Candace Nelson
Candace Nelson (born May 8, 1974[1]) is a pastry chef and judge on the television series Cupcake Wars. She is credited with starting a nationwide cupcake craze[2] with the opening of her store, Sprinkles Cupcakes, in 2005.
Early life
Nelson grew up in Indonesia.[2] Baking runs in her family, as her French-American grandmother was known for the desserts she created at her San Francisco restaurant in the 1930s.[3] Nelson is a graduate of Wesleyan University (class of 1996) and Tante Marie's Professional Pastry Program in San Francisco.[4]
Before entering the bakery business, Nelson and her husband, Charles (born 1969[1]), a native of Oklahoma, worked as investment bankers.[5] After the dot-com bust, Candace decided to focus on pastry making and opened a custom cake business from her home in San Francisco.[6] Later she and Charles moved the business to a former old-fashioned bakery in Los Angeles and began making only cupcakes.[7]
Cupcake queen
On April 13, 2005, the couple opened Sprinkles Cupcakes, the world's first cupcake bakery, in a 600-square-foot (56 m2)-shop in Beverly Hills, California.[1] Though the bakery business was in a four-year no carb slump, they sold 2,000 cupcakes the first week.[5] Candace is described as having a "sophisticated" take on the classic cupcake, using finest quality ingredients like sweet cream butter, pure Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon vanilla and Callebaut chocolate.[3] She also creates offbeat offerings like vegan and gluten-free cupcakes[8] and even dog-food cupcakes.[9] The sleek, minimalistic store was designed by an architect from Vienna and the logo and packaging were recreated by a former Martha Stewart employee.[1]
Sprinkles now has 21 locations throughout the United States,[10] with plans to open in 4 more cities including London and Tokyo.[1] The Nelsons also started a traveling "Sprinklesmobile", a Mercedes Sprinter van designed by Sprinkles architect Andrea Lenardin.[11] In 2007 Candace also developed a line of cupcake mixes which are sold exclusively through her store and Williams-Sonoma stores in the United States and Canada.[3] Sprinkles fans include Oprah Winfrey, Blake Lively, Katie Holmes, Ryan Seacrest, Tom Cruise, Barbra Streisand, and Serena Williams.[4]
Television personality
Along with Florian Bellanger and a rotating judge, Candace is a judge on the competition series Cupcake Wars. She has also appeared on The Best Thing I Ever Ate and has been a judge on Bobby Flay's Throwdown show. Nelson also has been featured on television shows, including The Today Show, Nightline, The Martha Stewart Show, and profiled in People magazine. Her cupcakes have been featured by The Oprah Winfrey Show, Bon Appetit magazine, Food & Wine, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.[4]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Ganus, Sara (2007-10-04). "The Icing on the CupCake: Former bankers' cupcake business sweetened by success". redding.com. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- 1 2 Rufca, Sarah (2010-06-17). "For Sprinkles cupcake queen Candace Nelson, life is pretty sweet". culturemap.com. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- 1 2 3 "Candace Nelson: How she empowers others". womensconference.org. 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- 1 2 3 "Candace Nelson". foodnetwork.com. 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- 1 2 Davidow, Andrea (2007-06-20). "Playing with flour a rising obsession". San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- ↑ "Voices on Leadership: Charles Nelson". washingtonpost.com. 2008-07-23. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- ↑ "Candace Nelson". Ladies Who Launch. 2009-03-31. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- ↑ Prisco, Joanna (2010-06-07). "Q&A with Sprinkles Founder Candace Nelson". parade.com.
- ↑ "The Big Cupcakes Take the Cake Sprinkles Interview". cucakestakethecake.com. 2006-12-18. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- ↑ "Locations". sprinkles.com. 2016. Retrieved 2016-01-09.
- ↑ "Sprinklesmobile". sprinkles.com. 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-16.