cooking ala mel

healthy recipes and the occasional craft

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Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Filling

One of my VERY favorite things to make is a good layer cake.  I haven’t made one in AGES, so when my friend from work asked me to make her a cake for her first anniversary with her husband, I jumped on the chance.  I will be sharing their cake a little later, but I decided I also needed a cake I could enjoy as well… so here is a deliciously rich chocolate cake with salted caramel filling.  SO good.

Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Filling | cookingalamel.com

This cake starts with three super soft chocolate cake layers, a fluffy salted caramel swiss meringue buttercream sandwiched between them, and a deeply rich dark chocolate swiss meringue buttercream on the outside.  Swiss meringue buttercream is my absolute FAVORITE to use for layer cakes, as it isn’t overly sweet but has a perfect buttery rich flavor. [Read more…]

Raspberry Moscow Mules

I’ve got a great spin on one of my favorite cocktails for you today — raspberry moscow mules!  Adding raspberry to your standard moscow mule adds a great fruity twist for the hot summer months.  Ginger, lime, and raspberry meld together to create a tasty and refreshing cocktail.

Raspberry Moscow Mules | cookingalamel.com

I love a standard moscow mule — ginger and lime are the ultimate combination in my book!  The spicier the ginger, the better — my favorite ginger beer makes me sneeze a little bit. 😉  Adding in raspberry softens out the spiciness of the ginger just slightly and makes it super refreshing! [Read more…]

Sesame Cucumber Salad

Today, I’m sharing one of my favorite salads we’ve been enjoying lately — sesame cucumber salad!  With how hot and muggy it’s been in Maryland pretty much all through May, we’ve been all about fresh things that’ll help us feel a little cooler.  I don’t know if it’s just because winter seemed to go on forever this year and then it immediately turned into hot weather with no real in between, but this year I can’t seem to handle the heat so far.  This sesame cucumber salad is SO perfect for that!  It’s sweet, savory, tangy, and full of the crisp coolness of fresh cucumbers.  SUCH a great way to beat the heat!

Sesame Cucumber Salad | cookingalamel.com

This salad is based on a recipe that was included in one of our Hello Fresh boxes.  We tried Hello Fresh for a couple of weeks when we were pretty busy, and out of all the recipes we tried, this was the only one we really wanted to have again.  I made it a couple more times till I found my perfect combination of sweet and savory for my perfect sesame cucumber salad! [Read more…]