Cindy Hawkins got her start in 2006, whipping up scratch-made pastries and selling them at local spots like the Carmel Farmers Market. What started as a local market stall quickly grew into one of central Indiana’s favorite sweet spots. Today, you can find Circle City Sweets inside The AMP at 16 Tech in Indy, where she serves up everything from delicate French macarons and flaky croissants to gorgeous custom desserts. Cindy’s taking her talents to the main stage this October as she steps back into the spotlight to battle top culinary pros at the 2026 World Food Championships. When Cindy isn’t competing in world food competitions or running her bustling bakery, she loves sharing her passion with aspiring bakers as a baking and pastry arts instructor at Ivy Tech Community College.
You grew up baking alongside your grandmother, mother, and sisters. What did those early experiences teach you about food, family, and the kind of chef you eventually wanted to become?
We baked as a family all the time. It was always a wonderful and fun experience and something I will always have fond memories. We learned how to bake from scratch – I didn’t really know anything about pre-made mixes, although they certainly weren’t as common when I was a kid! My mom had certain ways she measured things that she made sure to teach us – of course now we weigh everything in grams, but I learned that precision was important.
You’ve built Circle City Sweets from farmers markets into a beloved Indianapolis pastry business. Looking back, what was one turning point when you realized this could become more than a passion and actually be your career?
I used to bake for fun for everyone – my co-workers, friends, etc. I started working at Wolfgang Puck when my husband was a chef at, just for fun. But that lead me to pastry school. That experience is what made me know the is what I wanted to do. I certainly loved my previous career, but this was my passion.
Your work has a strong French pastry influence, from croissants and kouign-amann to macarons. What drew you to French pastry, and how have you made that tradition feel distinctly your own?
I attended the French Pastry School, which introduced me to so many of the French classics. I just fell in love with it. We learned not only French products, but French systems – no waste, working clean, etc. Being a Hoosier by birth, I love to meld together my Indiana roots and family recipes with French recipes. I like to do a little Hoosier / French sometimes.
You competed at the World Food Championships for years before becoming the 2025 World Dessert Champion. What kept you coming back, and what did finally winning teach you about persistence?
After my first year in 2015, I swore I would never do it again. It was out of my comfort zone and not something I would normally have done. We thought we did an amazing job but didn’t finish well. I think some of it was just to WFC working out some kinks and there were some errors on their side, but I swore that was it. It was the one and only year they did it in Florida.
Then they moved to Orange Beach, Alabama. Craig Baker continued to compete and told me it was WAY better and I needed to get back in. So…I won a ticket in a competition and was qualified again and headed to Alabama to try it again. That was the first year that we made the finals. It was SO exciting and I was bit by the bug! We haven’t always made the finals, but in the 8 years we’ve competed, I think we have made finals 6 times. Now I feel like we have it figured out and really try to come up with the something we really think the judges will love and appreciate. It really made me start thinking in a totally different way.
Now you’re preparing to compete again here in Indianapolis this October. How does competing in your home city change the experience, and what are you most excited or nervous about this time around?
It’s funny that I kind of miss the travel aspect of the competition. We really started growing our team and we had a great time getting to really know each other, help and encourage each other, develop that bond between teammates. We had team dinners wherever we were, most of us stayed in an Airbnb together. It was such a great experience!! Of course there are so many great things about having it in Indy! First, we save a TON of money! And so many of our friends, family and customers come to cheer us on. We don’t really have the team experiences away from the competitions, but we’re all such great friends now anyway…
Professional kitchens have historically been challenging spaces for women to build careers and businesses. What has your experience been as a woman pastry chef and business owner, and what changes have you seen during your career?
Before I went in this career direction, I had served and bartended as a part-time job for year. When I went into pastry, I really came into a great situation. I was working as a pastry cook at Wolfgang Puck, as the executive chef was great friends of ours and my husband was there, so it might have been a little bit different of an experience. My first pastry chef position was with that same executive chef from Pucks (Brad Gates) and my husband was a sous chef. And then I headed to school and decided to go self-employed. So I had a little different experience.
But there was really a huge change, I believe, during Covid and that entire mess. I think the old school yelling and screaming chef stereotype, for the most part, is gone. I know that in my shop, we really try to be a collaborative group. I’m very fortunate that, for the most part, I have almost always had a steady and solid staff. I believe that comes from how you treat your staff and the freedoms to become creative. We have a lot of fun and it really is an amazing team.
You’ve also taught pastry and baking and continue to offer hands-on classes. What do you hope younger women entering the culinary world learn from you that goes beyond technique?
I taught, full time, at Ivy Tech for 9 years and have always taught classes at my shop. I think the biggest thing is learning to become confident in what you do. One of the things that I always teach is that asking questions is great, but you have to learn from the answers, be strong and be confident. If you don’t think you can lift a 50 pound bag of flour, get strong. You HAVE to be able to lift a 50 pound bag of flour. Sounds silly, but it is really important.
After everything you’ve accomplished, from building Circle City Sweets to becoming a world dessert champion, what are you still dreaming about? What does the next chapter look like for Cindy Hawkins?
My “next” thing is actually something I’m already doing. My husband and I have a business called “Let’s Go Eat Food Tours”. I’ve been working as a travel agent for about 2 years to learn the ropes, so I can book people for cruises, all-inclusives, Europe vacations, etc. But eventually, we want to do our own food-led vacations to cities that we know, where we know chefs, and can get those behind the scenes experiences. We are currently booking a France River cruise for next August that we will be your chef hosts. My favorite city in France is Lyon – I’m lucky enough to get there every 2 years for a food show and competition. Our cruise will end in Lyon and I can’t wait to share that with our guests!!
Besides that, I am also really busy with Team Indiana. Craig Baker and I are working hard on some amazing things! Team Indiana is not a non-profit that not only focuses on our competitive team, but also workforce development (many of us sit on high school and Ivy Tech’s hospitality committees and well as 3 of our team members our high school culinary chefs instructors) and our next endeavor is to build “Hoosier Hospitality House” – a venue to have teaching kitchens, event space and more.
