The Best Chocolate Dessert Recipes You (Yes, You!) Can DIY

Mini Flourless Chocolate Cakes

Impress your guests with these simple-to-make and utterly indulgent miniature flourless cakes. They're a nod to a popular restaurant dessert menu option, and truly have it all: minimal prep time, soufflé-like texture, and three kinds of chocolate. Oh yes, we also sneak in a splash of coffee liqueur to really accentuate the bittersweet chocolate in these individual chocolate desserts.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Bacon Layer Cake

Bacon for dessert? It sounds crazy, but once you try a single bite, you'll wonder why you waited so long to pair the dynamic duo. For this party-ready decadent chocolate dessert, we snag a little inspiration from our favorite chocolate-hazelnut spread for the cake itself, then take things over the top with salty, crispy bacon.

Hot Chocolate Bombs with Marshmallows

We certainly don't hop on every social media food trend, but we melted almost immediately after we spotted hot chocolate bombs making waves in late 2020. While it's one totally easy chocolate dessert to make, it looks super-fancy. To try it yourself, simply brush melted chocolate on a mold. Freeze until solid, fill with cocoa mix and any desired hot chocolate mix-ins, and pop an unfilled chocolate shell on top using more melted chocolate to seal them together. For a food gift or to enjoy yourself, this chocolate dessert idea is the bomb.

Buy It: Half Circle Silicone Mold ($8, Walmart)

Ina's Boston Cream Pie

Cookbook author, entertaining ace, and TV host Ina Garten is a queen at dreaming up creative twists on classic dishes both sweet and savory. In this recipe, which she was kind enough to share with us from her latest book, Modern Comfort Food, she upgrades traditional Boston cream pie by soaking the cake itself in an orange juice-Grand Marnier syrup. Pair that with the chocolate eclair dessert flavors featured in the rest of the crowd-pleasing creation and you have one showstopping cake.

Buy It: Modern Comfort Food ($19, Amazon)

Chocolate Chip-Cookie Dough Truffles

Show of hands for all of us who have eaten cookie dough before it's baked. If you, too, have been there, sampled that, these truffles might just be the best chocolate dessert recipe for you. Shape eggless chocolate chip cookie dough into balls, then smother in rich melted chocolate. Yes, please!

Chocolate Cake Donuts

Craving dessert for breakfast? Max out each chocolaty bite with these healthyish mini donuts. They're drenched in a chocolate or powdered sugar glaze but made with sneakily nutritious additions like low-fat yogurt, egg whites, and white whole wheat flour. With those wholesome ingredients—and since we call for baking the donuts rather than frying them—each serving clocks in at just 155 calories.

Buy It: CHEFMADE Mini Donut Baking Pans ($22, Amazon)

Fudgy Brownies

Add some extra oomph to traditional fudge brownies by choosing from one of 10(!) flavor variations for this classic chocolate dessert idea. Minty, malted, fruity, or rocky road, anyone? Our make-it-your-way brownies are guaranteed to please any sweet tooth.

Espresso Tarts

Espresso-laced buttery pastry dough provides the shell that holds the rich filling of coffee liqueur-infused chocolate. Top the fancy chocolate dessert with our homemade chocolate ganache and a chocolate-covered coffee bean to give a nod to the flavors hiding inside. Not jonesing for java? Try our peppermint tart variation instead.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

These crinkle cookies look impressive, but with only 7 ingredients they're actually easy to toss together. The trick is rolling this chocolate dessert in a double-dose of sugar—granulated and powdered—so the snow-kissed look is really vibrant. They take a mere 8 minutes to bake, which means less time stands between you and your first cookie.

Cinnamon-Spiced Hot Chocolate with Almond

You control the kick in this frothy hot chocolate dessert recipe. Chocolate, sugar, milk, vanilla—and your desired amount of warming ground cinnamon—create the perfect blend of sweet and spiced. No matter how you season it, this is one ridiculously silky sip. (Hence why you'll find a mug in our hands early and often every winter.)

Dark Chocolate Pudding

Ditch the store-bought pudding cups. You deserve only the best, and that's what you'll find when you spoon with this easy, rich chocolate dessert. It's a dreamy party dessert, too, since the creamy homemade pudding takes just 20 minutes to prep and can be chilled for up to 24 hours.

Triple-Chocolate Cookies

Who doesn't love chocolate with a little chocolate on top? An extra drizzle of melted chocolate adds an elegant finish to these chocolate cookies. Chopped toasted pecans lend a buttery, nutty element that makes each and every bite feel like a decadent chocolate dessert recipe in and of itself.

Chocolate Cake

Forget the boxed cake mix. This from-scratch cocoa cake is just as easy and fills a full 9- x 13-inch pan for a serves-12 sweet. Made with only 10 basic ingredients, it's the perfect easy chocolate dessert to make for last-minute get-togethers.

Four-Layer Caramel-Crunch Nougat Brownies

This decadent chocolate dessert features layer upon layer of the most beloved dessert flavors. Chewy caramels and crunchy rice cereal join forces with marshmallow crème, ($2, Target) peanut butter, and a rich fudgy top and bottom. With this many levels of deliciousness, there's something in this chocolate dessert for everyone to enjoy.

Chocolate-Chipotle Brownies

Chipotle chile pepper adds a spicy kick of flavor to this delicious brownie recipe. A combination of coffee, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and chocolate offers warm, complex flavor in every bite.

Chocolate-Peanut Ice Cream Cake

Peanut butter and chocolate play nicely in candy bars and cookies. So why not pair them up in a cool and creamy ice cream cake? This make-ahead chocolate dessert recipe is a cinch to prepare in 20 minutes, and can then chill out in the freezer for up to a week.

Triple-Decker Decadence

If a single (or even double) dose of chocolate simply won't do, turn to this ultra-decadent chocolate dessert. Featuring chocolate cookies stacked with layers of homemade chocolate ganache, these cookie sandwiches will have you dreaming about them for days after the final bite disappears. Don't be turned off by the tiny dash of black pepper; it really elevates and amplifies the sweet elements in the cookie dough.

French Silk Pie

"Everyone loves this pie. I serve it a couple times a year and get rave reviews," says one BH&G fan of this best chocolate dessert. We second that, and find ourselves raving about the bakery-quality results we can achieve with a handful of staples like butter, eggs, sugar, flour, cream, and chocolate. Actually, that's pretty much all you need to make this entire showy silk pie.

Chocolate-Cherry Stack Cake

Creamy cherry-flavor frosting is layered between tiers of rich chocolate cake for a fancy chocolate dessert that's absolutely unforgettable. Chocolate-covered cherries make a gorgeous topper.

Chocolate Cheesecake Bars

Classic vanilla-scented New York Cheesecake is good. But you know what is even better? Cheesecake that somehow sneaks in 5(!) sources of chocolate. Finely-crushed chocolate sandwich cookies make up the crust of these irresistible cheesecake bars. Melted and chopped semisweet chocolate, mini chocolate chips, and chocolate liqueur all team up here.

Chocolate Blitzen

A chocolate milkshake cocktail? Sign us up! Chocolate ice cream, Irish cream liqueur, dark créme de cacao, and vodka combine for a boozy chocolate dessert that allows you to enjoy dessert and an after-dinner drink all at once.

Chocolate-Lover's Cake

No list of best chocolate dessert recipes is complete without layer cake made with batter and frosting featuring the MVP ingredient. This fudgy version is topped with chocolate-butter frosting, chocolate curls, and raspberries. It's our no. 1 birthday cake for true chocolate devotees.

Ultimate Chocolate-Dipped Cookies

Chocolate dessert ideas only get better when you dunk them in even more chocolate. For these cookies, which are very deserving of their "ultimate" moniker, the cookie dough includes both cocoa powder and chocolate chips. Then for another layer of decadence, dunk each baked and cooled cookie in a coating of chocolate ganache.

Chocolate-Ancho Crème Brûlée

Like some sweet with your heat? Us too. So for this Mexican chocolate-inspired crème brûlée recipe, we suggest adding a pinch of mildly-spicy ancho chile pepper. Bake until the top of the custard is hardened, then top this fancy chocolate dessert with a cinnamon-sugar mixture to finish.

Double-Chocolate Mascarpone-Raspberry Pie

Nestled in flaky pastry, this silky chocolate dessert recipe is topped with fresh raspberries and silky white chocolate whipped cream. (Why didn't we think of infusing whipped cream with melted chocolate sooner?!) With double the chocolate and the glossy finish that's courtesy of melted raspberry jam, the bakery-quality pie is totally delicious and almost too pretty to eat. Almost.

Hot Chocolate 4 Ways

Winter's favorite drink gets a makeover. And you're in the driver's seat to decide your hot chocolate's destination. Transform the classic chocolate dessert drink into something thoroughly modern with mix-ins like bourbon and bacon, caramel and sea salt, or cayenne and cinnamon.

Hot Cocoa Soufflé with Coffee Ice Cream

This light and airy hot chocolate-inspired soufflé is nearly impossible to resist. (So we don't even try to.) We promise, it's not as complicated to execute as it sounds—the trickiest part is simply whipping egg whites to soft peaks. Serve coffee ice cream on the side, or place a few scoops in the center before serving for a chocolate dessert that's melty and pretty close to magical.

Malted Chocolate Whoopie Pies

This classic combination of cocoa-rich cookie rounds and creamy powdered sugar filling is a tasty throwback to desserts gone by. For evenly-sized, delightfully-round individual chocolate dessert pies, bake each single-serving pie portion in a cake ball pan.

Buy It: Nordic Ware Cake Pop Pan ($30, Amazon)

Dark Chocolate Fondue with Fruit Kabobs

Semisweet chocolate, whipped topping, and strong coffee collide in this set-and-forget slow-cooker chocolate fondue. For easy dippers to pair with this easy, rich chocolate dessert, try cake cubes, pretzels, salted peanut candy bars, dried fruit, marshmallows, biscotti, fruit, and crispy marshmallow treats. Since it serves 16 and can be good to go in less than an hour, this is one of our go-to party dessert ideas.