Newton's Treat Cupcake Bar Does Battle on 'Cupcake Wars'

They didn't make a big deal about it, but in October, head baker Adie Sprague and manager Sarah Waters from Treat Cupcake Bar took a trip to LA to film a show for the Food Network.

In "Cupcake Wars," four teams of bakers square off in rounds of cupcake baking. The prize is a cool $10,000 and a chance to showcase their work at an event. Sprague and Waters actually filmed in October, but could not tell anyone until the week of the program.

Treat Cupcake Bar faced off against Katie Bakes from Lafayette Louisiana, Sara Sara Cupcakes from Oklahoma, and LA's Southern Girl Cupcakes, a three-time competitor.

On last night's episode, the teams of bakers competed for a chance to bake for the 10th annual Chicago Toy and Game Fair--in an episode called 'Cupcakes R Us'.

Judges Candace Nelson and Florian Bellanger oversaw the "battle," and rated each of the team's confections. Along with Nancy Zweirs, their surprise guest judge.

"We don't need to win this competition, we want to," Adie Sprague commented during her introduction.

The first round had bakers turning kid-approved foods into cupcakes. Things like macaroni and cheese, PB&J and chicken fingers were offered. Treat's bakers created vanilla-maple marble cupcake with a marshmallow and a waffle on top, which wowed judges. 

Zweirs called it "something kids would dream of."

The Katie Bakes team was sent home following the first round.

In the second round, the three remaining teams made three cupcakes apiece. From Treat, a banana split cupcake, a "Mr Hazelnut-Head" cupcake with white chocolate accessories, and an allergen-free chocolate brownie cupcake with chocolate chip cookie dough on the top.

By the time the timer ran out for round two, Sprague commented that she was disappointed by the final presentation--and during judging, Nelson made similar comments. 

However, Sara Sara Cupcakes' designs were "over-thought" and the judges opted to send him home.  

Treat squared off against Southern Girl Cupcakes. The two teams had two hours to bake up 1000 cupcakes, and make a display for the cupcakes. To help, they consulted with a carpenter first on their display, and four baking assistants joined each team. 

They perfected the recipes from the previous round, and set to work filling the displays.

Judges called their displays fun and colorful, although a little busy, and said their first-round cupcake was the best of the four. Zweirs added that she appreciated Sprague's dedication to the allergen-free cupcake as well.

However, the judges went with Catarah Hampshire's display and cupcakes, and the team from Southern Girl Desserts in LA won the competition.

"We took on a huge project, we tried to go all out, and I'm definitely disappointed that we didn't win."

If you want to try the cupcakes made on the show, they will be available at both Treat locations for the week after the episode.

"Cupcake Wars" airs on the Food Network on Sundays at 8 p.m.