The cupcake boom , a twenty-year dessert trend that once captivated the nation, ended with a thunk. However, America's sweet tooth doesn't retire — it just hunts for its next obsession. When all of Sprinkles' stores abruptly closed at the end of 2025, a curtain dropped on an era. Not because the dessert chain, cofounded by pastry chef and entrepreneur Candace Nelson in 2005, was the biggest, but because it was the name-brand symbol of the nation's cupcake years. Timing matters. As restaurant