What's cooler than a cupcake ATM? Even I, who doesn't subscribe to the cupcake craze, think this is pretty damn cool. I ran into my first one in Nashville.

Sprinkles Cupcakes is the world's first cupcake bakery - founded in Beverly Hills. Tons of celebrities and others have endorsed these cupcakes. And, it can be credited with starting the cupcake craze that swept the nation.

Sprinkles has expanded beyond Beverly Hills to 19 other locations, including Chicago, New York, Washington DC and ... Nashville! So, not only is this place credited with crafting artisan cupcakes (thing neat flavors, beautiful designs), they have pioneered the cupcake ATM. This means you can stop outside the store after hours and get a cupcake they prepared earlier in the day for your late-night cravings.

Oh, and it was all created by a woman by the name of Candace Nelson. Yes, the cupcake lady. THAT cupcake lady. The one who shares my name and appears on TV all the time because, well, she started the cupcake trend. She's the more famous Candace Nelson that I always get asked if I know there's a famous cupcake lady named Candace Nelson. And, I ate cupcakes at one of her bakeries. My life is coming full circle.

OK, so, we did not use the ATM because they were open, and I figured we might as well get a fresh one, right? The bakery is not huge, but the displays are very cute with little spaces for each individual cupcake.

There are tons of flavors, like chai latte, chocolate marshmallow, pumpkin, red velvet and more. I ordered a salty caramel cupcake, which is a caramel cake with buttery caramel cream cheese frosting topped with fleur de sel.

"Sprinkles Salty Caramel cupcakes are an irresistible salty-sweet flavor combination using fleur de sel crystals hand harvested from the pristine seas off Brittany, France. These fleur de sel granules are a delightful complement to the sweet, buttery caramel which flavors both the cake and frosting. Taste the rich, delicious complexity of Sprinkles take on this classic French duo."

This was probably the best cupcake I've ever had. I didn't know a cupcake could be this good. It was salty sweet, rich and just the perfect balance between icing and cake, as well as between sweet and savory. So. Good.



Grade: A