Feast Your Eyes on Sugar Showdown Season 2's First-Round Treats

The competition is sweet on Sugar Showdown. Check out some of the unique desserts from the first round of competition on Season 2.

Related To:

Secret Ingredient: Basil

Contestant Joe Pepe combined peach, basil and crunchy pistachios for his doughnut.

Secret Ingredient: Basil

Jessie Cramer kept things simple with a blackberry-basil doughnut for the first round.

Secret Ingredient: Basil

Max Santiago piped in torched Italian meringue to add extra flair to his strawberry-basil treats.

Secret Ingredient: Chinese Five-Spice Powder

Marielle Dupre spiked her pecan pie with bourbon and a trio of spices: ginger cookies, five-spice powder and vanilla bean.

Secret Ingredient: Chinese Five-Spice Powder

Contestant Manon Houle dipped poached pears in chocolate to top a chocolatey caramelized nut pie.

Secret Ingredient: Chinese Five-Spice Powder

Jimmy Ferguson's apple pie isn't like your mom's — it has pineapple and five-spice powder inside and a caramel drizzle on top.

Secret Ingredient: Pink Peppercorns

Ryan Wilson balanced spicy peppercorns with sweet vanilla buttercream frosting, chocolate cake and a little white chocolate bark.

Secret Ingredient: Pink Peppercorns

Penelope Rose stayed true to her name by using rose water in her cupcakes.

Secret Ingredient: Pink Peppercorns

Elan Behar wasn't afraid to add a punch of spicy flavor to the top of his cupcakes — the buttermilk cakes are sprinkled with extra crushed peppercorns.

Secret Ingredient: Cranberry

David Buehrer used the Mexican drinks known as aguas frescas as inspiration for his cranberry doughnut's base, and then drizzled it with melted white chocolate.

Secret Ingredient: Cranberry

Kara Zummer added extra texture to her cranberry-orange doughnuts with chopped pistachios and shaved white chocolate.

Secret Ingredient: Cranberry

Sweet and savory intermingle in Kristianna Zabala's cranberry goat cheese crullers with walnut garnish.

Secret Ingredient: Maple Syrup

Kaysie Lackey doubled the vegetables in her maple pecan carrot-zucchini cake, and then filled and frosted it with cream cheese icing.

Secret Ingredient: Maple Syrup

Contestant Makeba Matthews' butter cake has maple syrup inside and out — including a drizzle of it over cream cheese frosting and walnuts.

Secret Ingredient: Maple Syrup

Damion Nurse iced his maple carrot cake with cinnamon vanilla buttercream and garnished with both nuts and carrots.

Secret Ingredient: Marshmallow

Adalberto Diaz transformed marshmallows into a sticky fruit gelee atop his tropical chocolate pie with dulce de leche whipped cream.

Secret Ingredient: Marshmallow

Contestant Jamie Landers made a grown-up version of a kid-favorite treat: chocolate, peanut butter and marshmallow pie topped with espresso whipped cream.

Secret Ingredient: Marshmallow

Heather Daymond elevated a classic pumpkin pie by garnishing the top with a duo of marshmallows: marshmallow creme and mini marshmallows.

Secret Ingredient: Lemonade

Mignon Francois used the secret ingredient four times: lemonade pound cake, a lemon curd filling and a lemonade frosting topped with lemon slices.

Secret Ingredient: Lemonade

There's a surprise waiting inside Rachel Barbaro's lemon-ricotta cupcakes: raspberry filling. She tied the dessert together with a raspberry lemonade frosting.

Secret Ingredient: Lemonade

Lucy Martin accented her lemonade cupcakes with another tart fruit, folding pomegranate juice into the meringue buttercream and sprinkling crunchy arils on top.

Secret Ingredient: IPA Beer

Anna Maria Padilla de Wells' grapefruit-lemon zest doughnut was fancied up with an IPA-mint glaze and blueberry-grapefruit compote.

Secret Ingredient: IPA Beer

Madame Donut made a tipsy cheese doughnut with an aged cheddar glaze, chili sea salt and IPA sprinkles atop a stout cake.

Secret Ingredient: IPA Beer

Tony Raff took things to a savory level with a Buffalo wing sauce drizzle over an IPA glaze on a beer-flavored doughnut.

Secret Ingredient: Coconut Rum

Warren Brown crafted his confetti cake using coconut-olive oil cake, coconut rum filling, cream cheese frosting, Italian meringue, toasted coconut chips, chocolate ganache and a hint of sea salt.

Secret Ingredient: Coconut Rum

Eric Ho made a pina colada cake with lime coconut rum frosting for a dually tropical treat.

Secret Ingredient: Coconut Rum

Gonzuela Bastarache used tropical fruits — mango, pineapple and papaya — to dress up her lime and coconut rum cake, and she topped the whole thing with fondant.