Self-Made Baking Entrepreneur Who Started In Parents' Kitchen Grows Business Online, Across Carroll County

WESTMINSTER, Md. (WJZ) -- From grass to cookie monsters and every sprinkle dazzled in between, 14-year-old Emily Uhlman of Carroll County is a self-made baking entrepreneur.

ButterWorks Bakery USA started in her parents' kitchen and has since made its way online and across the community.

"My mom always let me bake around the house," she said, adjusting her chef's jacket. "I really liked baking when I was a kid and it just kind of escalated from there."

Escalated is putting it lightly. She has since gained hundreds of followers in a day and thousands of likes on social media with orders coming through on Facebook Messenger.

Uhlman remembers her first online order.

"This family ordered from me, and they loved it so much and told all their friends and their friends started ordering from me," she said, smiling.

After no luck landing an internship at a bakery, Uhlman took matters into her own hands. She took out a $150 loan from her parents to buy her supplies and trademarked a cool name.

"I used to use butter for everything and so (I came up with) ButterWorks, like butter works with everything," she said.

Then she went to work -- eight hours per day.

Uhlman has since gotten heavy praise for her work on a llama cake and antigravity cake.

Despite the long hours in her parents' kitchen, she's right where she wants to be.

"It relieves a lot of my stress," she said. "One night, I was so busy, I said I might as well bake everything, I was up till 12 or 1 in the morning baking and I loved every second of it."

And Uhlman expects to spend a lot of time in the kitchen in the future; she hopes to become a pastry chef one day.

In:
• Maryland
• Baltimore
• Carroll County