Sorry to all my blog fans out there, I haven't been super active on blogging. This summer is really starting to get cooking for me. I am getting married in August (eeeek). June is another busy month for me with dads AND moms. My mom's birthday is June 9th, my dad's birthday is june 12 and my mother-in-law's birthday is the 15th which is ALSO father's day...whew...that's a busy week this year!
I had a special cookie order this month, high school graduation cookies...for my rival high school....ok I will play nice :P
 |
| WAY TO GO! |
As I was making these cookies, I really couldn't stop reminiscing about my high school years. Its crazy to think that next year, it will be my 10 YEAR H.S. reunion. I seriously thought that this day would never come, that 10 years could never go by, and they have gone by so quickly.
 |
| Fluted circle graduation cookies |
I think back to all the things I have done, places I have gone, and how much I have "grown up." I think it is funny now how I used to tell my parents, "but Mommmm, I'm 17!!!" as in "I'm mature." Oh little Kayla, you were so clueless. hahaha.
 |
| WOOHOO YOU DID IT! |
Anyways, lets get back to these cookies! These cookies were for my high school cheer coach, as her youngest son graduated this weekend from Juanita High School, the rebels.
Graduating from high school is something that I think a lot of people take for granted. It's still a struggle for some people in this world to finish school and in today's society, a High School education is not the end, it is just the beginning to higher education.
 |
| JHS Graduation Cookies |
I remember my graduation day and that night we had the senior party. Where they make you stay out until 6am and do various activites. We went to the Family Fun Center and had the whole place to our selves. There was mini golf, go-carts, laser tag, arcades and just mayhem.
 |
| Graduation cookies |
Back in 2005, Fear Factor was a really popular show. So it was actually themed Fear Factor and I remember people drinking limburger cheese and spoiled milk and God knows what...yuck. no thanks. And I definitely remember people throwing up after....
 |
| Juanita Rebel Megaphone Cookies |
 |
| Class of 2014! |
I have to say, I had a lot of fun making these cookies and it made me get in the spirit for 4th of July too!
 |
| Graduation Caps & Diplomas |
 |
| Juanita high school cookies |
So dedicated above, was obviously to the "grads" out there. Now we can't forget about the other celebration this week which is to all the DADs out there!
My family we usually don't exchange gifts, we just get together and spend time with one another which I think is more important.
This year we are doing dinner and celebrating my mom's birthday as well. So I decided to make a cake!
Now I have said in the past that my business name should really be called "anything but cakes." But I am slowing working on it.
 |
| "Oh no I'm Naked!" |
Normally, my go to dessert craving is of course - chocolate. But I also have a recent obsession with passionfruit desserts. So I made a Passionfruit Chiffon cake. Upon initally reading the recipe, I had to read it a few times over just to make sure I was following the recipe right and I understood the steps. But once I got started in the process, it started to come together. And I was pretty happy with the end result.
 |
| Passion Fruit Chiffon Cake |
My aunt and uncle live in Maui and they have fresh passionfruit growing right in their back yard, unfortunately here in Seattle, we are not that luckily. I went to Pike Place market a few weeks ago to see if I could find some passion fruit and they were $4 EACH for the tiniest passionfruit...and in a recipe you need anywhere from 6-12...So how did I get the passionfruit juice...Google...
I cheated. I started googling passion fruit juice to see what I could find. Lots of options out here but I discovered that Cost Plus World Market carries a 100% passionfruit juice with no added sugar. BINGO lets give it a whirl! As you can see above, it did turn out and it did taste good but if you want a very STRONG passionfruit taste, you gotta go get the real deal fruit.
 |
| Home Made Whipped Cream for Frosting |
The one thing I have a hard time with is getting the cakes to stand straight. The below picture is the cakes "good side" and let's be real, we ALL have a "bad side" in one way or another. The "frosting" if you are wondering is actually whipped cream. Which makes it a lot easier to frost since it goes on so gently and doesn't "pull" crumbs off the side of the cake. Ok time to fancy up this cake!
 |
| TAH DAH! |
Rummaging thru my pantry I found some coconut flakes which I thought would look perfect on the side of this tropical cake! I know most people are not a big fan of coconut but in my family we are! Next I shaved some white chocolate to place around the top of the cake. Probably could have done coconut around the whole thing but I wanted to mix it up.
I am really bad at taking photos of what the cake looked like on the inside, but it was really light, fluffy and delicate I would describe it. Unfortunately, it was definitely not light in calories...BUT we added fresh garden strawberries and that counts for something right?
This cake was definitely a big hit around the table! I am definitely going to have to make it again!
Thanks for stopping by!
