Bake first. Bake hard. Have mercy! The hapless contestants dig deep to make colorful "Cobra Kai" soft pretzels and a Halloween dance fight cake.

Treats inspired by "Mr. Chocolate" Jacques Torres include lollipop portraits and a cake spiced with cocoa and cayenne. Mais oui laugh? But of course!

Candy-jeweled brooch cookies? Inviting cookie-jar cakes? These sugary sweets are just like the ones Grandma used to make — if Grandma couldn't bake.

Stacked Greek god statue cupcakes and snake-headed Medusa makeover cakes take Herculean effort and skill — and these awkward results are epic.

From splashy cereal-bowl cakes to towering hamburgers with fries, these attempts at hyperrealistic treats are so bad, you won't believe your eyes.

The cooks divide and conquer to fill sections of a savory snack stadium before building a cake that looks like a barbecue grill.

It's a Ferris wheel of fails as the teams make treats with a state-fair theme — from caramel corn knockdown-doll clowns to roller-coaster cakes.

Two bookish treats inspired by literature set the bakers up for epic fails: Shakespearean stained-glass window cookies and a pop-up "Moby Dick" cake.

What's scarier than a cook who can't read a recipe? A trio of creepy-crawly bug cookies and a terrifying clown cake that tastes like cotton candy.

It's "happily ever after" or bust when the bakers try to make fairy tale cupcake pops, then stack cakes in the form of a majestic unicorn.

A funny, furry pet theme finds the cooks concocting giant exotic-animal cookies, then re-creating Nicole's adorable dog, Clyde, in cake form.

The going gets gross — really gross — when the bakers tackle ooey, gooey carved pumpkins and an alien autopsy cake leaking edible slime.

The bakers summon their not-so-super powers to make Marvel-themed cupcakes with detailed cookie toppers and a daunting "Black Panther" cake.

The contestants raise the bar with two half-baked "high society" challenges: late-night munchie-inspired pancakes and a gravity-defying tea cake.

Under the watchful eyes of an iconic cake designer, contestants decorate complicated cake pops and a bespectacled, three-tiered wedding cake.

Dogged contestants are seeing double when they're asked to paint their portraits on a cookie before building an edible bust of Donald Trump.

The bakers make candy apple aliens and a sculpted Loch Ness monster cake based on mysterious creatures from outer space... and the freshwater depths.

Terror awaits the contestants as they take on two technically demanding desserts: chocolate eggs and a layered sphinx cake, both full of surprises.

From cupcakes celebrating famous Black women to a towering Tuskegee Airmen cake, this episode honoring Black history aims high — and achieves hilarity.

Contestants loosen up a food scientist with a cupcake-cocktail pairing before serving him questionable slices of a bubbling volcano cake.

Five fabulous "Nailed It!" fans visit the test kitchen for a challenge so extra, we had to make it a bonus episode.

A YouTube star known for her fondant work watches the bakers try to copy two of her most popular Japanese-themed cakes.

Edible ice cream boom boxes made with liquid nitrogen and a fresh and fly fondant-covered cake? Oh, snap — that sounds like a '90s challenge.

The pressure's on to make perfectly puffed éclairs and a layered bust of Napoleon Bonaparte for not one but two esteemed French chefs.

'Tis the season to be scary when the bakers try their hands at holiday cookies before constructing an elaborate gingerbread house.

The contestants turn back time -- and mangle time management -- with inside-out Neanderthal cupcakes and a tropical-flavored T. rex cake.