How Queer Bakers Found Refuge in Pastry

Elise Smith, owner of WinniE’s Bakery in Columbia, Md., was her grandmother Winifred’s “partner; her right hand,” in the kitchen. Elise would watch, riveted, as her grandmother formed flowers out of marzipan and buttercream for wedding cakes. During one such playdate in the kitchen, they made shortbread together. Smith, who was in middle school at the time, started rambling about a girl at school she thought was pretty. Her grandmother nodded...