Grads & Dads We Celebrate You!

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! 

Carnival Cake Pops!

A child's imagination is truly a remarkable thing and it is so sad that it is something that [most] of us lose as we "grow up." I remember that picking my birthday theme was one of my FAVORITE things to do. Since I am a summer baby, I always had ice cream cakes - from DQ duh! - and a swimming pool was always involved. 

Rainbow Carnival Themed Cake Pops

 Some of the kids birthday treat requests I have gotten are just to cute. From penguin and goldendoodle cookies to carnival/circus cake pops!

Funfetti Filled Cake Pops

 Now I am still working on perfecting the craft of making cake pops into other shapes like faces and that sort of thing. I kind of like the simplistic look with some cute washi tape on the top or "cupcake toppers."

 For this little soon to be 9 year old, she was having a carnival and circus themed party so I made funfetti  cake pop balls and dipped them into blue and white chocolate to create the shells. Kids love sprinkles! So I did my "signature" swirl design on them and topped them of with the "cupcake topper" that I found on Google.

white and blue swirled rainbow cake pops

TIP: Not going to lie, getting them to stand up straight is the tricky part. Before you dip them I recommend setting them on a flat surface like your baking sheet and see what side it rolls on to. When it stops tap it down to create a little flat surface. From there, dip your cake pop stick in the chocolate and take it over to the cake ball on the baking tray and eyeball where the "perfect center" is so it will stand straight up after you are down dipping it. Also after dipping it when you set it carefully down on the tray, pick it back up a little bit so chocolate can seep under the cake pop and not exposing the cake ball underneath.

All boxed up and ready to go!

Transporting them was going to be another question. Luckily I happened to have the PERFECT size box in my house. Weird that never happens right?! So I was able to get all these little cake pop guys over to the birthday girl in one piece! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Spring Fever

If you would like to order Easter cookies. Please email me! You can choose between bright spring colors or traditional pastel colors! They are $20/dozen and 2 dozen minimum. $40 for 2 dozen assorted which includes 6 of each shape: Bunny (face or leaping you choose), Tulip, Easter Egg and Carrots. Other optional shapes: Duck, Lamb, Daisy Flower (shown below). 

Daisy Flower Cookies

Sheep/Lamb Cookies

Spring has definitely sprung in the Northwest. The earth finally seems to have woken up from its winter slumber. Flowers are blooming, grass is growing and the sun is shining in Seattle - yes you heard me correctly. In fact we have even been fortunate to have a few days creep up into the 70s!!

Who is ready for Easter?! I miss the days where I would go and search for Easter eggs. Now I get to take joy in watching my little siblings (7 and 4) hunt for eggs!

Quack Quack! Little Ducklings!

"Rubber ducky you're the one...you make bath time so much fun!" Yup that is officially stuck in my head...

Rubber Duckies!

Pastel Tulips

Pastel Tulips

Tulip and Butterfly Cookie

Sparkly Leaping Bunny

Hippity Hoppity Easter's On Its Way!

Fluffy Bunny

Easter Egg

Happy Easter Cookie!

Bunny Faces

These bunny faces are my FAVORITE! I couldn't decide which I liked more though - with whiskers or freckles? What do you think? I want to know! I think I like freckles....

Easter Egg Cookies

My 2 fave Easter Egg Cookies

Naturally with spring comes lots of fun celebrations like baby showers! This blog post is dedicated to all things spring!

I have to apologize in advance that I didn't "pose" these cookies like I normally do and just quickly snapped some pictures during packaging. But I think the cuteness still shines through. I loved the bright spring theme for this Baby Girl shower.

Bright Baby Onesies

Spring Fever Baby Shower Cookies

Tulip Cookies

Anyone going to get a chance to go up to the Tulip festival this year? I always say I am going to go every year and then can never make it!!

Flowers and Baby Rattle Cookies

Baby Rattle Cookies

Thanks for stopping by. Again if you would like to order cookies please email me and see pricing in the middle of the blog post. Happy Spring and Easter everybody! 

French Macarons

I have noticed a new dessert trend and obsession recently with French Macarons. They seem to be a hit when it come to mini treats. Up until about 2 years ago, I don't think I even knew what they were until I visited a friend in SF and we went wine tasting in Napa. She told me that we HAD to go to Bouchon and get French Macarons because they were to die for! I was pictures in my mom coconut Macarons which I love but when we got to the shop I was in for a surprise.

Macarons come in all different flavors and colors as I have come to admire them on Pinterest. They look beautiful on dessert table displays as I had seen at some bridal shows I went to. In preparation for my own wedding, I decided to take a class and learn how to make them.

If you have a Sur La Table (S.L.T as I will reference in this post) store in your neck of the wood, I highly suggest looking up some of their cooking classes. Not all locations do them but they have a lot of cooking and baking classes to choose from. So I signed up for this class and went last sunday. The chef that was teaching said he was new to S.L.T. but had been in the industry for 5+ years. We were divided up into 4 groups but we had to share the wet ingredients between 2 teams and long story short, no ones Macarons turned out. They were too runny and they didn't cook them long enough so they were breaking when we took them of the pan. Bummer.

In my group, I was talking with 2 ladies (mother and daughter) who took the class after many failed attempts at home. I learned a little bit more through their trials and errors as well. So I left the class with my recipes feeling a little perplexed about the class, but I guess I at least got 10% off the shop.

So I prepared myself to make them on my own at home the following weekend to make sure I didn't forget what I had learned. I followed the recipe to a T and then some and sure enough...IT WORKED! I guess the class wasn't a total lost cause then!

Piped batter on the pans

The recipe said that you have to let them dry on the pan for about 15-20 minutes to let them crust over and when you lightly touch them they shouldn't stick to your figure. I ended up letting them sit for about an hour and they still stuck to my figure but I put them in anyways...

Hot out the oven!

... and they seemed to turn out fine. A couple of them didn't but thats ok...they still tasted yummy.

The Finished Product! 

I was super proud of how these came out and now I am ready to get even more creative with colors and flavors! I decided to stick to the basics the first time though in the trial run.

Chocolate Ganache Filling French Macaroons

French Macarons

Since my batch made about 5 dozen "tiny hamburgers" as my fiance called them - LOL - I packaged some up and gave them to friends to enjoy! I have a wedding dress to fit in after all ;)

Packaged and Ready to Go!

The best thing about these treats that I didn't know is that they are Gluten-Free! They are made with Almond Flour! Super cool! Thanks for reading!

If you would like to order some, they are $15/dozen, minimum 2 dozen per order.

Baby Shower Girlie Themed

Spring is just around the corner. The cherry blossoms and daffodils are blooming in our neck of the woods and it makes me excited for Easter and the end of winter.

Naturally, spring also means BABY MANIA! I have been getting a lot of interest for baby themed cookies. Maybe I am a little biased, but little girl things are SOOO much cuter than boy things. I love all the pinks, purples, ruffles and flowers for baby girls. Now let's just sent the bar straight, I am not having kids any time soon, but I can't help but smile at such cute and tiny things.

Here are some cookies I made for Baby Girl C's shower this weekend. Sugar and spice and everything nice :)

Baby Girl Elephant Cookies

Baby Onesie

Sugar and Spice

Ruffle Bums

Ruffle Diaper hehe

Baby Bib Cookies

Daddy's Girl

Baby Bibs

Baby Bib

The above bib I think was by far my favorite bib

Baby Bottle Cookies

More Baby Bottle Cookies

I think of all my cookies in this batch, the bottles were my favorite. They are simple and cute. One of the fun things about baking and making clothes, is I almost feel like a little fashion designer.