Daisy Cakes Founder Kim Nelson Appears on the New Food Network Show ‘Chopped Sweets’

Kim Nelson, the owner of Daisy Cakes, which has a bakery in Las Vegas, appears on the new Food Network show Chopped Sweets tonight. The new spin-off of the Chopped series brings mystery baskets of ingredients with a sweets challenge at every turn.

“While I can’t tell you the outcome, I can say it was a long, hot, pressure-filled day,” says Nelson, who filmed the episode on Oct. 28 and practiced by timing how long it would take her to bake a single cake and memorizing ingredients for some of her best sweets. Nelson normally makes large batches of cakes shipped nationally instead of focusing on single items.

In Nelson’s episode, four bakers face off in a time-management challenge. Round two includes a “jumbo-sized ingredient.” By the third round, the two finalists have to use super worms in their creations.

Television personality Scott Conant, who once had Masso Osteria at Red Rock Resort and Scarpetta and D.O.C.G. Enoteca at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, hosts the show. Conant is a regular Chopped judge and hosts Best Bakers in America.

Nelson is no stranger to reality television. She appeared on Shark Tank in 2011 and earned an investment from Barbara Corcoran when Daisy Cakes was just a small bakery in Pauline, South Carolina. Nelson uses family recipes to bake traditional four-layer Southern cakes in flavors such as coconut, chocolate, red velvet, orange, and fan-favorite carrot, and ships about 17,000 around the country every year. Just last week, her cakes started selling on Goldbelly.

One year ago, Nelson opened her North Las Vegas location inside a shared commissary on Las Vegas Boulevard North. While she generally works alone, she has hired some additional staff recently to help with orders, which have spiked lately since many Americans are ordered to stay at home during the coronavirus pandemic to impede the spread of COVID-19. A mention by Corcoran last week on Good Morning America increased her orders practically overnight, and Nelson is bracing for a similar reaction tonight.

The episode airs on the Food Network at 10 p.m. PDT.

• Chopped Sweets [Official Site]