Ivey Childers
Never having baked before the age of 22, Ivey Childers now runs a successful cupcake bakery right outside of Nashville, Tenn. For pure fun, she decided to test cake recipes in her apartment kitchen in 1999. It only took one year before she was filling cupcake orders. IveyCake opened in 2008 in a small retail space in downtown Franklin. Customers not only are drawn to her delicious cupcakes, but also her Southern charm. The bakery sells more than 14 flavors of cupcakes, including the much-beloved red velvet, chocolate and strawberry. As her business grows Ivey has her sights set on opening another IveyCake in the big city of Nashville.
Lisa Donahue
Lisa Donahue was a stay-at-home mom with a sweet tooth in search of the perfect chocolate cake. Many disappointments later, she decided to make her own and perfect it. Months later she was accidentally running an at-home cake company. In 2006, Lisa took the plunge and opened a storefront in Thousand Oaks, Calif. She sells her cupcakes for only 99 cents, in an attempt to outsell her competitors. The Chocolate Bomb cupcake is her best-seller and the perfect chocolate cake she originally created. This mom of two has her children to thank for her success. She is now shipping nationwide and hopes to turn For Heavens Cakes into a franchise someday.
WINNER!: Rebecca Grammer-Ybarra
Rebecca Grammer-Ybarra is a mother of two and a baker for Suite 106 Cupcakery. When Rebecca isn't baking she's a couture-clothing designer for her company, Rebecca Ybarra International. Suite 106 Cupcakery is an online cupcake store and catering company founded in 2007, and it's owned by Rebecca's sister Christy Grammer, who is a self-proclaimed perfectionist. Both are self-taught bakers with more than 20 years of experience in the dessert world, baking their entire lives with their grandmother and mother. Suite 106 Cupcakery has transformed traditional recipes into intriguing modern culinary creations all while having fun and giving back. By combining Rebecca's love for creativity and Christy's keen eye for detail, these two outgoing sisters — otherwise known as the Grammer girls — offer more than 30 tantalizing cupcake flavors and other exquisite desserts, using only the finest and freshest ingredients made from organic and natural ingredients. These products are locally sourced, ensuring the best quality while establishing lifelong community relationships. Keep a look out for this rising company because one of their goals is to open a storefront someday.
Try Rebecca's winning recipe:
Kara Haspel Lind
When looking for an excellent cupcake in San Francisco, Kara's Cupcakes is the place to go. Executive pastry chef Kara Lind has five bakeries in the Bay Area. As an advertising sales executive and passionate home baker, she realized the importance of following her dreams and enrolled in Tante Marie's Pastry Program in 2005. Five years and five busy stores later, this new mom still can be found most mornings working in the kitchen with her dedicated staff. Sometimes she even walks the three miles uphill to work. Kara is a huge supporter of local food producers and vendors; in fact, all of her ingredients come from local sources. She visits the farmers' markets regularly in search of inspirational and seasonal items for upcoming cupcake flavors.
