The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Baker shares grandmother's recipes
By Sue G. Collins, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: January 17, 2008
Edgar Burch learned to bake from his grandmother, Cora Milburn.
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She wasn't big on measuring or keeping track of her recipes, so when Burch decided to open his own bakery, he had to depend on his memories and his family's taste buds to get the combinations just right.
For his new Saline bakery, CC Sweet House, the cinnamon rolls had to be sweet and light, with plenty of icing to melt in your mouth. The cookies had to be chewy, yet crispy on the bottom and chock-full of just the right amount of chocolate chips, nuts or raisins. The signature pound cakes had to be moist and full of flavor.
Burch got it right, and has customers as far away as Pontiac and Detroit to prove it, including Detroit's mayor.
After years of working in sports marketing, coaching and most recently city government, Burch decided to open his own business six years ago when the candidate he was working for left politics.
"My dad encouraged us to start our own businesses and stressed hard work and self motivation," said Burch, who grew up in Pontiac. "I just had to decide what sort of business I wanted to launch."
At the suggestion of his wife, Burch took up baking professionally and a few months ago opened CC Sweet House on North Ann Arbor Street in downtown Saline. He and his wife have shopped downtown Saline for years and when he heard about the commercial kitchen space available, he jumped.
"I love Saline, and there is so much parking here --and it's free," he said.
Burch spends most days in the kitchen, making gift baskets and baking trays of cookies for customers to serve at meetings, in their offices or shops. He mixes batter for seven different cookies, using only natural ingredients.
"That means real butter, and lots of it," he said.
Burch finds working in the kitchen relaxing.
"I could have taken an executive job and moved out of Michigan, but owing my own business is something I've always wanted to do," he said.
Burch took classes in culinary arts at Washtenaw Community College to hone his baking skills and enlisted the help of his brothers to taste test his confections.
He bakes cinnamon rolls, cakes, brownies, muffins and cupcakes to order and for catering jobs every day. The retail counter will be better stocked soon he says, though he always has bags of cookies for sale ($6.50 to $7.23 per dozen) in the store, just a few doors north of Michigan Avenue.
When he moved in, Burch discovered that he went to high school with his downtown neighbor, Scott Buster, owner of Drowsy Parrot, who now carries cookies from CC Sweet House.
"Everyone has been so supportive here," Burch said of Saline's business owners and city staff.
He hopes to offer baking classes for children, and welcomes school and church groups who would like to discover how a bakery works.
Burch and his wife have three grown children and live in Ann Arbor. He recently became a deacon at Strong Tower Ministry in Ypsilanti and looks forward to getting to know the Saline community better in the coming year.
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