At Dee's cupcakes, owner Diana Hicks takes a cue from the 1950s with her retro-inspired cupcakes. Las Vegas locals love the I Love Lucy cupcake, made with a Southern buttermilk recipe. In Vegas for a wedding? Try The Honeymooner, which is topped with a romantic, yet nutty, peanut butter frosting.

The Pastryarch is the alter ego of northern New Jersey illustrator-turned-baker Tony Albanese. His custom-created confections, ranging in size from pops to multilayer cakes, have caught the eye of celebrities like Britney Spears, who celebrated an album launch with Tony's custom creations.

Like a phoenix rising, Pick Your Poison grew out of a night of drunken baking failure. Not to be daunted (or skimp on the hooch), Poison is flying high with an online cupcake business stocked with frosted confections like the Shirley Temple (virgin) and the Drunken Pineapple (not so virgin).

Step into Swiss Chalet Bakery and you'll not only see cupcakes but also croissants, cannoli, cookies and wildly decorative cakes. Cupcake Wars veteran and co-owner Angelo Sciortino recently expanded the bakery, so when ordering a tasty red velvet cupcake, you can have grilled panini, too.

For those in Nyack, N.Y., Tasty Trends Cakes & Catering has your dessert needs covered. They'll work with you to create the perfect flavor and design for your next catered occasion. Get in touch online to choose from a wide variety of cakes and cupcakes, including the "Moist and Loaded" carrot cake.

On this episode of Food Network's "Cupcake Wars," the owner of Glass of Milk Cake Company competes to win $10,000 and have their cupcakes featured at a VIP party for the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival Parade in Chicago.

White Mountain Cupcakery's cupcakes are "tall as the mountains" and made with ingredients fresh from the farm. And although Cupcake Wars judges gave owner Kathy Iannuzzi's honey almond orange cupcake rave reviews, calling it right on target, winning Cupcake Wars was the ultimate icing on the cake.

Cupcake Pilots, a home-based bakery, says they're in the business of "making your taste buds take flight." On Cupcake Wars, judges had liftoff with a cranberry cupcake with orange buttercream frosting. For another light-as-air winner, try their banana cream pie cupcake with a vanilla bean pudding.

The Cricket Challenge on Cupcake Wars did not faze Jess Bartlett of Cake That! Her cupcakes come in two varieties: gourmet and spirited. Gourmet includes regulars like French Toast and Banana Split; spirited uses alcohol, so you can "drink" in celebration with Chocolate Guinness cupcakes!

With the name "i am cupcakes," owner Iyona McFarlane and niece Amirh McFarlane embody everything there is to cupcakes. But their cupcake pies, with a crunchy crust baked on the bottom, are even sweeter. Try for yourself with the Apple Crisp, a spiced apple cake atop a cinnamon-sugar cookie crust.

Bubble & Shake Cupcakes specialize in classic flavors like Carrot Cake and Red Velvet and not-so-classic like Chocolate with Reese Peanut Butter Cup and Sticky-Date, a pudding-style cupcake with caramel icing. For the Cupcake Wars Elvis episode, judges raved about their one-of-a-kind decorations.

The ovens of Indulgence Cupcakery bake up roughly 30 varieties of single-portion bliss daily from a recipe cache of over 75 flavors. Meticulous trial-and-error testing by owner Theresa Hrivnak guarantees that every bite of your chocolate pretzel, caramel dream or rocky road is crafted to perfection.

This Dumont, N.J., dessert shop specializes in cupcakes and cheesecake—and cheesecake cupcakes. Savor Sweet Indulgence's signature Caramel Cheesecake. Dive into Cinnamon Bun, Cappuccino Cheesecake, S’mores and Dreamsicle cupcakes, or place a custom order fit for any occasion.

At Mr. Cupcakes in Clifton, N.J., Cupcake Wars competitor Johnny Manganiotis takes pride in the fact that none of his cupcakes have fillings — all of the ingredients are baked right into the batter. Choose from over 40 inventive cupcake flavors, including Raspberry Cheesecake and French Toast.

The flavors at Sugar Mommy Cupcakes run the gamut — from the elegant Lemon Chiffon to the ooey-gooey Chocolate Covered Pretzel. The signature Sugar Mommy Cupcake comes with a marshmallow cream center, a much sweeter option than the shrimp flavor dealt to them on Cupcake Wars.