Our Cutest Cupcake photo contest for 2009 resulted in hundreds of beautiful and creative entries. Take a look at the finalists' cupcakes that were truly extraordinary.

The hair for these Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes submitted by kitchendoughdough is made from cotton candy.

Candy-coated sunflower seeds form the eyes and red mini M&M's, the noses, on these adorable Yorkie cupcakes submitted by ohsotiffany.

MeaghanM submitted this farm-friendly cupcake.

These cupcakes inspired by starry night and the style of Van Gogh were submitted by megpi.

This waddle of penguins was submitted by thesweetestthing.

Turn your cupcakes into caramel apples, like these submitted by cca.

Cookiemumster used sugar-cookie faces with royal icing ears for her Mod Monkey cupcakes.

Recreate these Wild Things cupcakes submitted by kitchendoughdough to celebrate the release of the movie this month. The monster is made from lemonheads, a cashew, and slivered almonds.

These cupcakes were submitted by monahanhoel, who served them at a party for the Super Bowl.

LadybugLuggage submitted this adorable pair of hedgehog cupcakes.

Simplysweeter created the Easter hat on this cupcake by dipping a cake ball in melted blue candy coating.

These vanilla cupcakes topped with buttercream and little fondant eggs submitted by bakeinc are perfect for Easter.

BitsyBakes made these puppy cupcakes from piped frosting, caramels, M&M's, jelly beans, and fruit chews.

These bird cupcakes were submitted by thefrostedcakencookie.

This Cookie Monster cupcake submitted by 3GirlsandaCupcake is perfect for a "Sesame Street"-themed birthday treat.

Amy 19678 carried the rainbow theme of these cupcakes throughout: Even the batter was rainbow-colored.

These French-toast-flavored cupcakes submitted by naedogg98 are filled with bacon and topped with maple buttercream and a slice of bacon.

Buttermilk cupcakes filled with key lime custard are topped with a white chocolate cream cheese frosting and "popcorn" marshmallows for these cupcakes submitted by kpetz1971.