The wedding was very beautiful and memorable. I truly enjoyed Hilo and the coqui frogs. Really laid back. But, after 4 days in Hilo, I was ready to get back on a plane and head back to the city. The plane ride, though, is another story… Heed my WARNING- no matter how cheap the airfare is – NEVER, NEVER fly GO! Airlines. Unless belly-flopping onto the runway, then drifting a couple hundred feet till you come to a stop, is your idea of fun. Nuff said.

Back in Honolulu for the last leg of my vacation, I couldn’t wait to start crossing restaurants off my go-to list. Unfortunately, most of us got sick from the rain and vog in Hilo, so we spent most of the week at home trying to recuperate enough for the second wedding reception that weekend.

But that doesn’t mean we didn’t get to eat some of the sweet treats that Honolulu is known for.

Matsumoto’s Shave Ice

This is the 3-flavor combo that I chose: strawberry cream, banana cream and coconut cream…. topped with condensed milk. This wonderful, deliciously sweetened, mound of finely shaved ice is sitting atop 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream. Definitely not one for those who are lactose intolerant. If that’ll be a problem, take a Lactaid, because this is not one to miss. It doesn’t matter what flavor of syrup you get… the condensed milk AND the ice cream takes this one step beyond nirvana. Choosing one over the other is NOT AN OPTION.

DeeLite Bakery’s Macadamia Nut Cake (2 of them) and Guava Chiffon Cake

We celebrated my cousin’s birthday while he and his family were in Hawaii from Los Angeles for the wedding. And we celebrated it as only our family knows how – with 3 cakes. 2 identical ones and one bought on a whim. Funny thing is… the 2 identical cakes were bought by 2 different people, from the same exact bakery, within minutes from each other. What’s even funnier is that they requested to have wording put on the cake, so you’d think that the baker would’ve done it up differently, but they were exactly identical.

Anyway, back to the cakes… The Macadamia Nut Cake was a two-layer cake, consisting of very light and spongy cake with buttercream filling and frosting, with a generous dusting of crushed macadamia nuts all over the cake. By far my favorite cake from this bakery. The Guava Chiffon Cake was also a two-layer cake, also consisting of the same very light and spongy cake. However, this cake was flavored with guava essence and pink in color. The filling was guava flavored and the entire cake was frosted with buttercream frosting, topped with more of the guava filling, then dusted with cake crumbs. Very light and refreshing.

Liliha Bakery – Coco Puffs

I *HEART* COCO PUFFS! Especially if they’re from Liliha Bakery. Actually, I love the butter frosting… *sigh*…

Liliha Bakery altered the traditional cream puff and created this little puff of LOVE. It’s a basic choux pastry recipe that is baked till golden brown then filled with chocolate pudding-ish cream, then topped with a dollop of frosting made with lots of butter, sugar, egg yolks, cream and vanilla. The frosting is what makes it exceptional.

*****

Matsumoto Shave Ice

66-087 Kamehameha Highway

Haleiwa, HI 96712

(808) 637-4827

*****

DeeLite Bakery

1930 Dillingham Boulevard

Honolulu, Hawaii

(808) 847-5396

*****

Liliha Bakery

515 N Kuakini St
Honolulu, HI 96817
(808) 531-1651