Chocolate Dessert Recipes
Here is my collection of the very best Chocolate Dessert Recipes! You’ll find the perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies, the best-ever Brownies, decadent Chocolate Cakes, rich Chocolate Cheesecakes, delicious Chocolate Ice Cream, and more!
Most Popular
Chocolate Cupcakes
Chocolate Cheesecakes
Chocolate Brownie Recipes
Chocolate Cake Recipes
Chocolate For Breakfast Recipes
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Fun Chocolate Recipes
Sweet Chocolate Science
With these helpful how-to articles, you’ll learn how to make perfect chocolate desserts every time.
Tessa’s Top Baking Tips
1
Measure your flour + cocoa powder correctly for the best chocolate desserts
Flour and cocoa powder are all too easy to mis-measure. These ingredients can be easily compacted into a container or measuring cup without you even realizing. Too much flour can result in dry, dense, crumbly, tough and even rubbery desserts.
Learn how to accurately measure your baking ingredients with a digital scale here.
2
Use the correct baking pan for brownies
I highly recommend using a reflective metal baking pan. I like this baking pan.
Dark metal pans will dry out the edges, often before the center can cook through. Glass or ceramic baking pans will take LONGER to bake, and the texture of the brownies may become more gummy. If you must use glass or ceramic, add about 10 to 15 minutes to the baking time.
I like to line my pan with two sheets of parchment, leaving an overhang so I can easily lift out the entire pan of brownies to cut and serve.
3
The SECRET behind the BEST cocoa powder? FAT!
HIGH FAT COCOA POWDER IS MAGIC!
High fat cocoa powder contains at least 22% cocoa butter, double the amount of most grocery store cocoa products!
This results in a richer chocolate flavor with cakes that are ultra moist and tender in texture, brownies and cookies that are chewy and fudgy, and ultra smooth buttercream frosting.
Check out my article for The Most Important Thing to Know About Cocoa Powder here.
The Ultimate Brownie Cheatsheet
All your brownie baking questions answered! Plus my must-have brownie tools, brownie recipes, and more.
The Best Chocolate Desserts
Step into my kitchen and bake these easy chocolate recipes step-by-step with me.
Get Our Best Buttercream Cheatsheet
This free printable PDF contains my best buttercream recipe, my favorite piping tips, and lots more!
All Chocolate Recipes
Frequently Asked Questions
What is cocoa powder?
The product resulting from the process of fermenting, drying, roasting, and grinding cocoa beans into a powder.
More specifically, the fermented and roasted beans are ground into a paste called chocolate liquor, which is a mixture of cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Some of that chocolate liquor is used to make chocolate candy and bar products. The rest is pressed further to remove most of the cocoa powder (which is also used to make chocolate). The cocoa solids that remain are ground into what becomes cocoa powder.
Are Dutch process and natural cocoa powder interchangeable?
While the two cocoa powders are quite different, one isn’t necessarily better than the other. They can be used interchangeably if there is no baking soda or baking powder called for in the recipe.
However, if a specific leavening agent is called for, your best bet is to stick with the cocoa powder specified.
How to tell when brownies are done baking:
You never want to overbake brownies. There should absolutely be moist crumbs attached to a tester by the end of the baking time. With a recipe containing gooey chocolate chips, it can be more difficult to tell when the brownies are done baking.
I always err on the side of underbaking brownies. The residual heat of the oven will continue to cook them even after you place the pan on a cooling rack. I wouldn’t bake much longer than the recipe suggests unless you’re using a glass pan.
What kind of chocolate is best in chocolate cake?
We can’t make the best chocolate cake without paying attention to the chocolate ingredients! My Best Chocolate Cake recipe contains both bittersweet chocolate AND Dutch-process cocoa powder for as much chocolate flavor as possible.
The frosting uses melted chocolate for the most intense and pure chocolate flavor possible. I like to use semisweet, but feel free to use milk or bittersweet chocolate. Just make sure you’re using the highest quality chocolate you can.
Do I have to keep chocolate cake refrigerated?
Since frosting acts as a protective seal that keeps the cake moist and fresh, frosted cakes can be stored at a cool and dry room temperature for up to 2 days. Cover with a cake keeper to keep the frosting intact. Don’t use plastic wrap, which will not only ruin your frosting but also create condensation that can cause the frosting to separate.
I personally don’t worry about keeping frosting at room temperature since the sugar acts as a preservative, but if this concerns you then just keep cake in the fridge.
How to store buttercream:
Transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to a week. Let come to room temperature and re-whip in the stand mixer until light and fluffy again. Add a tablespoon or 2 of powdered sugar if it needs to thicken.
