Take Two Of Takei

A while ago I did a set of cookies in homage of the "It's Okay To Be Takei" Movement, as well as Sulu himself. My first "It's Okay To Be Takei" Cookies. What can I say, I am a geeky girl. Well, recently there has been a certain company that has come out against the LGTB community as a whole.

Many are standing up with them, many are standing up against them. Considering that one of my favorite people in the world is George Takei, I bet you can tell what stance I have and there for Surreal Confections has. That's right, we are fabulous here at SC, OH MY!

In honor of this love for all humans, no matter what their sexual preference might be, I would love to introduce you to take 2 of Takei!

I think that about says it all. You can find more images and some other information at Surreal Confections Facebook

Make your own by visiting here - Rainbow Cake: A How To
Find this and more on my Deviant Art Posting - Takei Take Two

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Cake For Two

Yesterday my husband had to make a long trek via Greyhound to Seattle and back for a job interview. Being the foodie wife that I am I couldn't bear to think of him having to endure gas station fare of fast food for the day. Sorry, if I don't have to eat it, I am so not gonna. (Don't get me wrong I do enjoy eating out I am just a food snob now. LOL) So what do I do? I pack him up with a sack lunch fit for a foodie. Homemade preserves and English muffins, Peanut butter and Honey sandwiches on fresh back breads, dried meats and fresh fruits. You know, the standard fare, hehe.

Well sitting at home with 3 kids running around me and wondering how the interview went I start wanting to do something. (I was bored, lol.) Didn't exactly come up with anything other than trying to find something to do. That was until I got the call letting me know the interview went well and he was on his way back. YAY! (Still don't know if he got the job yet, we hope to find out in the next couple of days.)

Now I know it went well and he is on his way home I wanna make something. Well savory is out the window tonight, for a couple of reasons. Everything is frozen, it is the afternoon and we already have enough left overs in the fridge for 3 days worth of meals so I swore off cooking another meal until it was gone. If I keep cooking we are just going to end up throwing out the left overs and that is just such a waste. (I cook so much from scratch to cut back on food costs it seems rather counter productive to throw out what I make doesn't it.)

So sweet it is. Okay I don't need a lot, just something small but everything I have is reciped out to feed an army and right now I just need to feed a few. So I start searching around the net and see a couple of searches under "Cake for 2." Now that sounds exactly what I am looking for. Something quick just for a few. Nice! I stumble upon one website and I just fall in love!!!

http://www.dessertfortwo.com/

You have got to check out this place! All these scaled down recipes that are just too amazing for words. In fact, I picked 2 of them yesterday to make for the hubby and turned them into this.

Isn't it just too cute?!?! So, you want the recipes that I used? Of course you do! That looks just too yummy for words!!!! Well here they are and they are both "Sweetly Approved' By Surreal Confections now!

First Up - Chocolate Sour Cream Cake

Second Up - Chocolate Chip Cookies

To make this simple follow each recipe as is. To assemble, just place your 6 inch round on your cake plate, level off the top of the cake and scoop out a little from the center to create a well. Make the Ganache that comes with the cake recipe and pour into the well and over the top of the cake, pushing it to the edge to drizzle down the sides slightly. When you make the cookies, instead of a dozen regular sized ones, go for smaller, it will make 2-3 dozen mini cookies. Dough ball size about that of a shooter marble. Then just place around the cake and on top and serve up! This cake and cookies took all less than 2 hours start to finish. (And I have a small cookie jar now with the rest of the cookies, hehe.)

So stop by Cake For Two and enjoy everything over there!!!! I know I will be trying more and want to look into scaling down my own recipes. ^_~ And don't forge to check out the Pinterest Sweetly Approved Board - http://pinterest.com/jenng79/sweetly-approved/ - For all the recipes Surreal Confections has personally tested out and well, sweetly approved!

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Daily Deviation

Very happy to announce that this past week Surreal Confections received it's first award! A Daily Deviation on the artists website Deviant Art! And what for? Cookie Mario World!!!! I cannot believe it!!!

Go check it out!

Cookie Mario World on Deviant Art <---Click Here

A huge thanks goes out to both DameOdessa for suggesting it and Talty for featuring it over on Deviant Art. Thank you both so much!!!!

Want to see more foodart? Stop over to Deviant Art and enjoy!

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Sweetly Approved!

As you can tell from my last post I am starting something new and that is writing about recipes I have tested in my own personal kitchen. I am going to start awarding websites, facebook pages, blogs, etc. with little images for recipes I have tested letting them know I love what they do!

Might not be much, might be silly but I don't care.

So, from now, if you see the following anywhere, you know I have tested the recipe in my kitchen, I loved it, my family loved it and it is now on the recipe rotation in our home. Just a way to let you know that I won't recommend any recipe that isn't good enough for my own family. ^_^

And don't forget you can follow these and more on my pinterest board of Tested Recipes! - https://pinterest.com/jenng79/tested-recipes/

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National Ice Cream Day

Well apparently it is National Ice Cream Day here in the US of A and why not? Middle of summer, we are going through a heat wave from hell from coast to coast. I mean, seriously, I am in Washington State currently and I am dealing with 105+ temps....NOT NATURAL!

But what better time than to celebrate Ice Cream? Honestly I cannot think of one but hey then comes the flip side. I don't want to make ice cream anything right now. Problem with being an artist on some level. If you aren't in the mood it ain't gonna happen. So sat and tried to figure out something to do that was ice cream related even if not ice cream itself and then it hit me!

Baked goods! Yeah, yeah, I was just whining about a heave way and now I am going to bake. heck yeah! Why god gave us the wonderful AC! So yesterday I went and popped out 2 ice cream inspired treats. Butter Pecan Cake as well as a Peanut Caramel Cupcake done to look like little sundaes. ^_^

Now, If you want to try the Butter Pecan Cake, you really ought to! (And here comes something new.) Drum roll! Surreal Confections Kitchen Tested Recipes! That's right, I am going to start posting links back to original recipes I have found online and tried in my own kitchen. Fail or succeed I will be posting about them here and what happened so you can decide if you want to try it yourself!

You can follow the new board on Pinterest here - https://pinterest.com/jenng79/tested-recipes/
Some are already there, more will come! These will be both sweet and savory tests, so enjoy them as much as I do!

Now for the first of these is the Butter Pecan Cake. I found this recipe on Pinterest and just had to try it out today. I am so glad I did, it turned out perfect!!!

http://laurassweetspot.com/2012/05/09/toasted-butter-pecan-cake/ <--Go here and try the recipe yourself!

Now I did not want make a huge 9 inch round since my family has a stock pile of goodies right now, so I halved the recipe. It was the perfect amount for 6 inch round pans, two of them. Halved the icing as well, used 3/4 of it on this and saved the rest for another kitchen tested idea - Cream Cheese Danish. Recipe can be found on my Pinterest Kitchen Tested Board.


Now, I also made something else -

These are Peanut Butter Caramel Cupcakes and they are done up to look like a little sundae. Wonderful thing about these? They taste just like a Payday!!!! Now they were inspired by someone else but I had to make some changes for my family. Original Recipe - Payday Cupcakes

Wanna know how to make these? Well here you go!!!! My take on it

Cake Recipe:

• 8 Ounces Cream Cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, softened
• 3 Cups Granulated Sugar
• 3 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 Teaspoon Butter Extract
• 2 Teaspoon Caramel Flavoring
• 12 ounces salted peanuts

1. Preheat oven to 325F
2. Line muffin pans with baking cups or spray down with non stick baking spray.
3. In a large bowl combine cream cheese and butter until just smooth.
4. Add in granulated sugar until well combined.
5. Add in flour all at once, mix until combined.
6. Add in extracts and flavorings, mix well.
7. Fold in peanuts.
8. Pour equal portions into baking cups, 2/3 the way up.
9. Bake 20-25 minutes for regular size, 30-40 for large, 1 hour for bundt cake pans. (Or until toothpick clean.)
10. Pull out of oven and allow to cool. (Start on your frosting now.)

Caramel Butter Cream:

• 1 Cup Unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 Cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
• 2/3 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• 4-6 Cups Sifted Powder Sugar

1. In a sauce pan over medium heat, melt your butter.
2. Add in the brown sugar and heavy cream.
3. Mix until brown sugar is well dissolved, stir constantly as to keep from burning. This will take 5-10 minutes. Do not try to rush this step.
4. Remove from heat, add vanilla, mix well.
5. Allow to cool fully.
6. Pour 3 Cups of the powdered sugar into a large mixing bowl.
7. Add in 95% of the caramel sauce, reserve 5% of drizzling later.
8. Mix until smooth. If too runny, add more powder sugar until desired consistency. 
9. Bag it and pipe on top of your cupcake. ^_^ Or spread onto your bundt cake. (I recommend leaving it runnier if you are going the bundt cake route to make it easier to spread.)
10. Drizzle remaining caramel sauce over top of your cupcakes.
11. If you wish, add extra peanuts as a garnish and stick a straw in the side for a cute presentation!

Enjoy!!!!

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Happy Independence Day!

From my family to yours, have a happy and safe 4th of July!

And a Special Thanks to all our Armed Forces: Past, Present and Future!

Some simple 4th of July ideas. Rice Crispy Treats & Airheads make a quick and easy platform to make flags, a Captain America shield or even Wonder Woman!

Dip some strawberries in chocolate and top with Blueberries!

Or an old favorite, blueberry & Strawberry jell-o layer perfectly and topped with whip cream for that cool treat on this hot summer day!

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Angry Birds Birthday!

Well, it is the day after a very long birthday extravaganza. Started at 6 Am yesterday and wasn't finished until around 9 Pm last night. (Granted that is not counting prep time the whole week before or clean up afterwards, lol.)

4th of July is tomorrow, so I gotta run and do prep everything for tomorrow, thankfully it isn't too much but the stores will be packed today. So will leave you with lots of nifty pictures! All done by Surreal Confections & Surreal Dream Designs. ^_^ (Balloons of course are by Chef Jason of Cynical Cuisine)

Hand Cut and Decorated Angry Birds Cookies

Angry Birds Beak Cookie Pops

Dark Chocolate 3 Tier Cake

Fondant Figures, Buttercream Frosting

Birthday Badge By Surreal Dream Designs

The Full Spread

Another Closeup Of The Cake

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