24 Most Over-The-Top Cakes From Cake Boss

Buddy Valastro somehow makes grand confectionery seem like a piece of cake. Anyone who's tried their hand at cake decorating and could use some tips will know what we mean. Making the sweet treat look like a work of art is no easy feat, yet the cakes on TLC's "Cake Boss" almost always look like near-impossible masterpieces. The show's history has seen Valastro and his team at Carlo's Bakery in New Jersey craft countless impressive cakes for various famous and non-famous clientele, and those are only the cakes we see on camera — who knows what else they've managed to dream up behind the scenes?

Though it's undeniable that every single cake on the show is extraordinary, some really stand apart from the rest. Whether because of their impressive size, stunning architecture, or unexpected features (like the cake that showcased an actual aquarium), the cakes on this list are a cut above all the rest. We've gathered 24 of the most over-the-top cakes created by Valastro and his team that were shown throughout the show's run. And trust us, some of these cakes you'll have to see to believe. 

Anyone can make a homemade cake look expensive, but this cake actually was expensive — a record-breaking $30 million, in fact. Buddy Valastro was commissioned to make the cake for Devorah Rose, a New York socialite and editor-in-chief of Social Life Magazine. The cake took center stage at her 2011 event "Devorah's Diamond Gala." Not only was this the most expensive cake ever made, but it beat out the previous record-holder (which cost $1.65 million) by miles. How on earth can a cake be so expensive? The answer is simple — jewels, jewels, and more jewels. Valastro included no shortage of jewels when making this cake, which featured sapphires, emeralds, rubies, and even some stunning diamonds. 

Season five, episode four of "Cake Boss" sees Buddy Valastro and his team constructing a massive art piece to celebrate the first birthday of Valastro's son, Carlo. The lime-green cake looks like it could have come straight from Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Its bright "Candyland" theme was executed flawlessly, in our opinion, with gumball machines flanking either side of a towering candy mountain decorated with a plethora of lollipops and other confections. The structure of the piece is made of white cake and Rice Krispies treats. Though the cake looks grand enough, the centerpiece is barely visible in the photo: an actual flowing chocolate river that's being pumped in via chocolate fountains behind the cake.

When Buddy Valastro and his team at Carlo's Bakery were asked to make a wedding cake that looked like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, they paid particular attention to detail in its construction. All of the team's cakes are ornate, but these decorators are especially skilled at nailing even the most minor details in their lifelike constructions. A close look at this impressive creation will show tiny bricks carved into the tower's surface. And that's not to mention the tower's most iconic feature — its daring tilt that makes it look like it could crash to the ground at any moment. The final product is proof that cakes don't need to be bright, colorful, and adorned with countless accoutrements to be stunning. 

This massive, breathtaking work of art was the product of a tight collaboration between Buddy Valastro and Amtrak. When the company asked Valastro and his team to build a cake to celebrate National Train Day, Valastro had the bright idea to create a huge train replica — Amtrak, however, posed a different idea. The result of their teamwork was this absolute monstrosity of a cake featuring an array of impressive skyscrapers through which two miniature trains (provided by Amtrak) traveled through. The cake was so big (21 feet long!) that it wouldn't fit through the door, and Valastro ended up putting it together at Penn Station.

When NASA asked the team at Carlo's Bakery to make a cake for a 30th anniversary celebration, everyone knew it would be a huge undertaking. Huge doesn't begin to describe this cake. Rice Krispies treats were molded to form the rocket body, each booster rocket was made up of a stack of 30 cakes, and the external fuel tank was another massive stack of 13-inch cake rounds. But the ginormous cake alone wasn't enough to satisfy Buddy Valastro, who was determined to find a way for the cake to take off. Despite a couple of minor setbacks (like a chunk of the cake falling off during delivery), the team pulled off this masterpiece, which achieved liftoff with some creative pyrotechnic work. 

Everyone loves the fun that comes with fair food dusted in powdered sugar, but Buddy Valastro turned the concept on its head when he made this fair-themed cake. He knew he had to pull out all the stops when New Jersey's State Fair Meadowlands ordered a cake to celebrate its 25th anniversary. True to form, the team didn't cut any corners when it came to this cake, which we're sure stunned even the most seasoned "Cake Boss" viewer. Playfully decorated with primary colors, the cake laid out an entire carnival scene, patrons and fair games included. The most impressive parts of the cake were its Ferris wheel and merry-go-round, both of which actually spun.

This cake has so many details! To see it in its full glory, we recommend watching Season 4, Episode 1 of "Cake Boss" yourself. The bakery was asked to create "the greatest cake on Earth" as a centerpiece for the wrap party of The Greatest Show on Earth — the Ringling Bros. circus. Buddy Valastro went to the circus to get some inspiration and posed the idea of recreating the big ring, complete with animals and acrobats and even a high wire. When the circus asked for a ring of fire, Valastro wasn't sure how to pull it off, but his team came to the rescue. The cake debuted at the circus, fire and all. 

Is there any symbol more iconically American than the Statue of Liberty? When park rangers over at Ellis Island asked Buddy Valastro to make a Statue of Liberty cake, he knew it would require two things: incredible height and a very realistic design. In true Carlo's Bakery fashion, the team pulled off both without a hitch. The cake was so big that the team had to keep the base and the statue separate until they could be assembled on the island. Moreover, the detail is impressive — they pulled off picture-perfect folds on the statue's clothing, and the carvings in the base were very true to the original. 

A celebration of Spider-Man's 50th anniversary obviously calls for a breathtaking tribute cake. When Marvel asked Buddy Valastro and his team to create a cake for an event with Marvel staff and VIPs, they decided to leave nothing to the imagination in its creation. The result was an action-packed showstopper of a dessert featuring all your favorite supers taking on New York City. Skyscrapers, cars, and fallen boulders set the stage for a massive showdown any Marvel fan would die to watch, but the best part? This Marvel scene is edible. 

While cake is a traditional Chinese New Year food, rarely do the holiday's cakes look this exquisite. This cake was no small order — a representative from Better Chinatown Society, a New York City-based nonprofit, asked Buddy Valastro to create a cake to feature in the Chinese New Year parade that would celebrate the incoming Year of the Dragon. The resulting cake was an unbelievable work of art. Two identical dragons flanked either side of a flaming red pearl, all of which sat atop a red roof structure. The scaling detail on the dragons was impressive as were their menacing open-mouthed snarls. 

This next cake was the result of a collaboration with a zombie fashion show. The client's biggest requirement? The cake had to react when placed under black lights. A seemingly impossible feat, the team pulled it off with the help of some edible neon paint. The cake featured fashionable skeletons and other eerily on-style ghouls and spooks, and it did indeed stun the audience when shown under the glow of black lights. To complete the ambience, Buddy Valastro and his team also added spooky smoke effects to the already impressive structure. 

By far one of the most monstrous cakes on our list is this lifelike replica of the Transformers' series iconic Bumblebee Camaro. This creation was the result of a collaboration between Chevrolet and "Transformers 3." To celebrate the partnership (and promote the new Camaro convertible design), the team at Carlo's was asked to create a cake that would highlight the new product and incorporate the Transformers franchise. The result was a whopping 2,000-pound marvel complete with a hydraulic system that allowed the cake to move. Though parts of the cake fell off during transport, the team put it back together just in time for the show. 

The owners of a Russian restaurant in Brooklyn knew who to ask when they wanted a cake to commemorate the spot's 20th anniversary. They wanted something unmistakably Russian and instantly breathtaking; personally, we think the team went above and beyond with this cake's creation. Buddy Valastro and his team decided to make a model of St. Basil's Cathedral, which features such a number of intricate designs that they had to create multiple blueprints to pull it off. The cake ended up being a remarkably realistic architectural masterpiece. The team presented it at the restaurant to thunderous acclaim, impressing the owners and all the guests in attendance alike. 

Who would you call if you needed a cake fit for a submarine ball? Buddy Valastro, that's who! Valastro used a submarine as a model for the cake itself (which came complete with spinning propellers and a rising periscope). But rather than just crafting an impressive submarine, he created a whole ocean-inspired scene to set the sub in. The sub floats atop a bed of rainbow coral and is surrounded by underwater creatures, including a whale, a giant squid, and even a mer-king raising a trident above his head. All the ball's attendees were delighted and impressed upon seeing the end product. 

A small music conservatory at Shenandoah University has just completed a massive fundraising effort to aid in the purchase of new pianos for the school. What better way to commemorate the occasion than by commissioning Buddy Valastro and his team to make a cake for the celebratory party? The representative asked for a life-sized piano cake and wow, did Carlo's Bakery deliver. Creating this cake was no easy task and required a good amount of engineering and artistic mastery. To achieve the characteristic shine of a grand piano, the team had to actually steam the cake. Miraculously, it arrived at its destination in one piece, stunning all the guests in attendance. 

When Buddy Valastro's favorite plumbers were looking for a way to celebrate their 100-year anniversary, they knew they could count on Carlo's Bakery to deliver. Their request was unprecedented: They wanted a vintage yellow toilet bowl cake, and they wanted Valastro to make it flush. Despite his protestations, the plumbers insisted he could pull it off, so of course, he had to take on the challenge. With the help of some clever tubing work, he did indeed manage to make a flushing cake toilet that was a remarkable dupe of the vintage yellow one he'd been shown. It was everything the plumbers had asked for, and they were delighted when it actually flushed. 

Buddy Valastro's Wrigley Field cake may not be Chicago's most infamous birthday cake, but it may very well be the most intricate cake to honor the city. Alas, this cake met a somewhat tragic end. It was a marvel to behold — the model of the stadium, complete with the baseball diamond, outfield, and a crowd of onlookers, was 25 square feet and weighed 400 pounds. Many marveled at the feat but nobody ever got to taste it, and the whole thing ended up in a trash bin. The Cubs issued a statement following the event, with CBS News reporting, "The team made a decision not to serve the edible portion after the cake was on display outside Wrigley Field for most of the day ... it certainly does not excuse how a celebratory display cake artfully created by Buddy Valastro and Carlo's Bakery was handled."

Obviously, an event as momentous as the annual Retail Bakers Association convention deserves a mind-blowing confection. When Buddy Valastro and his team were asked to make a life-size NASCAR replica for the event, they accepted without hesitation. The cake required about 12,000 pounds of pound cake, a tall order. In addition to being a model of a car, the final product included an actual engine made out of cake under the car's hood. After baking the cakes and gathering supplies, the whole team headed down to Charlotte, North Carolina, to assemble the car. Finishing the product took 56 people (thus the number printed on the car) and four days, but the impressive result was well worth it. 

What better way to celebrate an aquarium's anniversary than with an aquatic cake? That's exactly what the operators of Adventure Aquarium in New Jersey had in mind when they commissioned the Carlo's Bakery team to make a celebratory cake. The team went all out with this one — just making the impressive turtle was a feat in design detail. Things really get crazy when they introduce live fish into the equation. An aquarium was cleverly disguised behind the aquatic cake scene, giving the impression of fish swimming among the confections. It was a mind-blowing creation that absolutely stunned the aquarium owners when it was revealed. 

All the Hansen Park Conservancy wanted to help celebrate its fundraiser was a rubber duck cake. After all, the key event for the fundraiser was a rubber duck race, and it seems like a simple enough design for a cake — but as usual, Buddy Valastro had to go all out with this one. The team made quite possibly the biggest rubber duck to ever see the light of day. Though not as intricate as some of the bakery's other designs, this bright yellow duck still required some painstaking construction to be perfect. And the team didn't stop there; the cake's platform was made to look like a blue pool of water perfect for swimming, and small pearlescent bubbles adorned the water's surface. 

Another fundraiser cake (this time for a dragon boat racing team), this Chinese dragon confection is impressive to behold. It measures 24 inches in diameter and features two dragons wrapping around the cake, as if in a race. The dragon heads were immaculately sculpted but came out way bigger than Buddy Valastro had intended. He had to reconfigure the entire cake to accommodate the new size of the dragons, and though the cake didn't turn out as he'd originally intended, we still think the cake is a sight to behold. Similarly, the dragon boat racing team was delighted upon seeing the finished product. 

Another cake for Adventure Aquarium in New Jersey was commissioned for the going-away party for one of its alligators, which was about to be transported to a sister aquarium. Given all the other life-sized cakes Carlo's Bakery has under its belt, it only made sense to create a life-sized replica of the 14-foot long alligator. A cobblestone mat was used to create the remarkably realistic scaling design on the alligator's skin. The bakery team paid special attention to texture throughout the cake's creation; personally, we think the team did a standout job making it look pretty deadly. To top it all off, a hinge opens the alligator's mouth in a terrifyingly lifelike maneuver. 

By far the most iconic client in this roundup is Willie Nelson, or rather, his daughter, who asked the team at Carlo's Bakery to create a replica of the country singer's guitar to celebrate his 80th birthday. The guitar, affectionately named "Trigger," has been in Nelson's possession since 1974. The guitar itself shows the labor of love Nelson has put into his music over the years — it showcases a pretty prominent hole (a result of not having a pick guard) as well as a bunch of name inscriptions. We love the heart and soul displayed in the team's finished result, a testament to Nelson's own passion. 

Last but certainly not least is the cake showcasing various Häagen-Dazs flavors that Buddy Valastro and his team made to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ice cream company's first store location. Surprisingly, this cake didn't actually contain any ice cream, though the cones around the base were indeed real ice cream cones. The cake featured three pints (vanilla, coffee, and strawberry) stacked on top of one another on a huge cake base adorned with ice cream cones, ice cream sandwiches, coffee beans, and strawberries.