Cupcake Wars judge Candace Nelson is the founder and pastry chef of Sprinkles Cupcakes , the world’s first cupcake bakery. She joins us on the FN Dish each week to recap all the sweet details of the competition from her seat at the judges’ table. Here’s what she had to say about this week's episode.

Cupcake Wars Season 3 opened with an exciting Kentucky Derby-themed challenge that was all about the booze: mint juleps and hurricanes.  Three contestants played it safe with mint-julep inspired cupcakes, but Carla concocted a whirl-wind of flavor in her Hurricane Cupcake, which really impressed us. James and Annette went too easy on the booze, while Tara's cupcake packed so much it sent her packing. We would have loved to enjoy her fun, spunky personality much longer!

In Round Two, most cupcakes were appropriately adorned with horseshoes and hats, but one cupcake stood out of the bunch -- James's Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake was just a mess.  We loved that James really brought on the bourbon in this round, however the Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake was hardly a fit for such an elegant and esteemed affair.

In Round Three, we saw two spectacular displays from both Carla and Annette, using two very different approaches. Though either would have done the Derby proud, Annette's recreation of the Derby logo, complete with trophies and real roses, did the best job of capturing the history and future of the Kentucky Derby!