Candace Nelson

Candace Nelson (born May 8, 1974) is a pastry chef and judge on the television series Cupcake Wars. She is credited with starting a nationwide cupcake craze with the opening of her store, Sprinkles Cupcakes, in 2005.

Nelson grew up in Indonesia. 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. Nelson is a graduate of Wesleyan University (class of 1996) and Tante Marie's Professional Pastry Program in San Francisco.

Before entering the bakery business, Nelson and her husband, Charles (born 1969), a native of Oklahoma, worked as investment bankers. After the dot-com bust, Candace decided to focus on pastry making and opened a custom cake business from her home in San Francisco. Later she and Charles moved the business to a former old-fashioned bakery in Los Angeles and began making only cupcakes.

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. Though the bakery business was in a four-year no carb slump, they sold 2,000 cupcakes the first week. 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. She also creates offbeat offerings like vegan and gluten-free cupcakes and even dog-food cupcakes. The sleek, minimalistic store was designed by an architect from Vienna and the logo and packaging were recreated by a former Martha Stewart employee.

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