Ah, chocolate. Surely one of the most popular sweet foods in the world, and the star ingredient of a countless number of desserts, from the quickest of simple bites to the most complex and elegant of cakes to delicious chocolate dessert recipes.
If you’re in the mood for some chocolate to round off your meal tonight, look no further than this list! We’ve compiled a list of some of the very best chocolate desserts there are, so you’ll be spoiled for choice. Dive in and prepare to get chocolatey.
1. Pain au Chocolat Bread and Butter Pudding
Bread and butter pudding is a classic English dessert, but this recipe uses pain au chocolat (the French for chocolate bread) to introduce chocolate into the mix and reimagine the dessert, taking it to a new level. It’s easy to make, too.
The pain au chocolat is soaked in chocolate custard until the top turns crispy, resulting in a wonderfully decadent dessert. It goes wonderfully with either cream or ice cream, and is low effort while still being impressive.
2. Ultimate Chocolate Cheesecake
This delightfully flavorsome cheesecake is really rich and creamy and, of course, chocolatey. It’s chocolate from the ground up – the base, the filling, and the ganache that tops it all off all include with chocolate.
The recipe might look long, but the process of making it is straightforward and the lovely, smooth cheesecake that results is the perfect follow-up to any dinner.
3. Gordon Ramsay’s Chocolate Doughnuts
Gordon Ramsay has earned a certain level of notoriety in the world of cooking but don’t worry, he (probably) won’t come to your house and tell you you’re a donkey if you botch this recipe. Anyway, you’re not going to botch it because it’s a pretty simple recipe.
Dusted with malt powder and filled with a tempting mixture of butter, dark chocolate, double cream, and honey, nobody will be able to resist these for long, and homemade donuts won’t fail to make everyone happy.
4. Chocolate and chilli tart with crème fraîche and lime
If you’re skeptical of the combination of chocolate and chili, don’t be. After all, adding dark chocolate to a chili con carne is a well-known trick to add an extra layer of flavor to it, and the same kind of principle is at work here.
Don’t worry too much about the spice, as it’s just a gentle heat. The lime mixes well with both the chilli and the chocolate and adds a lively, zesty energy to the dish.
Serve it with plenty of crème fraîche and lime zest over the top and you’ll have a sophisticated dessert that people will respect you for making.
You can also vary the chocolate you use to alter the notes you get from it, so go wild if you feel like experimenting with different kinds.
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5. Chocolate Dessert Pizza
Yes, you read that right, dessert pizza. This recipe actually includes instructions for four different kinds of dessert pizza, so you can try them all if you like, or just stick with the chocolate one.
Dessert pizzas require pizza dough just like a normal pizza. You can make your own or just buy some, but either way, it’s what you top it with that really matters.
There are so many roads you can go down here – fresh fruit, different sweet sauces, candies, and more are open to you. Just make sure you serve it when it’s fresh from baking in the oven.
6. Chocolate Baklava
If you haven’t heard of baklava before, you’re missing out. It’s a delicious sweet pastry that’s popular in the Middle East and parts of Southeastern Europe.
It doesn’t usually include chocolate – it’s layers of ultra-thin phyllo pastry with finely chopped nuts and honey or syrup between them. But if you want chocolate baklava, then just who’s going to stop you?
Nobody, that’s who. This recipe uses Nutella to get that chocolate taste, and since baklava sometimes includes hazelnuts anyway, this isn’t a total break from tradition. The rich, crispy chocolate baklava are addictive, so be sure to make a large batch!
7. Kentucky Bourbon Pie
If you’re worrying about the alcohol levels, there’s no need – this recipe only contains a small amount of bourbon and the alcohol will cook out as it bakes, so you can give it to your kids without worrying about being a bad parent.
This is a take on a classic pecan pie and the creamy bourbon center is layered over a mixture of pecans and chocolate for maximum flavor.
8. Molten Chocolate Cakes
These great cakes are sometimes also known as chocolate lava cakes or chocolate volcano cakes. They get these names from the round, mountain shaped cake with a hole in the middle filled with sumptuous liquid chocolate.
However, this recipe is the original by the master chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and his rich, chocolate concoction is absolutely top-notch. Despite that, it’s not as hard as you’d think to make.
They can also be frozen for several hours, so you can make them ahead of time if you’re preparing a dinner party.
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9. Vegan Chocolate Silk Pie
Chocolate, of course, tends to have milk in it, which can leave vegans feeling a little left out. Don’t worry though, because vegan chocolate desserts do exist and are just as delicious! Take this one, for example, which, as a bonus, is also gluten-free.
The silk in the title comes from silken tofu, which is one of the main ingredients. This is combined with non-dairy chocolate chips and coconut milk to create an exquisitely soft and tasty pie that even non-vegans will be begging for a taste of.
10. Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies
Here’s another dessert that’s spiked with a hit of spice, but in this case, it’s not just chili – cinnamon is coming to join this party too. They’re thick, chewy in the best way, and the chocolate chunks scattered throughout are delightful.
To take them to an even higher plane of deliciousness, coat them in a sugar and cinnamon mixture before you bake them for an amazing sweet, spicy crust.
11. Chocolate Coconut Cake
A coconut cake is a wonderful thing, but a chocolate coconut cake? Well, it’s something else altogether. Even the contrast of the colors is appealing, the white coconut and the dark chocolate playing off each other in layers.
Making it’s nothing too difficult – the chocolate cake recipe is more or less standard, with the difference coming in the coconut cream between the layers. It’s very rich, so make sure you leave room and don’t fill up on bread earlier in the meal!
12. Chocolate Pasta with Caramel and Pecans
This might be the most unusual-sounding dessert on this list. Be assured that this is ‘pasta’ made using cocoa powder as part of the mix, rather than just regular pasta coated in chocolate or anything like that.
This version actually uses store-bought chocolate pasta, but if you like, you can make your own.
Aside from that, all you’ll need are pecans, butter, brown sugar, and double cream. All that together makes a rich, satisfying dessert that’s sure to impress any dinner guests.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are There Any Healthy Chocolate Desserts?
Well, the thing to remember is that healthy is a relative term. Pure chocolate has very little sugar or fat, meaning it’s not unhealthy in the way that everyday chocolate is, but that everyday chocolate is full of sugar and fat for a reason: it tastes good.
Pure chocolate is far too bitter for most palates and isn’t usually anyone’s idea of a good dessert.
That being said, there are some that are healthier than others. The vegan chocolate silk pie (number 9 on this list) is an example of one of these, since it uses dairy free chocolate and tofu as its main ingredients.
Are Chocolate Desserts Easy To Make?
Quite a lot of them are, actually, including some that you might expect to be quite hard.
While chocolate cakes range from very easy to very difficult depending on how much detail and technicality they involve, things like cookies, brownies, and chocolate pies certainly don’t take a great chef to do a good job with.
If you’re looking for a simple one, try the pain au chocolat bread and butter pudding (number 1) or the Mexican hot chocolate cookies (number 10).
Is White Chocolate Real Chocolate?
While white chocolate does contain cocoa butter as an ingredient, it doesn’t contain any cocoa solids and so is technically not a chocolate at all.
That being said, white chocolate does feature in quite a lot of desserts (although there are none on this particular list) and tastes very sweet. This sweetness is sometimes too much for those who prefer their chocolate darker.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve finished this list, then your mind should be racing with ideas for the chocolate dessert you’re going to make, whether it’s for a simple dinner for yourself or a grand dinner party.
Work your way through the list, and it’ll only be a matter of time before you’re known as the go-to person for chocolate desserts!
Hi! My name is Jessica, and I recently decided to set up the site My Baking Heart, as an extension of my love for baking. It is something I have enjoyed since being a young child, when I would bake cookies and cakes with my grandma
Over the years, I have developed my skills and love to try all kinds of baking, from genoise sponges, to peach cobbler, and everything in between. New recipes are so much fun to follow and recreate.
Through this site, I hope to teach others the basics of baking, from how to use certain equipment, to the best types of recipes to follow. My site is a mixture of useful informational content, recipes, and of course, review of the best types of baking equipment.
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