Candace Nelson (born May 8, 1974) is an Indonesian-born

pastry chef A pastry chef or pâtissier (; the French female version of the word is pâtissière ), is a station chef in a professional kitchen, skilled in the making of pastries, desserts, breads and other baked goods. They are employed in large hotels, bi ...

and judge on the television series ''

Cupcake Wars ''Cupcake Wars'' is an American reality competition series that premiered on December 27, 2009, on cable television network Food Network. The show, which is based on creating unique and professional-style cupcakes, was hosted by Justin Willman a ...

'' and '' Sugar Rush''.

Early life

Nelson grew up in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. 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

Groton School Groton School (founded as Groton School for Boys) is a private college-preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts. Ranked as one of the top five boarding high schools in the United States in Niche (2021–2022), it is affiliated ...

(class of 1991),

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

(class of 1996), and

Tante Marie Tante Marie Culinary Academy is a cookery school in Woking, Surrey, England. It is the United Kingdom's oldest independent cookery school, established in 1954 by the cookery writer Iris Syrett. It was the first school in the UK to offer a Cordon ...

's Professional Pastry Program in San Francisco. Nelson is a Wesleyan Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient. Before entering the bakery business, Nelson and her husband, Charles (born 1969), a native of

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, worked as

investment banker Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated with ...

s. After the

dot-com bust The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compos ...

, Nelson decided to focus on

pastry Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening (solid fats, including butter or lard) that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bakers' confectionery''. The word "pastries" suggests ma ...

making and opened a custom cake business from her home in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. Later she and Charles moved the business to a former old-fashioned sandwich shop in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and began making only cupcakes.

Sprinkles Cupcakes

On April 13, 2005, the couple opened Sprinkles Cupcakes, the world's first cupcake bakery. They started in a -shop in

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. B ...

. Though the bakery business was in a four-year no carb slump and early naysayers, they sold 2,000 cupcakes the first week. Nelson 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 Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

and

gluten-free A gluten-free diet (GFD) is a nutritional plan that strictly excludes gluten, which is a mixture of proteins found in wheat (and all of its species and hybrids, such as spelt, kamut, and triticale), as well as barley, rye, and oats. The inclus ...

cupcakes and even cupcakes for dogs. The sleek, minimalistic store was designed by an architect from

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and the logo and packaging were recreated by a former

Martha Stewart Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing pub ...

employee. Sprinkles now has 22 locations throughout the United States including New York, with plans to open in 4 more cities including London and Tokyo. The Nelsons also started a traveling "Sprinklesmobile", a Mercedes Sprinter van designed by Sprinkles architect Andrea Lenardin. In 2007, Nelson also developed a line of cupcake mixes which are sold exclusively through her store and

Williams Sonoma Williams Sonoma is an American retailer of cookware, appliances, and home furnishings. It is owned by Williams-Sonoma, Inc. and was founded by Charles E. (Chuck) Williams in 1956. History In 1947, Chuck Williams settled in Sonoma, California ...

stores in the United States and Canada. In 2012, Sprinkles introduced its Cupcake ATM, a contactless cupcake delivery system, which Nelson conceived after a late night pregnancy craving. Sprinkles now operates 38 Cupcake ATMs nationwide. Sprinkles fans include

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...

Blake Lively Blake Ellender Lively ( Brown; born August 25, 1987) is an American actress. Born in Los Angeles, Lively is the daughter of actor Ernie Lively, and made her professional debut in his directorial project ''Sandman'' (1998). She starred as Brid ...

Katie Holmes Kate Noelle Holmes (born December 18, 1978) is an American actress. She first achieved fame as Joey Potter on the television series ''Dawson's Creek'' (1998–2003). Holmes made her feature film debut in 1997 with a supporting role in Ang Lee ...

Ryan Seacrest Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American media personality and producer. He is the co-host of ''Live with Kelly and Ryan'', as well as the host of multiple media shows including ''American Idol'', ''American Top 40'', and '' ...

Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Gol ...

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...

, and

Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...

. In 2014, Nelson sold Sprinkles to a private equity group.

Television career

Nelson is a judge on the competition series ''

'', syndicated around the world, and '' Sugar Rush'', which she executive produced. She has also appeared on ''

The Best Thing I Ever Ate ''The Best Thing I Ever Ate'' is a television series that originally aired on Food Network, debuting on June 22, 2009 (after a preview on June 20). The program originally aired as a one-time special in late 2008. After being cancelled by The Food ...

'', '' The Chef Show'', and has been a judge on

Bobby Flay Robert William Flay (born December 10, 1964), is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and reality television personality. Flay is the owner and executive chef of several restaurants and franchises, including Bobby's Burger Palace, Bobby's ...

's '' Throwdown'' show. Nelson also has been featured on television shows, including

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...

Nightline ''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News' late-night television news program broadcast on ABC in the United States with a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. Created by Roone Arledge, the progra ...

The Martha Stewart Show ''Martha'', also known as ''The Martha Stewart Show'', is an American cooking show hosted by Martha Stewart. The series premiered on September 12, 2005, in syndication until it was picked up by the Hallmark Channel in September 2010 as part of a l ...

, Masterchef Season 10 and profiled in

People magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC (company), IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People ...

. Her cupcakes have been featured by

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime broadcast syndication, syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicag ...

Bon Appetit ''Bon'', also spelled Bön () and also known as Yungdrung Bon (, "eternal Bon"), is a Tibetan religious tradition with many similarities to Tibetan Buddhism and also many unique features.Samuel 2012, pp. 220-221. Bon initially developed in t ...

magazine,

Food & Wine ''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and season ...

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

and the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

. Nelson co-created and is executive producer of the forthcoming pizza cooking competition ''Best in Dough'' on Hulu. Candace Nelson - Entrepreneurial Women

Pizzana

Nelson is co-founder of Pizzana, a Neo-Neapolitan pizza restaurant chain.

Author

Nelson is the author of ''The Sprinkles Baking Book'' and ''Sweet Success''.

Personal life

Nelson resides in Los Angeles, California, and

Sun Valley, Idaho Sun Valley is a resort city in the western United States, in Blaine County, Idaho, adjacent to the city of Ketchum in the Wood River valley. The population was 1406 at the 2010 census, down from 1427 in 2000.Living people Wesleyan University alumni Pastry chefs 1974 births Groton School alumni American restaurateurs American cookbook writers American television producers Women cookbook writers