12-Year-Old Little Girl Scores Major Victory in Battle to…Bake Cupcakes in Illinois

A pre-teen baker's battle with bureaucrats has ended with her victory.

On Tuesday, Illinois gov. Pat Quinn signed the "cupcake bill," which will allow home bakers to sell baked goods without local government or health department oversight.

The bill came as a response to the forced closing of a 12-year-old girl's home baking business in January — the girl, Chloe Stirling, reportedly made $200 per month selling baked goods around her hometown, but her fledgling operation was shuttered by health department officials in January because she did not have a license or state-certified kitchen.

Chloe Stirling, 12, of Troy, Ill., center, presents cupcakes from her Hey, Cupcake! bakery to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, right, in the Governor's office at the Illinois State Capitol Tuesday, May 13, 2014, in Springfield Ill. Looking on is Chloe’s mother, Heather Stirling, left. Chloe achieved nationwide notoriety after her in-home cupcake business was shut down by the Madison County Health Department. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)

Now Chloe will be free to return to work; the new law will allow home bakers to sell up to $1,000 per month of baked goods without any licensing or inspections, so long as they tell consumers that the food came from a home kitchen and there are no complaints made to the health department.

In this Jan. 16, 2014 photo, sixth-grader Chloe Stirling, 11, ices a cupcake at her home in Troy, Ill. Stirling had her home-based cupcake business shut down by the county's health department because she didn't have a commercial kitchen requiring a permit and inspection. The girl had been selling her cupcakes to raise money to buy a car someday. (AP Photo/Belleville News-Democrat, Derik Holtmann)

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