You may know Candace Nelson from a little idea she cooked up almost 20 years ago: Sprinkles, which took the humble cupcake from simple to sublime.

Her newest adventure in entrepreneurship? Perfecting the pizza with Pizzana.

At the flagship Brentwood restaurant, Lisa McRee met up with Nelson to talk about her growing food empire and get a taste of her new book, “Sweet Success.”

Nelson and her husband opened the first Sprinkles in Beverly Hills in 2004. There are now 24 locations nationwide. Baked into the story of her staggering success is also one of failure.

“Every great success story is built on failure. That’s where all of the growth happens. That’s where all of the lessons are. I was following this very traditional corporate path working in investment banking, and I worked for a technology company in Silicon Valley. The dot-com bust happened, and I was out of a job with no prospects... I started baking cupcakes for my friends who at first thought I was having an early mid-life crisis. But then, as business picked up, I think they realized maybe I was on to something,” Nelson recalled.

Lessons in growth, loss, innovation and resilience are key ingredients in Nelson’s new book, “Sweet Success.”

“It gives you all of the tips you need from building the right mindset to crafting a brand to innovation, building your team, scaling, finding funding, all of the things that an entrepreneur really needs to know. You have to get really, really real when it comes to numbers. You can’t just hide your head in the sand because businesses don’t start cash flowing right away. But in my book ‘Sweet Success,’ I go over all of the different places you can find money and the way to approach funding,” she said.

Sprinkles isn’t the only successful business that Nelson has created.

She and Chef Daniele Uditi founded Pizzana in 2017, and have since expanded the restaurant to several locations. Nelson passed Sprinkles to new owners in 2014.

Nelson continues to work with her husband and sons in all her endeavors.

“My husband is my co-founder. I’ve been so lucky to be able to work alongside him. The boys come in. They do very important work of taste, testing and quality control, and I love including them in my business. I want to raise problem solvers and entrepreneurs... I love elevating simple pleasures. I love the connectivity of food, watching people gather around a table, celebrate a special moment with family. It’s just what I love to do,” Nelson said.

“Sweet Success” is available wherever books are sold.

Watch "LA Times Today" at 7 and 10 p.m. Monday through Friday on Spectrum News 1 and the Spectrum News app.