Just a couple years ago, it seemed like a bizarre idea: An unknown pastry school graduate who wanted to open a Beverly Hills boutique selling … cupcakes?

And for $3.25 apiece?

“We were the first cupcake-only bakery,” says Candace Nelson. “Everyone was asking, ‘You’ll be making other things, too, right?’ You have to remember, this was in 2005 when everyone was counting carbs.”

But even Nelson couldn’t have realized her little store, Sprinkles Cupcakes, would hit such a sweet spot in the American appetite.

“We were fairly successful from the get-go,” Nelson says. “But the thing that put us over the edge is when Oprah Winfrey called and said she needed 300 cupcakes for her audience.”

The TV talk-show host was introduced to Sprinkles by Barbra Streisand. Suddenly, Nelson’s customers included Teri Hatcher, Jessica Alba and Tyra Banks. Katie Holmes ordered a batch for Tom Cruise’s 45th birthday.

Today, Nelson and her husband, Charles (both pictured above), own four Sprinkles, the newest on the northeast corner of Scottsdale and Camelback roads in Scottsdale. Future stores are planned for New York, London and Tokyo, among other cities.

“People say it’s just a cupcake, but it’s all in the details and the subtlety,” Nelson says. “It only takes an extra 30 seconds in the oven to turn a great cupcake into an average one.”

Nelson admits some people will balk at the $3.25 price.

“People are used to spending a buck at the grocery store,” she says. “Our price is reflective of the high-quality ingredients. We want you to feel like you’ve had an upscale experience. It’s a luxury, but an affordable luxury.”

The price tag probably won’t raise any eyebrows in Scottsdale, a city Nelson is familiar with. She and her husband, who went to the University of Arizona, often visit his parents, who live there.

“Scottsdale has such a dry climate,” she says. “That’s a challenge for a baker. We have to use special, heavy-duty, zip-lock bags (to seal boxes of cupcakes).”

Nelson says she eats her cupcakes almost every day — the banana and coconut are her favorites — and has no plans to figure out how many calories are in them, although she’s quick to point out they have no artificial colors, preservatives and trans fat.

“My whole philosophy is dessert should be a daily indulgence – in moderation, of course,” she says. “Counting calories flies in the face of that.”

SPRINKLES FAQS
• Each of the company’s four stores sell approximately 1,000 cupcakes per day. Every cupcake is baked that day.

• Cupcakes come in 20 flavors, plus an occasional seasonal flavor. Color-coded buttons, or “dots,” on each cupcake identify its flavor.

• Red velvet (chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting) is the No. 1 seller, followed by black and white (Belgian chocolate cake with vanilla frosting)

• Six flavors are offered every day: black and white, cinnamon sugar, dark chocolate, red velvet, vanilla and vanilla milk chocolate.

• Chai latte is the rarest flavor. It’s only made on Thursdays.

• A color-coded chart, available on cards in the store or on the company’s Web site, details what flavors are made each day.

• Sprinkles Cupcakes batter ($14) is sold at the store and all Williams-Sonoma stores, but does not include frosting.

SPRINKLES CUPCAKES
Where: 4501 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale (northeast corner of Scottsdale and Camelback roads)
Open: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday
Prices: $3.25 per cupcake or $36 for a dozen
Info: (480) 970-4321 or sprinklescupcakes.com

Posted in: Scottsdale |

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