Fill Your Hearts and Bellies Rainbow Unicorn Food and Magical Desserts!
As a child raised in Dubuque during the 80s, Luke Stoffel was often told by his mother to stay outside until he found his own version of fun. That, his mother Joyce says, pushed him to be inventive.
“Allowing some of that to happen in kid’s life, their boredom will eventually work into creativity,” she explains. After Luke lost his job, he spent his 37th birthday making a rainbow cake with his mother and decided his next move would be to add more color to his life. His latest venture is The Easy Bake Unicorn Cookbook, a collection chockful of glittery sugar-coated recipes.
Desserts range from bright pink “slumber party popcorn balls” to “Peeps pizza,” a rice krispie treat topped with fluffy marshmallows. Another recipe, the North Pole Sundae - a hot fudge, peppermint ice cream and candy cane concoction - came out of Luke’s recollection of eating ice cream with his little sister in the middle of winter.
Crucial to each recipe? Good company and plenty of love in the kitchen, even if the result is just a “beautiful mess,” Stoffel says.
“Baking should be fun. They should all evoke beautiful memories,” Stoffer adds. “If it doesn't turn out the way you want it to, we say ‘never underestimate the power of frosting to stick.’”
Its kickstarter campaign met its goal in eight days. Now, Luke’s startup Cinderly wants to open a pop-up store for the baked goods in New York City. Luke and Joyce chat with host Charity Nebbe on this segment of Talk of Iowa.
Below is a Summary of the interview:
It’s Talk of Iowa from Iowa Public Radio. I’m Charity Nebbie. Today we’re going to start the hour on the other end of the rainbow with a unicorn baker. Luke Stoffel grew up in Dubuque, Iowa. He learned to bake from his grandma and his mom, and he lives in New York now, and is in the process of publishing his Easy Bake Unicorn Cookbook.
Luke Stoffel's story is as colorful as a rainbow and as magical as a unicorn. With roots in Dubuque, Iowa, and a professional life that took him to the whirlwind streets of New York City, his journey led him to create the "Easy Bake Unicorn Cookbook."
"It was always more than just the act of baking," Luke recalls, thinking back to his childhood days. "It was about the stories, the laughter, and that familial bond. My grandma, my mom - we'd spend hours in the kitchen, and it was there that I learned to appreciate the joy of creating something from scratch."
His mother Joyce went on to say “It was always so special, baking together in our kitchen," Joyce reminisces. "For a young boy, Luke always had this fascination with colors, stories, and especially baking. And I loved every moment we shared, from mixing the batter to decorating the cookies."
In tracing the origins of his cookbook, Luke tells of a serendipitous encounter in New Orleans with his cousin. "The memories of us baking with our grandmother resurfaced," he shares. "I started thinking about how I could blend those memories with my graphic design skills from Iowa State. That's how the idea of the cookbook really took shape."
Rainbows hold a special place in his heart, with one particular memory standing out. "That rainbow cake my mother and I baked for my 37th birthday... it was vibrant, multi-colored, and just filled with joy," Luke fondly remembers. Yet, it's not all about perfection. Luke recounts the seven-layer rainbow cake that didn’t quite go as planned. "It tumbled when we cut it, but you know, it was our beautiful mess. That's what baking should be about—the joy of the process, not just the end result." At the heart of the cookbook lies the rich tapestry of family memories that Joyce and Luke wove together. "Those sugar cookies we baked, they weren't just treats. They were memories in the making. The times when Luke and his siblings would gather around, eagerly helping and learning - those moments were priceless."
But beyond the culinary delights, it was the stories and the familial bond that made those moments unforgettable. "Whenever we baked, it wasn't just about the cookies or the cake. It was about the laughter, the stories we shared, and the bond that strengthened with every dollop of icing," she shares, her voice filled with emotion.
His move to New York also introduced him to the world of unicorns, especially in his advertising career and his startup, Cinderly. "The unicorn trend's current popularity definitely played a role," he admits.
When asked about the cookbook's deep dive into family recipes and stories, Luke's mother, Joyce, chimes in, reflecting on their baking days. "I still remember baking sugar cookies with young Luke and his siblings. Those moments, as simple as they were, they created lasting memories," Joyce adds, emphasizing the lasting impact of these shared experiences. "For Luke, the specific cookie cutters, passed down through generations, became symbolic of our shared past."
Beyond just recipes, Luke wanted to transport readers to his childhood days, digging for worms in the garden or playing pranks on neighbors. "These tales are set in the 80s, in the fields of Iowa, capturing the essence of where I come from," he says.
But with such regional stories, was there any concern about the appeal of the book? Luke seems unfazed. "The 80s nostalgia provides the charm," he confidently states. "Brands like Rainbow Brite and Lisa Frank, they resonate with a whole generation. So, in a way, this cookbook bridges the gap between Iowa and New York."
In a world filled with complex recipes, Luke's "Easy Bake Unicorn Cookbook" offers a refreshing twist. "I wanted the joys of baking to be accessible to everyone. Baking should be enjoyable, not intimidating," Luke says with conviction. And with simpler versions of intricate recipes, even novices can craft enchanting dishes like the unicorn-style rainbow cake.
As Luke’s mother Joyce flips through the pages of the cookbook, one can sense the journey through time it offers. "Luke has always been a storyteller, and this cookbook is a testament to that. Every recipe, every anecdote transports you back to our days in Iowa, to the garden where he'd dig for worms or the pranks he'd play. It's all there, captured beautifully."
However, Joyce also highlights the evolution Luke has undergone over the years. "From our little kitchen in Iowa to the bustling streets of New York, it's been a remarkable journey. I've seen him grow, adapt, and yet, through it all, he's never lost touch with his roots," she says, her voice brimming with pride.
Among the array of delightful recipes, there's a special place for Happy Joe's iconic North Pole sundae. "It's more than just a dish," Luke says, a nostalgic gleam in his eye. "It symbolized winter, the holidays, and the sheer joy of indulgence."
When I asked Joyce about her favorite part of the cookbook, Joyce's eyes light up. "Oh, the North Pole sundae, without a doubt! It's not just a dessert. It's a celebration of winters, holidays, and those little joys that life brings."
Concluding our chat, I couldn't help but admire the Glass Slipper Mirror Glaze recipe in his cookbook. A challenging endeavor, it's a nod to his company, Cinderly, and his love for fairytales. "Cinderella taught us that dreams come true, and with this cookbook, I wanted to share a piece of my dream with everyone."
From the early days in Iowa to a successful Kickstarter campaign and beyond, Luke Stoffel's journey with his "Easy Bake Unicorn Cookbook" is a testament to the magic that happens when you blend memories, passion, and a sprinkle of unicorn dust.
Transcript: Charity Nebbe 0:00
It's talk of Iowa from Iowa Public Radio. I'm Charity nebbe. Later this hour, we'll meet Andrew Fuller, of guy meets cake in Des Moines. His hyper realistic and horrifying cake and pie creations are getting him a lot of attention right now. But we're going to start the hour on the other end of the rainbow with another Baker. Luke Stoffel grew up in Dubuque, Iowa. He learned to bake from his grandma and his mom, and he lives in New York now and is in the process of publishing his Easy Bake unicorn cookbook. He is here with me on the line, hello, Luke, hey. How are you charity? Good. Thank you so much for being here. Good to talk to you. And since so many of these recipes are family recipes, and your mom gets a lot of attention in the book, we've asked her to join us as well. Joy Stoffel is with us on the line. Hi, Joyce, hi charity. Good to talk to you. Yeah. Thank you so much for being here. And Luke, why don't you tell me how this idea started for you?
Luke Stoffel 0:57
So really, it kind of started. I was on a trip down in New Orleans, and I was meeting with my cousin, and she had, kind of was working as a sous chef and one of the big French patisseries down there, and we were talking, and she's really like, oh, this, you know, like, I love baking, ever since we were baking with grandma, blah, blah, blah. And you know, I'd always had this dream in the back of my head where I wanted to start a cafe, and she was kind of on that path. And I was like, Well, what can I do in my life, to maybe not start a cafe, but to recreate something in my childhood that will, you know, inspire others. And so I had graphic design skills from my training at Iowa State. And so I started putting together a cookbook. And so over the winter this year, I put together a rainbow filled unicorn cookbook. So how this kind of started? Well and
Charity Nebbe 1:44
and you and your mom were baking a rainbow cake for your 37th birthday, and that was part of the inspiration as well. So tell me a little bit about that baking session, true.
Luke Stoffel 1:56
So the rainbow cake was kind of the start of this whole unicorn kind of feel so like when me and my mom were kind of going around on Pinterest during my 37th year of birth, I was home in Iowa for the summer, and we got this idea to put together this rainbow cake. So we got vanilla cake together and started dying at all kind of rainbow colors, and together, we kind of came up with this beautiful rainbow cake that we cut and opened up, and we still have pictures of it on our fridge back home and everything so
Charity Nebbe 2:26
and so that was, that was the start of this. Why? Why unicorn rainbow would tell me what the root of sort of these ideas is. Was this something that you love to do when you were a kid?
Luke Stoffel 2:41
Well, my mom can attest to this. I've always been kind of a rainbow inspired kid, even my little sister and I were doing rainbow ice cream when we were kids, and all this kind of stuff. So she can kind of confirm that, like rain, the rainbow has always been a part of our lives, but unicorns are really on trend right now, and I work in advertising in New York City, and my whole startup that I've created, called cinderly, is really about inspiring unicorns and mermaids and these girls in the world that kind of really relate to that stuff. So we're that's kind of where this all came together. So
Charity Nebbe 3:16
when, when you decided you wanted to put together this cookbook, you went back to your childhood and you went back to your mom. I mean, how did the two of you work together to come up with these recipes?
Luke Stoffel 3:30
So I mean, really, when I was home for Christmas this year, I went into the kitchen with my mom, and I was like, Oh, I have this idea. I want to make all these rainbow desserts. And we really kind of dug through the cupboards and found my grandma's old recipe cards that we used as kids, and I started taking photos of them on my iPhone and writing them down. And, you know, they were kind of scrapped together. They had ingredients, but no, like, no directions on how to mix the ingredients. So we kind of came up together on, like, how to complete these recipes and put them in the book so
Charity Nebbe 4:03
well. And Joyce, why don't you take me back to when Luke was little, was baking together, something that you guys enjoyed doing.
Joyce Stoffel 4:11
Yeah, charity we had. There was five kids in the family, and Luke and his sister Jesse, were the youngest, and they had a very good friend, Jennifer. And for some reason or another. I guess on Sundays, it was just a day of rest, but we made it the day of sugar cookie baking. And in the morning, we go to church. And probably before I went, I may would make a batch of sugar cookies. And when we came back, we would always go to church, and then we'd go to target, but we always called it Tarjay we were going, and we would roll out these sugar cookies. And it didn't matter whether it was a holiday or just a regular Sunday, I would say we made those things at least twice, twice a month, if not more often. And we'd spend the day doing that. And what I didn't realize at that time was. How we were actually building memories. I mean, I would have never expected Luke to someday, his 40 year old man make a cookbook on recipes from his childhood. And yet, I realize now that we really are building and bonding all the while you do that. And I always say, you can. There's the old saying, you can take the country. You can take the boy out of the country. But with Luke's case, you can't take the Midwest out of Luke. And even though he's lived in New York City since 911, or just before, it has remained very solid in him, and when I seen his idea for the cookbook and his memories from his childhood, that just cemented that idea in me. Like in this cookbook, we're doing more than baking and cooking together. We're forming a lifetime of memories. That's That's how I see it. And I didn't realize I was doing that. And that's the neat reward to all this to me
Charity Nebbe 6:02
absolutely well and and you share Luke the the recipe for those sugar cookies in your cookbook. Tell me what you remember about those sugar cookies from your childhood.
Luke Stoffel 6:15
So for me, it was really about like, yes, it was my grandma sugar cookie recipes. But what I talk about in the book is, like, my grandma had these very specific cookie cutters of ducks and like, things like that, and we've passed those cookie cutters along. Some live in my kitchen, some live in my mom's kitchen, some live in my little sister's kitchen. So, like, I really use that as a touch point to my grandma, right? Like, it really hits home every time I make sugar cookies with these cookie cutters. So in the cookbook, we do like these dinosaur, animal cracker cookie cutters. And I write in the book like, I can't wait to pass these down to generations of my own. You know? It's like my grandma had ducks and farm animals, and I have Jurassic Park kind of cookie cutters. So we've renamed the sugar cookies, Jurassic sugar cookies. And that's kind of what's going on there. So we're trying to evolve the memories to a new place as well.
Charity Nebbe 7:08
Well, I was looking at that sugar cookie recipe and Joyce. One of the things that I notice is that it has a mixture of butter and vegetable shortening in the recipe, which makes it a little more forgiving, doesn't it? I mean, is it? Is it a little bit of form, form over taste almost there.
Joyce Stoffel 7:29
You know, we are stuck on the fact that you can't make it with all butter if you want to get this nice fluffy cookie. And so, yes, it is a little bit of of the vegetable oil, and then the butter in there, also butter from Iowa, you know.
Unknown Speaker 7:48
Sorry, go. Keep going, Mom.
Joyce Stoffel 7:49
Oh, when Luke talked about the sugar or about the cookie cutters, I'm sitting here holding the rabbit and the chicken right now. My mom was born in 1915 she'd be 103 this year. And it's just so neat to be able to talk about her still at this time, and how this, this sugar cookie thing, has passed on as well as the other baking through the years. And that's that's neat that we can carry that on others
Charity Nebbe 8:17
same shapes, use those same cookie cutters. What did you want to add? Luke, oh, I
Luke Stoffel 8:22
was just saying, you know, on Facebook, we had quite a dilemma, because I was like, Should I add more butter to these? Is it Crisco? Is it vegetable shortening? And, you know, the original recipes really used a lot of vegetable shortening and lard and Crisco. And so there was this whole debate on Facebook over, should I changed the original recipes, or should I morph them into more things? And we decided to stick as they are
Charity Nebbe 8:45
absolutely well. And you guys, I mean, you're obviously sugar cookie experts, and I will admit that I am pretty terrible at Sugar Cookies. I'm not a patient cook or a baker. I like to do things that don't take a lot of time, so sugar cookies are maddening to me when I have to roll them out and cut them out. Do you have any secrets to to make them turn out? What's the number one thing you need to think about?
Luke Stoffel 9:11
So for me, what I learned is like, it's all about the how sick you make it. And so what I use, I use two paint sticks on either side of the thing and wax paper on the bottom, and I roll the dough out between the two paint sticks so I get an even thickness throughout the whole throughout the whole sheet. And so then I can kind of cut them, and they all retain the same thickness and bake the same way.
Charity Nebbe 9:32
I need help imagining this so you you actually like hold them in the air.
Luke Stoffel 9:38
No, no. I glue two paint sticks down together, and I put them on either side of the dough, so there's a set of paints. There's two paint sticks on one side and two paint sticks on the other. And then I take the rolling pin and roll it over the two paint sticks in the dough, so the paint sticks keep it just off the countertop. Okay, so then I create an even thickness all throughout. Cookie dough. Okay,
Charity Nebbe 10:00
that's a nice secret. Did you come up with that yourself, or Joyce? Did you come up with that? No,
Joyce Stoffel 10:06
I didn't know that. Mine have varied.
Unknown Speaker 10:11
I learned a Luke technique myself.
Charity Nebbe 10:14
Nice, nice. Well, it's good to know that the recipes and the techniques continue to evolve. And I think Luke with all of the recipes that you included in the cookbook, you included some stories about your childhood growing up in Iowa, and I mean, some of the recipes are really easy and some of the recipes are funny, like you have your dirt worm pudding recipe, which your picture is really cute in a in a, you know, like a sand castle building bucket full of pudding and Oreo cookie dirt and gummy worms and that kind of thing. But when you went back to the stories you you talk about digging for worms in the garden so your dad would have bait to go catfishing in the Mississippi River. What kind of process did you go through to decide what stories you wanted to share?
Luke Stoffel 11:04
I don't even know how it happened, but, you know, after we shot the whole thing, I just sat down and memories started flooding out of me. You know, the digging for dirt worms was a really good example of like, I remember me and my sister constantly, like during the summers with dire spaghetti red and blue, and try to convince the neighbors we were eating worms as real life things and and like, I think the stories just kind of flooded out of me, and some of them are recent, so a lot of them harken back to the 80s, but it really was a natural kind of connection when I started baking and thinking about again all this time the Kitchen with my mom and my little sister. It really, like lent itself really well to all these Iowa stories, because that's where this all started, you know, I couldn't write this cookbook about New York City because my roots aren't here, you know. So it had to be about Iowa. All right, we're going
Charity Nebbe 11:57
to take a short break. We'll be back in just a moment. I'm talking to Luke Stoffel. He is the author of the new Easy Bake unicorn cookbook he's in the process of publishing right now. His mother, Joyce Stoffel, is also with us, and we'll be back in just a few minutes. A little later on this hour, we're going to talk about a baker with a darker imagination, Andrew Fuller of guy meets cake in Des Moines. This is talk of Iowa from Iowa Public Radio. It's talk of Iowa from Iowa Public Radio. I'm Charity nebbe this hour, we're talking about a couple of different bakers with very different approaches to what they make. A little later on, we're going to meet Andrew Fuller of guy meets cake in Des Moines. He makes hyper realistic, horrifying cakes and pies. We'll talk about his murder pie and his anatomically correct heart. But right now, we're talking about different kinds of hearts and flowers and rainbows and unicorns and mermaids with Luke Stoffel, who grew up in Dubuque, Iowa. He is the publisher and the author of the Easy Bake unicorn cookbook. His mother, Joyce Stoffel, is also here with me, and just before the break, Joyce I was asking Luke about the stories that he decided to share about his childhood in the book. What was that like for you to read those stories? Well,
Joyce Stoffel 13:24
I was surprised at the stories, and it took me back there too, because it's like, my gosh, he remembered those things or that, and it helped me to remember them also. I was surprised again at how much of a memory he had of his childhood. I was just sitting here. And I always think, you know, what are you going to leave for your children as a legacy? And to me, what you pass on is your stories of your life. And so in these, in these recipes, or what in the things that he did, he kind of is repassing my life on to me also. And what was really important when you're raising a family is the simple things of life that you do. And that was a simple thing we done. We just bake cookies, and so sometimes we over complicate life. And I think it's really as witnessed in my reading his stories, It's the simple things that we did that made up who you are today. And to me, that's important. Well, that's what most people want,
Charity Nebbe 14:32
right? I'm also struck by how some of the best memories come out of something that I don't know you might have a little bit of Mother guilt about or he writes about how the only way it was a really hot day, and the only way that we could be inside is if we, you know, came up with something that we had to do inside. So we decided to dye my niece's hair, you know. And then you think, well, I kicked them out of the house. But here comes the. Is this beautiful, creative moment that came out of it,
Joyce Stoffel 15:03
right, right? And I think, you know, allowing some, some of that to happen in kids' lives, their boredom, will eventually work into creativity. And Luke had a lot of creativity, you know, I've got two engineers in the family. I've got this artist. I've got two artists in the family, Luke and his sister, and there's just a thread that runs through all of that, that that comes out today in who they are as people. Our daughter, Heidi, is in Des Moines, Iowa, and I think she's been on NPR too. She started a clinic there for kids with dyslexia, and it's just interesting how you know what comes out of basically just our own dreams for our children and their creativity is wonderful. Luke
Charity Nebbe 15:54
in sharing these recipes and sharing stories about growing up in Iowa. Are you worried at all about narrowing the appeal of the book when you think about your your New York friends? Or is that part of part of the appeal?
Luke Stoffel 16:11
I think it actually became part of the appeal. I didn't worry too much about narrowing it, because they all retain this really 80s nostalgia in them. You know, I talk about Trapper keepers and Lisa Frank and rainbow bright and how that all inspired me. So mothers in my age group, which is like 35 to 45 are the people who are buying this, and they really relate to these stories, because these are the memories we all kind of grew up with during that period. So I didn't really worry about alienating everybody. I really thought that, like, I did a good job at, like, keeping it centered into a time as well. So, yeah, I think everybody will enjoy it. I think the stories actually make the book. So
Charity Nebbe 16:51
the, as I mentioned the title, Easy Bake unicorn cookbook. I mean, you share some some great family recipes in here, but you also come up with ways to simplify all of those recipes. If you just want to make something that looks adorable, but you don't actually want to try baking a cake from scratch. Why did you decide that you wanted to simplify things? So a lot of
Luke Stoffel 17:15
the trouble with baking is like it becomes really hard, it comes really complicated. So we tried to really offer easy solution, so that if you just wanted to make a beautiful rainbow cake, that we gave you easy ways to do it. So like a lot of the things, just have an offshoot for you to go to the grocery store, like high V or something like that, and pick up the cake mix, but still make it unicorn style. So like, we really used a lot of those easy options to kind of help kids today, maybe not spend hours in the kitchen, but just spend, you know, a couple to spend less time. So that was important to us, because cookbooks today are complicated, and it's hard to get that all done. And a lot of the unicorn cookbook that cookbooks that are even out there now are complicated, so it was really important for us to make them easy
Charity Nebbe 18:02
well, and you some of the recipes that you share are not necessarily recipes that you made with your grandma or that you made with your mom, but recipes that do evoke your childhood memories. I'm also a child of Iowa, and one of them was the North Pole Sunday, which is a recreation of a Sunday that was sold during December at Happy Joe's. Yeah,
Luke Stoffel 18:29
totally, I say in that story, I say in that story that me and my sister would eat more ice cream in December and January than we would eat all summer. Because, like, we love that North Pole Sunday, and so it was really important for me to have that in my cookbook or a rendition of it, because I don't know what happy Joe's really used, but I had a good Inkling. And so, yeah, that was really important for me to get that one in there. Well, describe
Charity Nebbe 18:52
the North Pole Sunday for those who did not get to go to happy Joe's in December and January. So
Luke Stoffel 18:58
if you go go this December January, I'll tell you that the North full Sunday is really about peppermint ice cream. It's about hot fudge, and it's about marshmallow cream. And so it really gives you this really great rich taste. And then we topped it with peanuts, but we can also top it with walnuts, and then we stick to candy canes on the side to really give it some extra flair. So the
Charity Nebbe 19:23
Yeah. Keep going, yeah. Did you have to do a lot of research? Did you have to try a lot of different versions of that before you got it just
Luke Stoffel 19:30
right? No, because I had been making it for a couple years, because I'm in New York, I remake it here every winter and eat it on my own. So I kind of knew exactly how I wanted it to taste.
Charity Nebbe 19:42
You were you were ready. You've never been readier for anything than that. I've never been readier. You also, you have a you talked about that rainbow cake that you and your mom made for your 37th birthday, and you share a recipe for a rainbow cake, a seven layer rainbow cake, which is something that I've seen a lot of people. Beautiful attempt to do and I loved in the description that you wrote about it, that you said that the cake that you made was a behemoth, and it toppled over when we cut into it, but devouring the beautiful mess was the best way to celebrate the end of such an elegant creation. Tell me why you think that's important for people to know. When you look at all these perfect pictures and beautiful recipes, and you spend all that time on Pinterest looking at things that look amazing, that are so hard to recreate, why did you want to share that it was kind of a beautiful mess.
Luke Stoffel 20:36
So the beautiful mess really stems out of the whole Easy Bake kind of idea. It's like, baking should be fun. These should all evoke beautiful memories. And if it doesn't turn out the way you want it to, we kind of say, Never underestimate the power of frosting to fix and so like, the idea is, even if it becomes a beautiful mess, at least you had fun in the kitchen while you were doing it, and you created these memories with your mom and your sister and stuff like that. So, like, that's key to our whole thing is, like, we're trying to make it easy, but if it doesn't turn out the process was fun. You know,
Unknown Speaker 21:13
what's your favorite recipe in the book?
Luke Stoffel 21:16
Oh, I kind of love the candy heart cheesecakes. Those really like were the cutest kind of invention we had. I've done a lot of work in my life with candy hearts, and so I love that one. But also the Easy Bake, the no bake, the mermaid no bake cheesecake was really fun because that story is such a great classic story of dyeing my niece's hair mermaid colors and
Charity Nebbe 21:40
getting your grandmother mad because you also died the bathtub at the same time. Yes,
Luke Stoffel 21:45
correct. That was, that was grandma joy. She's on the phone
Charity Nebbe 21:48
right now. Okay, that was you joy, son, yeah,
Joyce Stoffel 21:54
downstairs and on the shower curtain. So I've tried to get it out. But, you know, again, more more memories of something that we created, versus, oh, that's got pink on it. I don't need to remember that it's got pink on it. I just need to remember what they did. That's what the fun is, I think.
Charity Nebbe 22:12
Well, and Luke, you ended the cookbook with your hardest recipe. There's no easy bake option for the glass slipper mirror glaze. Why did you decide to include that? So the
Luke Stoffel 22:25
mirror glaze is really about like my company called cinderly. So like, we've really developed this company that's all based around living your life to its fullest potential and having a fairy tale as your kind of true line. So like the glass slipper and the mirror glaze is really like a harken back to to my company, and where we stand and how we're making beautiful memories every day. I included it because it's just so gorgeous that I couldn't not include it. But this is only the second time I had made that recipe, so it was definitely harder than I anticipated doing so and the reason we started Cinderella really hearkens back to like, you know, childhood and loving that Cinderella movie. And we even make, we even make light of the mouses and how we followed our mother around doing laundry, and the story about screaming after her that we're little Cinderella's and we're helping her clean the kitchen and off the floor. So,
Charity Nebbe 23:19
so when you decided to make this cookbook, it sounds like you were kind of at a crossroads in your life where you weren't quite sure what the next move was. This isn't necessarily an answer. This was a great project to work on, but what does the future look like now?
Luke Stoffel 23:40
So yeah, I was in between jobs when I started the cookbook, and I just kind of wanted something to do. And so what happened was, I shot the whole thing, designed the whole thing in my apartment in January and February, and then, you know, we tried to get a publisher and stuff like that, but it wasn't happening for us. So I was like, Well, why don't we just throw this up on Kickstarter and see what happens there, because we have it all produced, we just need to get it printed. And sure enough, we raised almost $15,000 on Kickstarter, this just this last month, and now we have enough money to start shipping the books. You can order it now on Amazon, but we're going to ship September 1, so it's available everywhere you can go to unicorn cookbook.com and you know, order right from our website, or you can get it shipped directly from Amazon. So that's kind of what the future looks like. Right now, I'm back to work. So I'm working at a big advertising agency in New York City, but I'm just doing that so that we can fund more of the cookbook projects in the future. So
Charity Nebbe 24:37
well spreading a little bit of magic and some wonderful memories. Luke Stoffel, thank you so much. Thank you charity. Luke Stoffel grew up in Dubuque, Iowa, and he is the author of the Easy Bake unicorn cookbook. Joy Stoffel, thank you so much for being here as well.
Joyce Stoffel 24:54
Thank you, charity. Always fun. I love listening to you. Oh, thanks
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