halloween Baking Championship) arrived to bake against Duff and his hand-picked team — so, of course, there were some mind-blowing creations. Ahead, see all of the stunning cake creations up close, and learn more about what went into making each of them. Pictured: Duff ice sculpting during Episode 1 of Super Mega Cakes Season 1.

To kick off the first episode of Super Mega Cakes, Duff and his team hit the ground running with a towering figure of Superman. Thanks to a wood brace constructed by Duff’s team member Ralph Attanasia, the superhero appears to be flying with his trusty dog Krypto by his side. Duff used one of his many hidden talents to create the base of the cake (Superman’s Fortress of Solitude). He chiseled away at a block of ice with a chainsaw to get the jagged, 3-D structure. Although Team Duff didn’t ultimately win the challenge, the judges were impressed by the flavors of the brown sugar sour cream and rhubarb jam crumble cake.

Up against Team Duff for the Superman challenge, renowned baker Elizabeth Rowe and her team (Avalon Yarnes and Corinna Maguire) took a different direction for their cake by depicting a scene straight out of a comic book: Clark Kent and Lois Lane are working at the Daily Planet when a Kaiju attacks the building. Clark can be seen morphing into Superman, while Lois tries to put out the flames erupting from the Kaiju. The challenge required each team to have a special effect, so Elizabeth and her team rigged the Kaiju to breathe fire and Clark’s eyes to laser the newspaper on the wall in half. The impressive scale of the coffee liqueur and its special effects — as well as its coffee syrup and peanut butter mousse flavors — won them the challenge.

When Duff heard that one of the challenges was to create a cake that looks like hyperrealistic food, he had one meal on the brain: a Baltimore crab boil. He put hyperrealistic pro Liz Marek to the task to craft a suspended bucket pouring crab, corn and potatoes (all seasoned with “Old Duff”) onto a picnic table covered with newspaper, hush puppies, a pitcher of tea and a tray of oysters. For the tasting cake, Duff baked a traditional Maryland Smith Island Cake made with chocolate frosting sandwiched between 10 layers of yellow cake. Though the flavor didn’t wow the judges, Team Duff managed to pull out a win thanks to the realistic coloring of the crab boil and an impressive array of moving parts.

Cake baker Ashley Holt and her team (Joshua John Russell and Monica Stout) took inspiration from campfire cooking for their creation. Their campsite consists of mossy tree stumps and funky fungi, a retro orange charcoal grill and an array of camping food (ranging from a pot of baked beans to fresh-caught fish and a stack of grilled blueberry pancakes). For extra flair, they rigged a pot of coffee to look like it’s floating in midair and carefully teetered pots and pans on top of each other. Though judge Jacques Torres enjoyed Team Ashley's baked bean cake with maple bourbon buttercream and molasses caramel, they were one point shy of beating Team Duff.

In Episode 3, teams were challenged to craft a cake based on a real-life structure or something they imagined. They had to build a structure impressive from the outside and include eye-catching details on the inside. For their creation, Team Duff was inspired by 18th-century opera houses. Led by bakers Grace Pak and Katie Rose, Team Duff impressed the judges with a miniature yet lifelike opera house complete with a marble brick façade, a copper domed roof and a fully decked out theater with seats and a stage inside. Unfortunately, the details and the flavor of their opera house — a traditional French cake made with layers of almond sponge cake soaked in coffee syrup — didn’t measure up to their competition.

Unlike Team Duff, Timbo Sullivan and his crew (Sarah Ono Jones and Sarah Myers) took a more imaginative route for their cake. Pulling inspiration from marine life, Poseidon’s temple and Atlantis, Sullivan crafted an underwater castle on top of a lifelike sea turtle’s back. Realistic-looking coral, a “glass” sugar dome and a sugar stained-glass window give the cake an iridescent glow. The inside features a detailed hall with intricate columns and a carved sculpture of Poseidon's face. Team Timbo's imagination, plus the flavor of the brown butter pecan sponge cake, paid off when the judges revealed his team beat Team Duff by a whopping nine points. Their awe-inspiring creation further impressed the panel of 50 cake tasters in the final round of the competition, who crowned Team Timbo the champion of Super Mega Cakes.

For possibly the most epic face-off of Super Mega Cakes, Team Duff decided to craft a scene of fight and fury. He tapped Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking alum Hemu Basu and Halloween Baking Championship competitor Joel Gonzalez to design a cake that defies gravity, one of the requirements for the challenge. The cake depicts a shark launching out of the ocean to attack an octopus, which is simultaneously trying to eat a jellyfish. Duff whipped up a Boston cream pie cake as an ode to the location of the movie Jaws. While the judges loved the dynamic movement between all of the creatures, Team Duff fell eight points short of their competitor.

Team Duff’s Ocean Predators cake had some similarities to their competition, but Henderson Gonzalez and his team (Timmy Norman and Jujhar Mann) set themselves apart by focusing on creatures living in some of the deepest parts of the ocean. Their cake features a floating goblin shark battling it out with a giant squid amid a network of intricate coral. An angler fish, jellyfish and king crab are also floating around the underwater display. As an extra effect, Team Henderson built a mechanism that makes the shark’s jaws open and close. The team’s attention to detail and on-theme seaweed cake with chili raspberry compote wowed the judges and resulted in victory.

For the Classic Cartoons challenge, both teams' cakes had to include a gravity-defying effect worthy of a great cartoon scene. Duff was immediately inspired by his favorite episode of Looney Tunes: when Bugs Bunny travels to Spain. On his road trip, Bugs runs into Toro the bull. Team Duff, led by veteran Food Network baking competitor Jose Barajas, built a larger-than-life bull made almost completely of cake. The scene features Bugs floating in midair after getting kicked by Toro. For the special effects, Toro’s eyes glow red and his nostrils emit smoke. The massive size of Toro and the Spanish pastel de naranja cake with candied orange flavor won them the challenge.

As a wedding cake specialist, Lincoln Alexander and his team (Natasha "Lucky" Anderson and Kimberly Adams) had to rethink their way of approaching cakes for the Classic Cartoon challenge. They were inspired by Alexander’s favorite Saturday morning cartoon, Tom and Jerry. Just like in the show, Team Lincoln wanted to evoke a sense of chaos with their cake. They fashioned their creation to look like an old television. On screen, Jerry is seen stealing Tom’s tower of sandwiches while Tom is caught in a ceiling fan. A rogue baseball bat appears to have busted through the screen, and the cartoon characters can be seen taking advantage of the opportunity to explore the real world. Team Lincoln included an additional special effect by making the television smoke, and the judges loved their strawberry cheesecake with graham cracker chocolate crumb. However, Team Duff took the win.

When faced with the challenge to create an alien invasion-themed cake tricked out with special effects and elaborate lighting, both teams took a retro route — with their own flair. Team Duff, led by baker Melissa Alt and Duff’s right-hand man Geof Manthorne, constructed an alien road trip scene in which two extraterrestrial buds are flying around in a beat-up, hand-me-down UFO plastered with bumper stickers collected along their journey. Duff baked a chocolate cake with coffee whipped cream, caramel and peanut butter candy as a nod to a road trip candy bar. For the cake's special effect, the cow they come across on Earth is abducted and lifted into the UFO, where it becomes a “party cow” and joins the alien friends’ journey. For the lighting, Duff and his team attached colorful bulbs around the UFO that blink and glow. Although Team Duff impressed the judges by suspending the 500-pound cake, they fell six points short in the competition.