73 Chocolate Dessert Recipes You Should Try, Ranging from Everyday Sweets to Outrageously Decadent Treats
Having a rough day? Have a chocolate chip cookie. Celebrating a big milestone? There’s a cocoa-laced cake for that. Date night? Sounds like homemade truffles are in order. What we’re trying to say is, it’s always a good time for a little chocolate (or a lot). From chocolate chip-studded cookies and cakes to decadent puddings and mousses, these 73 chocolate dessert recipes will delight everyone—from the occasional sweet tooth to the biggest chocolate lover you know.
RELATED: The Best Chocolate Chips for Baking Just About Anything
1. Three-Ingredient Chocolate Truffles
These decadent bites come together with just chocolate, cocoa powder and heavy cream. Since there aren’t many ingredients, choose a higher-quality chocolate (like discs or a favorite bar) instead of chocolate chips, which often contain stabilizers.
2. Hazelnut Butter Cookies
ICYMI: We partnered with Hu Kitchen to create a limited edition chocolate collection. This chic black-and-white tin holds a variety of Hu’s signature chocolate bars (think: Vanilla Crunch and Hazelnut Butter). Each bar is made without any weird ingredients—no dairy, no soy, no sugar alcohols, you get the idea. One of our favorite ways to eat them? Simply break off a square and bake it on top of your favorite cookie.
3. Chocolate Glazed Espresso Cheesecake
If you ask us, chocolate and coffee go together like peanut butter and jelly. This cheesecake is extra tall and rich, and while it does require a water bath to bake, the results are so worth it.
4. Chocolate ‘High-Ratio’ Sheet Cake
What the heck is “high ratio”? That’s baker’s lingo for the higher ratio of sugar in the recipe, which yields a tender, moist crumb that’s light as air (and in this case, ultra-chocolatey). Bonus: The frosting is made from just two ingredients.
5. Easy Chocolate Marshmallow Cups
These cuties look like they came from a bakery but are so simple to DIY. The chocolate coating gets its snap from coconut oil instead of tempering—ingenious, if you ask us.
6. Chocolate-Peppermint Linzer Cookies
These sandwiches have cookie texture, brownie flavor and plenty of sweet, minty filling. Even better, the pink color comes from peppermint candies instead of food dye.
7. Chocolate Raspberry Fool
Whether you’re looking for a Valentine’s Day treat or a date night dessert, this is the answer. The decadent cups take 25 minutes to make, start to finish. (To save even more time, use store-bought preserves in place of the homemade raspberry swirl.)
8. Gluten-Free Super-Moist Chocolate Cake
Here’s official proof that gluten-free desserts can be just as delicious as their gluten-full counterparts. A kitchen scale will be your BFF here, since weight measurements are more accurate than volume, and accuracy is key.
9. Chocolate-Stuffed Brownie Bites
Deeply chocolatey brownie batter meets chocolate candies meets mini dessert. Pinch us, we must be dreaming.
10. Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies
These cookies are intensely fudgy, of course, but they also have a spicy twist. They’re rolled in cayenne-spiked cinnamon sugar for a bit of heat that’s reminiscent of cinnamon candies.
11. Chocolate Skillet Cake
Layer cakes always bring the oohs and ahhs, but you can’t beat the simple pleasure of diving into a molten skillet of chocolate cake with a spoon. (Who needs plates anyway?)
12. Fig–Dark Chocolate Brownies
These fudgy brownies have a secret: They’re made with a bit of sourdough starter for a complex, tangy flavor that will make you go back for seconds. The swirls of fig jam don’t hurt, either.
13. Instant Pot Deep Dark Chocolate Pudding
Allow recipe developer Sarah Copeland to show you that your precious Instant Pot is good for more than just chicken stock. Psst: If you cook this recipe on low pressure, you’ll get a loose pudding; high pressure yields a soufflé-meets-mousse texture.
14. Snickerdoodle Chocolate-Chunk Bundt Cake
As it turns out, cinnamon and chocolate are a surprisingly delicious pairing. This nostalgic cake features a swirl of cinnamon-sugar and plenty of chocolate chunks (not to mention that gorgeous drippy frosting).
15. Frozen Chocolate Soufflé
Soufflé sounds intimidating, but we’ve found the solution that will prevent your chocolate dessert from falling flat: freeze it. OK, so it’s not a traditional soufflé, but it’s every bit as delicious.
16. Chocolate Chip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
As if chocolate chip cookies needed any improvement (um, spoiler, they don’t), we transformed them into a cake solely so we could add cream cheese frosting. Pro tip: Use mini chocolate chips to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the batter.
17. Chocolate-Caramel Pretzel Tart Recipe
We’ll go to great lengths to get our hands on a salty-sweet treat, and that includes making homemade caramel. (Don’t worry, it’s actually foolproof.)
18. Espresso-Chocolate Bundt Cake with Salted Caramel Glaze
This chocolate stunner is super tender, thanks to buttermilk in the batter. Good luck waiting until the cake is fully cooled before glazing, slicing and eating.
19. Three-Ingredient Chocolate Mousse
If you can make whipped cream, you can make this elegant dessert. The salty rice cereal crackle topping is optional, but it adds welcome texture if you have time to make it.
20. Chocolate-Chip Mug Brownie for One
When the craving for a brownie strikes, you don’t always have time to make an entire batch. Instead of running out for a boxed mix, make a single-serve version in your microwave. (Seriously!)
21. Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies
We finally found a way to combine our two favorite afternoon pick-me-ups. These cookies offer the best of both worlds—a sugar buzz and a caffeine buzz—and even come together in one bowl.
22. Black-and-White Pudding
Chocolate plays nice with many flavors, but vanilla might be her BFF. These striking pudding cups are way fancier than anything you’d buy at the store (but they’re as easy to make as peeling open a snack pack).
23. Chocolate Avocado Brownies
You bought a bunch of avocados and they all ripened at the same time. That’s pretty rude of them, but these brownies are the solution. They’re the ideal middle ground between cakey and fudgy, not to mention gluten free.
24. Roasted Almond and Chocolate Chunk Cookies
These babies are gluten free and dairy optional, but totally don’t taste like it. The trick to getting the best texture is to chill the dough overnight. We know: Who wants to wait for a cookie? Trust us, you do.
25. Chocolate Semifreddo Seduction
This dessert is as rich and silky as chocolate pudding, and as refreshing as a scoop of ice cream. It also takes a measly 5 minutes to make, 30 minutes to chill and serves two (so you don’t have to share).
26. Vegan & Gluten-Free Dark Chocolate Ginger Tart
To be honest, vegan and gluten-free is sometimes a little too healthy-tasting, if you get our drift. But with its fudge-like consistency and irresistible combination of rich dark chocolate and zingy ginger, this tart tastes anything but healthy.
27. Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
If a soft molasses cookie and a good old chocolate chip number had a very delicious baby, it would be one of these guys. To get the best chewy texture, take care to not overbake them.
28. Chocolate and Salted Peanut Crepe Cake
If piping frosting and arranging fruit slices send shivers down your spine, this crepe cake has your name on it. It tastes like a chocolate–peanut butter cup and basically decorates itself.
29. Orange and Chocolate Brioche Tarts
If blood oranges are in season, take advantage of their color. If not, you can use any type of orange, like Cara Cara, navel or sumo.
30. Chocolate-Chip Cookie Tart with Chocolate Ganache
Cookie cake? More like cookie crust. Top this nostalgic pie with a dollop of whipped cream and it’s like having sliceable milk and cookies for dessert.
31. Avocado Chocolate Mousse
Rich, creamy and intensely chocolaty, this treat is also dairy-free and plant-based. And because we know you’re wondering: It doesn’t taste anything like avocado.
32. Mini Chocolate Snowball Cakes
They’re like the lunchbox treat of your childhood, only better, because you made them yourself.
33. Caramel-Chocolate Macadamia Tart
Go ahead and file this one under “gorgeous and secretly easy.” The crust is a press-in number, and the filling is impossible to mess up. Even better, it tastes like a fancy candy bar.
34. Easy Nutella Mousse
We love a dessert recipe that calls for less than ten ingredients and requires no special skills. The hardest part will be waiting for it to chill in the fridge.
35. Gluten-Free Flourless Cocoa Cookies
These cookies are made with confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder to let that chocolate flavor shine. The whole gluten-free thing is really just an added bonus.
36. Adaptogen Chocolate Bark
All dessert is supposed to make you feel better, right? With adaptogenic ingredients like bee pollen and rose, this one just might live up to that promise.
37. Giant Peanut Butter Cup
When it comes to peanut butter cups, more is more. They’re pretty much the best invention since, well, chocolate, which is why we made a jumbo version for slicing and sharing.
38. Rocky Road Cookies
The crunchy marshmallow bits around the edge of each molten cookie make it practically impossible to have just one. We apologize in advance.
39. Vegan Black Forest Cherry Cake
With a cherry filling and chocolate ganache on top, we guarantee this plant-based cake is just as decadent as the one you remember from childhood.
40. Peppermint Devil’s Food Hi-Hat Cupcakes
A huge mound of minty marshmallow frosting hides beneath that thin layer of chocolate glaze. What more could you ask for?
41. Chocolate Bread Pudding Cake
Bread pudding is delightfully sticky and rustic, but in order to elevate the dessert, we baked it in a springform pan and added a drizzle of icing. You’re welcome.
42. Brownie Pops
What makes a humble brownie better? Putting it on a stick and dipping it into chocolate, naturally. Set out a platter of these sweet bites at your next gathering and await all the compliments.
43. Cookies-and-Cream Naked Cake
Raise your hand if you want to make naked cakes a thing again. (Yep, us too. No frosting = less work.)
44. Homemade Milano Cookies
Why limit yourself to a bag of 16 cookies that have been sitting on a store shelf for 97 years when you could have an entire freshly baked batch at your disposal?
45. Brownie Layer Cake
Go big or go home, you say? OK, we’ll go big and make an entire cake out of two batches of brownies and two layers of whipped cream.
46. Nutella Sandwich Cookies
Would you believe us if we told you that these itty-bitty cookies call for just six ingredients? (Believe it.)
47. No-Bake, Gluten-Free Rose Petal Brownies
If you’re into fudge, you’ll like these brownies. Don’t feel like ordering dried rose petals? It’s OK to scatter rose tea on top for a similar look and taste.
48. Triple Cookie Skillet Pie
This rich and gooey creation is part chocolate chip cookie, part chocolate s’mores cookie and part snickerdoodle. Pick your favorite or taste all three.
49. Texas Sheet Cake
Give us rich, chocolatey chocolate cake and we’re happy campers. We don’t even need fancy layers or sprinkles. Case in point: This one goes from oven to table in less than an hour, and you don’t even need a stand mixer to make it.
50. Checkerboard Cake
On the other hand, if you want a baking *project,* look no further than this artful dessert. (Shortcut it by using chocolate and yellow cake mix—no one will know).
51. Oven-Baked S’mores Bars
Campfire or not, you’re hungry for s’mores. Lucky for you, these indoor s’mores don’t require scout skills or firewood to make.
52. Oreo-Stuffed Brownies
Do you want cookies, brownies or both? Hint: The correct answer here is both.
53. Itty-Bitty Sandwich Cookies
This mini dessert has an advantage beyond being totally adorable: The cookies bake up quickly, which means they’re in your mouth sooner.
54. Microwave Double Chocolate Cake Bowl
This cake-in-a-bowl takes five minutes to prep, five minutes to cook and even less time to devour. (It’s even Paleo friendly if you use cassava flour.)
55. Thin Mint Tarts
Eat your heart out, Girl Scout. When you run out of your favorite mint-chocolate cookies, this tart recipe (inspired by said cookies) is the only thing you'll need to get you through.
56. Brownie Pie
For those who love dessert but hate making decisions. (Sorry, but you will have to choose between vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.)
57. Chocolate Waffle Ice-Cream Sandwiches
Skip the freezer aisle and kick things up a notch in your own kitchen. These sammies are customizable with your favorite ice cream and toppings. (We like vanilla, strawberry and mint chocolate chip.)
58. Slow Cooker Oreo Cheesecake
Pro-level cheesecake is officially easy to recreate at home, thanks to your trusty slow cooker. It acts as a water bath, gently cooking the dessert while eliminating the fuss that comes with using the oven.
59. No-Bake Dessert Lasagna
Graham crackers instead of pasta, chocolate whipped cream instead of sauce. You get the idea.
60. Cookies-and-Cream Ice Pops
Think of these pops as the summertime equivalent of milk and cookies. Best of all, you need only three ingredients to make ’em.
61. Ina Garten’s Black & White Cookies
We don’t like to play favorites, but we’re partial to the chocolate side. (We bet the Barefoot Contessa is too.)
62. Sarah Copeland’s Chocolate Chip Cookie for Modern Times
What makes them modern? Well, they’re quick to make (thanks to melted butter and a one-bowl setup), not too sweet (almond flour and just the right amount of chocolate) and bursting with deep, toffee-like flavor.
63. No-Bake Chocolate Peanut-Butter Pretzel Bars
When you simply can’t choose a snack, combine them into one treat. For this recipe, you don’t even have to turn on the oven.
64. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip
Say hello to your next party dip. Skip the chips in favor of graham crackers or those irresistible cookies shaped like teddy bears.
65. Mint Chocolate Chip Yogurt Ice Pops
They’re made with Greek yogurt—we’re not saying you should eat them for breakfast, but...OK, eat them for breakfast.
66. Chocolate Chip Cookie in a Mug
Whether baking a dozen cookies is too much work or too much temptation, this mug cookie has your back. It’s also ready to eat in seven minutes, a win-win.
67. Chocolate Lover’s Rice Cereal Treats
Dark chocolate is just the thing to complement the sweetness of the marshmallows. Sprinkles are optional, but not really.
68. Edible Cookie Dough
We've been known to make cookie dough just to eat it. So we thought, why not make a risk-free version?
69. Flourless Oatmeal Chocolate-Chip Cookies
Who needs flour when you have chewy, naturally gluten-free oats? They’re just as tasty as the original.
70. Chocolate Cupcakes
On the surface, they’re regular cupcakes. But look closer and you’ll find this recipe makes exactly four—just enough for you and the fam (or just you, no judgment).
71. Ice Cream Cupcakes
The treats will last in the freezer for up to two weeks, so make them now and eat them whenever.
72. Chocolate Dump Cake
Sometimes you want to make a batch of homemade croissants, and sometimes you want to take it easy. This cake is for the latter times: Everything gets tossed in a bowl, poured in a pan and voilà, cake.
73. Brownie Cupcakes
When the cupcakes are almost fully baked, you’ll top each one with a marshmallow, return the pan to the oven and watch those white clouds of sweetness melt over the surface. See? They frost themselves.
