bake - January/February 2025 - 12
regional spotlight
the south-nashville
We visited the Music City to see what
makes its baking scene special.
BY BRIAN AMICK
While it may be known as the Music City, Nashville has
a lot more to offer culturally. In addition to its country
and Southern rock music scene that brings in visitors
from around the world, the city is known for a vibrant
culinary scene representing a fusion of Southern staples
with outside influences. This is reflected across the area,
especially at its bakeries. While hopeful country music
stars perform for raucous crowds at the honky tonks on
Broadway Street, culinary stars are shining elsewhere.
Most people associate Nashville with hot chicken or
the classic Southern meat and three meal, but the city's
bakeries are bringing a different reputation that appeals
to locals and tourists alike. Whether it's the tangy flavor
of a beautifully made sourdough, or the fusion of tradition
and innovation in a sweet and dense cupcake, talented
artisans are making their mark.
So Yam Good
Tucked away in the quaint Germantown neighborhood,
just north of downtown, is an unassuming house that is
home to a growing cupcake empire. Mignon Francois, a
New Orleans native who would eventually call Nashville
home, truly started from scratch. In 2008, she was just
trying to make ends meet. Using the " follow your spirit "
12 < JAN-FEB 2025 | bakemag.com
approach, Francois took the last five dollars she had
for dinner one week and developed a recipe for sweet
success. Today, The Cupcake Collection is a Nashville
destination bakery with well over five million cupcakes
sold.
" You know when you have a secret treasure that you
want everybody to see, but you don't want them to
discover it because then you don't want to not be able
to get it? " Francois jokes about her first cupcake recipe
and the catalyst for opening her first bakery.
Mignon Francois is full of life, and it shows in her work
and business philosophy. She believes that even though
cupcakes were at one time seen as a fad, the way the
bakery approached cupcakes was very traditional.
" Our flavors should always speak to my Louisiana
heritage. I'm always going to have flavors that resonate
with people and their memories. That's why I think The
Cupcake Collection has been so successful, " she says.
The Cupcake Collection made its name on classic
flavors, and the star of the show is its mainstay, the sweet
potato cupcake. As Francois puts it, the flavor is " so yam
good! If you meet a sweet potato cupcake anywhere
else, it wants to be this one! " She was raised on sweet
potatoes and wanted to make that a significant part of
DANIEL MEIGS
http://www.bakemag.com
bake - January/February 2025
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of bake - January/February 2025
bake - January/February 2025 - Intro
bake - January/February 2025 - 1
bake - January/February 2025 - 2
bake - January/February 2025 - 3
bake - January/February 2025 - 4
bake - January/February 2025 - 5
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