Stephanie Dircks Ashcraft never expected
to sell thousands of copies of the book of recipes that she and her husband once
assembled by hand in their small living room in Utah. She created the first copy
of 101 Things to Do with a Cake Mix as a college class project, then a
few months later began teaching a cooking class based on the book at a local
supermarket. Her students pleaded with her to put all the recipes together in a
book, which led to her first print run and several subsequent reprintings.
Over 7,000 copies of Stephanie’s self-published version sold locally in Utah,
the Intermountain West, and on the web. In August 2002, Gibbs-Smith published a
new edition of the book and gave it national distribution. By mid-October 2002,
the book had hit #9 on the New York Times paperback advice bestseller
list. It has continued to be a great selling book along with her second cake mix book.
Here is a short bio from her book:
Stephanie Ashcraft, author of 101 Things to do With a Cake
Mix and 101 Things to do With a Slow Cooker, was raised near Kirklin,
Indiana. She received a bachelor's degree in family science and a teaching
certificate from Brigham Young University. Since 1998, she has taught cooking
classes for Macey's Little Cooking Theater in Provo and Orem, Utah. She and her
husband, Ivan, reside in Provo with their children.
