Valentine's Day

55+ Absolutely Irresistible Chocolate Desserts

updated Dec 4, 2021

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devils food cake slice on a plate — Credit: Photo: Joe Lingeman; Food Styling: Duncan Fitzpatrick

When a chocolate craving hits, nothing else will satisfy. Whether you’re looking for something classic like a pan of easy cocoa brownies, a nostalgic dish of chocolate pudding, or an impressive layer cake, we’ve got something for you.

For some chocolate inspiration, be it for a special occasion or a weeknight, we’ve rounded up our more than 55 of our favorite chocolate dessert recipes of all time, which range from the easiest Oreo balls to an impressive chocolate layer cake. Pick one and give it a go tonight — you’ll quickly see why these desserts are so beloved.

In This Article

Chocolate Cake
Easy Chocolate Desserts
Chocolate Pudding and Mousse
No-Bake Chocolate Desserts
Brownies

Chocolate Cake

It’s hard to beat the joy of digging in to a slice of chocolate cake, whether it happens to be a sheet cake, layer cake, bundt, or pound cake.

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Devil's Food Cake

Rich, decadent, and chocolate-y without being overly sweet, Devil's food cake is everything a chocolate cake should be.

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Skillet Texas Sheet Cake

Make Texas sheet cake in a skillet with a rich, chocolatey cake, roasted pecans, and fudgy frosting.

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German Chocolate Cake

Nothing quite compares to a slice of German chocolate cake. It’s gooey, nutty, and deliciously chocolate-y all at once — and our version of the classic is the very best one you can make.

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Best-Ever Chocolate Cake

Make a rich chocolate cake with layers of fluffy chocolate buttercream frosting.

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Chocolate Swiss Roll Cake

This chocolate roll cake is filled with marshmallowy frosting and coated in a shiny chocolate glaze. Each slice is a perfect balance of tender cake and creamy frosting.

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Chocolate Sheet Cake

Chocolate sheet cake will revolutionize your celebration cakes — decadent enough to rival layered birthday cakes, yet simple and easy enough for a weeknight.

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The Deepest Darkest Chocolate Cake

Using our favorite chocolate tricks we streamline a decadent cake into 7 layers of chocolate bliss.

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Chocolate Layer Cake

In the world of chocolate cakes, this is a *cake* cake, with a traditional cakey texture — light, spongy, and moist. It has a beautiful shiny top with a springy middle, and it is also an easy, one-bowl recipe.

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Chocolate Sponge Cake with Ganache Frosting

This simple chocolate sponge cake is simply frosted and filled with ganache, and perfect for any occasion.

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Chocolate Cake with Honey-Roasted Peanut Butter Frosting

One of the tastiest ways we know to take a simple chocolate sheet cake over the top - crown it with a light-as-air honey-peanut butter frosting and a sprinkling of honey-roasted peanuts.

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Chocolate Guinness Cake

Thanks in no small part to the magic of stout beer, dark cocoa, and sour cream, this cake is super moist and fudgy with an almost velvet-like texture that most cocoa cakes can’t beat.

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Milk Chocolate Bundt Cake

A trio of chocolates give this classic bundt big flavor.

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Molten Chocolate Bundt Cake

Here's your guide to making a delicious, fudge-filled chocolate Bundt cake (a riff on Tunnel of Fudge cake) without a nut in sight.

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Chocolate Coconut Cake

A double dose of coconut is just the ticket to balance the intense chocolate flavor in the cake.

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Chocolate Pound Cake

Chocolate pound cake comes together so easily that it’s an everyday cake, but the deep chocolate flavor make it feel like a luscious, special-occasion treat.

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Dark Chocolate Cake

The flavor is every chocolate-lover’s dream: slightly bitter, rich, and intensely chocolatey. It has just the tiniest hint of sweetness and the same bittersweet flavor you get from a fancy chocolate bar.

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Chocolate Bumpy Cake

Just like the nostalgic Midwestern favorite.

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Chocolate Banana Cake

Move over banana bread, this cake is truly the most delicious way to use up a bunch of overripe bananas.

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Flourless Chocolate Cake

This is a truly flourless chocolate cake that manages to be light and rich at the same time. It's genuinely gluten-free, fabulously foolproof, and all chocolate.

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Boca Negra Picosito con Salsa Dulce de Tomatillo (Spiced Chocolate Cakes with Sweet Tomatillo Sauce)

Boca negra cake got its name because, once you dig in, your mouth will be covered in luxurious chocolate. The tomatillo sauce may seem unusual, but the smokiness of the chipotles gives an incredible depth to this scrumptious dessert.

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Peppermint Mocha Snack Cake

This coffee-spiked chocolate cake topped with a sea of crushed peppermint candies is a holiday staple that's easy to whip together.

Easy Chocolate Desserts

Want a chocolate dessert you can tackle on a weeknight? You’ll find one here. Some are short on time, while others require just a few basic ingredients.

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Chocolate Trifle Recipe

This tiered dessert is equal parts elegant and easy, thanks to store-bought pudding, whipped cream, cake, and crushed cookies.

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Chocolate Wacky Cake

It’s a perfect dessert to make for last-minute guests or for those times when you crave a slice of cake, but don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. It also skips the dairy and eggs.

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Toasted Coconut & Almond Chocolate Clusters

This a salt-topped, dark chocolate treat that straddles the line between snack and dessert.

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Slow Cooker Chocolate Lava Cake

Inspired by a classic chocolate lava cake, this decadent dessert never fails to impress.

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The Easiest Chocolate Pudding Cakes

It’s a decadent treat to break out on the fanciest of occasions, yet is quick and easy enough to pull off any night of the week.

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Double Chocolate Palmiers

Turn store-bought puff pastry into a spirals on chocolate-filled, chocolate dipped cookies with this easy-to-make recipe.

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Easy Chocolate Lava Cakes

With just five ingredients, this classic restaurant dessert is surprisingly easy to whip up at home, and thanks to their surprise-inside center, they're guaranteed to delight whoever you're serving.

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Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cobbler

Don't be surprised if this simple retro dessert kind of reminds you of a partially baked brownie.

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The Easiest Brownies Ever

Some might call these basic, no-bowl-required brownies desperate, but we call them delicious.

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Easy Chocolate Ganache

Mastering the art of chocolate ganache means you can whip up a layer cake filling, chocolate truffles, or a pourable chocolate glaze any time you need it. Plus, it only takes two ingredients: dark chocolate and heavy cream.

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Easy Chocolate Pie

A step-by-step guide to making an easy, yet decadent, chocolate pie.

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Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries

It's so easy to make this fast-and-fancy treat at home — no candy-making skills required!

Chocolate Pudding and Mousse

Practically everyone loves chocolate pudding and is easily impressed with a dish of chocolate mousse. Both can hold their own for any special occasion and make weeknights at home feel extra cozy.

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Classic Chocolate Pudding

Knowing how to make pudding from scratch is like having the golden key to winning dessert.

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Chocolate Avocado Pudding

This chocolate avocado pudding is as chocolatey and luscious as any other pudding, and it’s even richer-tasting, more unctuous, and even more chocolatey.

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Vegan Chocolate-Almond Chia Pudding

Cocoa powder is the secret to giving this vegan pudding a serious chocolatey flavor.

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Vegan Chocolate Pudding Cups with Coconut Cream

A handful of ingredients and a blender are all you need to whip up this dairy-free chocolate pudding.

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Chocolate Coconut Pudding

The secret to extra rich and silky chocolate pudding? Canned coconut milk.

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Dark Chocolate Pots de Crème

If you're looking for the most luxurious chocolate pudding you’ve ever had - this is the recipe for you.

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Easy Chocolate Mousse

This two-ingredient version of this classic dessert might be the only dessert recipe you need for the rest of your life.

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Chrissy Teigen's Three-Ingredient Chocolate Mousse with Salty Rice Krispies–Hazelnut Crackle

This 3-ingredient chocolate mousse is topped with a crave-worthy hazelnut crackle.

No-Bake Chocolate Desserts

When your chocolate craving is getting serious but turning on the oven isn’t in the cards, these are the no-bake chocolate desserts you want to turn. Whether it’s a lush and creamy pie, an icebox cake, or a 3-ingredient confection, you can’t go wrong with this lineup.

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No-Bake Peanut Butter Pie with Chocolate Whipped Cream

All three components of this pie — the crust, the filling, and the topping — are made in the food processor, meaning it's all prepped and assembled and ready to chill in the fridge in just 10 minutes.

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Chocolate Cream Pie

This silky-smooth chocolate cream pie is made with an Oreo crust and topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

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No-Bake Salted Chocolate Oatmeal Bars

A mash up of Rice Krispies Treats & granola bars, with a double layer of marshmallow coated oats with a dense slick of salted chocolate through the center.

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Icebox Cake

The most over-the-top ode to peanut butter & chocolate comes to life in this stunning no-bake cake. If you love Reese's cups or buckeyes, this is for you.

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Famous Chocolate Icebox Cake

Store-bought chocolate wafers and a couple basic ingredients are all you need to bring this classic to life.

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3-Ingredient Oreo Balls

If there was an award for the dessert that does the most with the fewest ingredients, Oreo balls would take home first place. The three-ingredient treat straddles the line between cookie and candy, with a rich, dense center that just might remind you of a truffle, plus a blanket of snappy chocolate coating.

Brownies

It’s impossible to think about chocolate desserts without considering brownies. They’re a timeless treat with a place at every occasion.

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Rich, decadent, and deeply chocolaty, these brownies will melt in your mouth.

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Pecan Pie Brownies

Boxed brownies topped with an easy pecan pie filling will be your favorite fall dessert mash-up.

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2-Ingredient Brownies

Have chocolate chips and eggs on hand? You can make these in a little over 30 minutes.

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Peanut Butter Brownies

A thick swirl of peanut butter makes ordinary brownies even better.

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Pantry Cocoa Brownies

The beauty of these simple brownies is that you probably have everything you need to make them in the kitchen right now.

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Cream Cheese Brownies

These fudgy chocolate brownies feature a decadent cream cheese swirl.

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Coffee Brownies

These one-bowl brownies are fudgy and decadent, with a hint of coffee flavor.

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These triple decker mint brownies start with a rich fudge brownie base, topped with a layer of mint buttercream, and finished with dark chocolate ganache.

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These brownies ride the line between chewiness and the rich experience of dark, fudgy brownies because we really just don’t want to compromise on the chocolate or the flavor.

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2-Ingredient Nutella Brownies

You only need two ingredients to make these decadent brownies: a jar of Nutella and a handful of eggs, which, when whisked until lightened in color and tripled in size, acts as the leavener for these brownies. The result is a fudgy, chewy gluten-free brownie that makes for the perfect weeknight dessert.

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Bittersweet Brownies with Salted Peanut Butter Frosting

Just when you thought ultra-rich brownies couldn't get any better, they do, all thanks to a whipped peanut butter frosting and shower of flaky salt.

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Molten Midnight Brownies

This pan of brownies is as dark and decadent as they come.

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One-Bowl Caramel Skillet Brownies

These are brownies that satisfy like no other; they’re intensely chocolatey, chewy yet still fudgy, and made even more decadent with swirls of gooey caramel sauce and a healthy sprinkle of flaky sea salt.

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S'mores Brownies

Here's everything you love about s'mores, baked into a fudgy brownie.

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Speculoos-Swirl Skillet Brownie

If you like your brownies chewy, dense, and rich with chocolate, this is the recipe for you. And we added a few swirls of melted speculoos for good measure.

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Cheesecake Brownies

Your two favorite sweets in one dessert.

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Chocolate Chunk Brownies

Fudgy, crackly, and chewy, Jerrelle Guy's brownie recipe pulls out all the stops.

Credit: Kitchn

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