Bridal Showers & Brides Oh My!

One of my favorite cookie orders to make are for bridal showers! They are so girlie and fun to make. Plus the color combinations are endless! However, one theme that seems to be very in style right now is pale or dusty rose pink with white and gold accents!

Gold Wedding ring Cookies

Gold is a very difficult color to make with buttercream frosting without having to airbrush, which in my opinion can alter the taste. So I opted for something tastier SPRINKLES! Who doesn't love gold sprinkles?

Bridesmaid Dress & Engagement Ring Cookies

I am not sure if the pink is the actual color of the bridesmaid dresses but the dress is one of my absolutely favorite cutters to use. You can do many different "style" of dresses, but my go to is the ruffles.

Gold Engagement Ring Cookie "I DO!"

Hopefully these words will be said on the big day ;)

Wedding Dress Cookies

 Oohlala! So many dresses! Bridesmaids and the bride! 

Bridal Shower Cookies

K+M = <3 Congratulations to the Bride and Groom to be! 

Flower Swirl Cookies

Heart Cookies

Monogram Initial Cookies

 Cheers to the future Mrs. L!

Monogram L cookies

Wedding cookie Platter

So Many Cookies! 

As if this week wasn't busy enough for me, I also had my first wedding to bake for which was really exciting! I had the fun job of making 250 cupcakes! In planning my own wedding, I must say I have a hard time paying $3/cupcake when I can bake them myself. Sure it takes time, but if you are on a tight budget then you have to find a way to make it work.
This little budget savvy bride is my future cousin-in-law. She got married this past weekend and had about 175 people attend. It took place in eastern washington on a hill over looking the beautiful Columbia River. The view was absolutely breath taking!

Despite all the fires in eastern washington right now, she really lucked out. It was sunny, there was no smoke in the valley, but there was a very strong breeze that was hard to work with. Since it was so warm out (about 90 degrees), we had to wait to put the cupcakes out since they couldn't be in direct sunlight - they were just buttercream frosting. The cake with stood the weather, but that is not something I can take credit for. 

Everything came together nicely. She had a "peacock" color theme. We did an assortment of mini and big cupcakes in vanilla and chocolate. As well as vanilla and chocolate buttercream. My favorite was vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. Since those didn't really go with the "theme" (brown frosting) those got put out after the cake to the face smashing...I mean, the cake cutting. 

For frosting the cupcakes, I did either a "ruffle" or "big swirl" pattern as I call them.  I am so happy for the bride and groom! What a fun day and I was so honored to be apart of it, even if it was just a small part! 

Happy 4th of July!

July 5th in Seattle usually marks the "official" day of summer...meaning, nice weather. It ALWAYS rans on the fourth and this year my fiance and I were down spending the holiday with his family in hood canal.
The morning on the 4th it was beautiful and sunny, but slowly that turned into a little rain spell in the late afternoon/ dinner time. Fortunately it cleared up in time for fireworks. As always, my "honey" is the head pyro in charge of the artillery. He definitely knows how to wheel and deal with the booths to get what he wants and puts on a pretty good show every year.

I like to watch the fireworks, but I like to keep a safe distance away from them. I would rather make fireworks in the kitchen...with my cookies ;)

We had A LOT of yummy desserts at the cabin, include no bake bars which I haven't had in YEARs as well as yummy peanut brittle bars, rice krispy treats, the list goes on and on!

4th of July Cookie Platter

My little brother and sister love to watch me make cookies and when I told them I was going to be making cookies for the 4th of July one of them - can't remember now - said I should make cookies in the shape of the #4...Not a bad idea kiddo! So I took their advice and I did!

All the cookie! Happy 4th of July!

Stars and 4's 

Red, white and blue star cookies with matching #4's to go with it to celebrate the fourth of July holiday. The 4s are nice and small, which makes it ok to eat more than 1...shhh....don't worry I won't tell!

Hood Canal 2014 

The fluted cookie cutter is what I am calling my "fireworks" and they kind of look like it if you use your imagination a little bit right?!? You can't see them but there were a few other phrases on them too like "happy 4th" "4th of July" "2014" and a big number 4 too.

Stars and Stripes! Gotta love the flag!

One of the most iconic american symbols...our beautiful flag. It's not Independence Day with out the flag representation on the platter! I actually had my mom help me out with these one! I was frosting the red stripes and she would follow behind me with the white piping bag and make the white stripes and then we would play leap frog back and fourth until they were all filled in...save me probably about half the time it would have normally taken me. *thanks mom*

Festive Cupcakes

I love the cupcake cookies because they have the most frosting on them....mmmm.....frosting!

Happy 4th of July!

Gotta have a checkered table cloth!

Here is what I was talking about above! A few more shots of the "firework" cookies I made with different phrases on them. Again a shout out to my mom for helping me on these ones too. She helped fill in the "polka dots" and again saving me lots of time. *thanks mom*

Happy 4th of July Cookies

Stars and Stripe Cookies

I took advantage of the cute table cloth that was very "all american" if I do say so my self to go with our holiday theme!

Old Glory

Thanks for stopping by! I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday! 

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!