Top Off Your Valentine's Day With Chocolate

Brooke Wilson, owner of Love & Buttercream in Oakland Township, explains how to make a chocolate topper for baked goods.

Sprinkles and frosting are common decorations for baked goods, but have you ever made a chocolate topper? Brooke Wilson, owner of Love & Buttercream in Oakland Township, suggests a chocolate topper to sweeten your baked goods. Wilson explained that chocolate toppers take about five minutes and make a beautiful addition to any treat. To learn how to make one easily, watch Wilson's video. Wilson is a Royal Oak resident who operates Love & Buttercream out of her parents' house. After attending pastry school and growing up baking scrumptious treats as a hobby, Wilson decided to create her own business that specializes in cookies, cupcakes, cakes and everything sweet. She said she likes to get creative and offer her customers — most of whom are…

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Fill Your Valentine's Day With the Sweet Stuff

Brooke Wilson, owner of Love & Buttercream in Oakland Township, demonstrates how to fill cupcakes with ganache and cherry filling.

For Valentine's Day, consider baking cupcakes — but taking them one step further and filling them with something sweet. Brooke Wilson, owner of Love & Buttercream in Oakland Township, uses ganache and cherry filling frequently when she bakes. To learn how easily you can do it yourself, watch her how-to video, attached to this article. Remember, you can swap out the filling with whatever you like. Wilson, a Royal Oak resident who operates Love & Buttercream out of her parents' house, grew up baking scrumptious treats as a hobby. After she attended pastry school, she decided to create her own business that specializes in cookies, cupcakes, cakes and everything sweet. She said she likes to get creative and offer her customers, most of whom …

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Does Your Sweetie Like Sugar Cookies? Here's How to Make the Frosting

Owner of a local baking business shows how to make icing and frost sugar cookies in three short video segments.

Sometimes the best presents are homemade. With that in mind, consider baking something sweet for your loved one this Valentine's Day. Brooke Wilson, owner of Love & Buttercream in Oakland Township, showed us how to easily make frosting for sugar cookies and properly frost the baked goods. Wilson is a Royal Oak resident who operates Love & Buttercream out of her parent's house. After attending pastry school and growing up baking scrumptious treats as a hobby, Wilson decided to create her own business that specializes in cookies, cupcakes, cakes and everything sweet. She said she likes to get creative and offer her customers, most of whom are from Oakland Township, Rochester and Royal Oak, something unique. Wilson showed us how to create …

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Cooking For Special Diets

Cooking for Special Diets: Get Ready to Bake

Here are a few tricks of the trade when attempting the skill of creating gluten-free baked goods.

Editor's note: Alissa Malerman's Saturday column showcased a few pie recipes from her mother. Part 2 of her column focuses on learning how to work with gluten-free baking ingredients. So, who says you can't bake? Believe me, if I can, you can, too! I became a pseudo-baker by accident, as it is the only practical option when special diets are concerned. But be that as it may, I am still able to put on the oven mitts and produce a few yummy treats. So, here's my two cents (er, three cents) on baking with gluten-free flour: Or, you can always buy a yummy crust at Celiac Specialties in either Novi or Rochester Hills. The crust is gluten and nut-free but contains dairy. Happy baking!

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