Mariah learned to bake at her grandmother's counter in Asheville, North Carolina, standing on a step stool to reach the mixer. Her grandmother kept recipes on index cards in a tin box, and several of Mariah's cakes, including the pineapple upside-down cake, started on those cards.
She worked as a pastry assistant at a bakery in Charlotte for four years while finishing a degree in accounting. She now does bookkeeping for small businesses and bakes on weekends, usually more than her household can eat. The extras go to her church and to the neighbours on either side.
Her recipes are written for a standard home oven and a hand mixer, because that is what she uses. She tests each one at least three times and notes what went wrong along the way, such as the zucchini bread that sank in the middle twice before she cut back the sugar.
The savoury recipes, like the honey lemon garlic chicken and the Christmas quiche, are what she makes when the oven is already on for something sweet. She lives in Greenville, South Carolina, with her two daughters.
