CANDACE NELSON is the founder and pastry chef of Sprinkles, the world’s first cupcake bakery. Her ingredients-driven, sophisticated take on the classic American cupcake made Sprinkles an overnight bakery sensation and established Candace as a businesswoman to watch, as well as a pop culture icon featured everywhere from Oprah, Vanity Fair, and People magazines to Good Morning America and The Martha Stewart Show. Since the beginning, Candace’s cupcakes, made from only the best ingredients and baked fresh throughout the day, have inspired long lines of devoted fans as well as accolades from the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Blake Lively.
Today, Sprinkles has over twenty locations nationwide and a growing number of Cupcake ATMs and Sprinkles Ice Cream shops selling all-American ice cream and cookie confections. Candace was a judge on the hit Food Network show Cupcake Wars, which filmed ten seasons, and airs around the world. A former investment banker, Candace is a graduate of Tante Marie’s Professional Pastry Program in San Francisco and Wesleyan University.