14 Easy Chocolate Desserts to Make No Matter Your Relationship Status

These chocolate desserts are as easy as they are delicious.

By
Genevieve Yam
Headshot of Genevieve Yam
Genevieve Yam
Culinary Editor
After graduating from the International Culinary Center, Genevieve cooked at Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Per Se. Prior to joining Serious Eats, she was an editor at Epicurious. She grew up between Toronto and Hong Kong and is a graduate of the University of St Andrews in Scotland. She currently lives in New York with her husband and two cats.
Learn about Serious Eats' Editorial Process
and
The Serious Eats Team
The Serious Eats Team
At Serious Eats, we’re a team of self-proclaimed food nerds who are ever-curious about the “why” behind cooking. The staff has worked in restaurants, test kitchens, bakeries, and other notable publications, bringing extensive culinary and editorial expertise to the table.
Learn about Serious Eats' Editorial Process
Published February 12, 2025
Chocolate lava cake in ramekin, not yet opened up with a spoon

Serious Eats / Qi Ai

Valentine's Day and chocolate have gone hand in hand since at least the 1840s, when brothers Richard and George Cadbury began selling chocolates in heart-shaped boxes for Valentine's Day, establishing a tradition that remains today. If you've forgotten to purchase an elegant box of chocolates for your loved one, it's not too late to make something from scratch. Below, we've gathered our favorite chocolate dessert recipes—including an airy soufflé, flourless chocolate cake, and creamy pot de crèmes—that are as easy as they are delicious, and guaranteed to impress your significant other.

  • Chocolate Pot de Crèmes

    Overhead view of pot de cremes

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    Chocolate pot de crèmes—rich, velvety French custards—are easy enough to make on a weeknight, and luxurious enough for a special occasion like Valentine’s Day. Using a bittersweet chocolate with about 70% cocoa prevents the dessert from being cloyingly sweet, while a mixture of whole milk, heavy cream, and egg yolks produces a rich custard.

  • 2-Ingredient Chocolate Truffles

    Overhead view of water ganache truffles

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    Water and chocolate are all you need to make this luxurious dark chocolate ganache, which you can use to glaze cakes or fill pastries or turn into truffles.

  • Chocolate Mousse

    Side angle view of a spoon lifting up chocolate mousse

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    Rich with bittersweet flavor and light as a cloud, chocolate mousse is a simple, elegant dessert. This method is foolproof: Melting chocolate together with the cream stabilizes the chocolate and prevents it from seizing. It also lightens up the chocolate mixture, making it easier to fold together with the egg whites without deflating the mixture.

  • Chocolate Soufflé

    20201003-chocolate-souffle-test2-vicky-wasik-12

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    Making a light, airy soufflé isn't as difficult as it sounds: All you have to do is liberally butter and sugar your ramekins, melt your chocolate properly, and whip your egg whites well. While many soufflés are served with a sauce poured inside, this one stays moist enough on the inside that it's not entirely necessary. 

    Continue to 5 of 14 below

  • Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

    Side view of cake

    Serious Eats / Maureen Celestine

    Made with flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and a few other pantry staples, this cake has a moist, tender crumb and rich chocolate flavor.

  • Red Velvet Brownies

    red velvet brownie squares stacked together on a gold platter on top of a red velvet backdrop

    Serious Eats / Hannah Huffman

    Topped with a tangy frosting, laced with bittersweet cocoa powder, and flavored with rich white chocolate, these brownies taste like a fudgier version of classic red velvet cake. Plus: You don’t have to bake, stack, and frost an entire cake.

  • Flourless Chocolate Lava Cakes

    Chocolate lava cake in ramekin, not yet opened up with a spoon

    Serious Eats / Qi Ai

    These molten chocolate lava cakes take just 30 minutes to make—and taste just like a pastry chef made them.

  • Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

    two mugs of hot cocoa on a counter
    Vicky Wasik

    Don't feel like cooking? Homemade hot chocolate is a perfectly acceptable dessert. White chocolate brings richness, body, and aroma, and its sweetness balances the bitterness of Dutch cocoa powder.

    Continue to 9 of 14 below

  • Chocolate Skillet Cake With Milk Chocolate Ganache Frosting

    Overhead voew of chocolate skillet cake

    Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Glaze

    This chocolate cake topped with milk chocolate frosting couldn't be easier. The batter for the cake is made in the skillet it's baked in, and the easy, creamy frosting is made by hand—no mixer needed.

  • Devil's Food Cake

    20180131-devils-food-cake-vicky-wasik-22
    Vicky Wasik

    The most delicious chocolate cake also happens to be the easiest: No stand mixer, no whipping, no foamed eggs, no meringue, nothing. In other words, the perfect chocolate cake.

  • Chocolate Avocado Mousse

    Overhead view of avocado chocolate mousse

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    No dairy, no problem: Puréeing ripe avocados with oat milk, agave syrup, and cocoa powder make for an ultra-creamy and velvety smooth vegan chocolate mousse.

  • Flourless Chocolate Cake

    Slice of flourless chocolate cake, topped with a dollup of cream, on a blue plate, blue tabletop, and the cake is in the background

    Serious Eats / Fred Hardy

    Rich and pleasantly bittersweet with crisp edges and a fudgy interior, this flourless chocolate cake will keep you coming back for more. Espresso powder enhances the bittersweet chocolate's flavor, and whipping the eggs with sugar until they reach the ribbon stage—when the eggs have enough volume to leave a "ribbon"—helps aerate the cake.

    Continue to 13 of 14 below

  • Chocolate Cupcakes

    Chocolate cupcake with smoking candle in the frosting on a stack of colorful plates. In the background, there is a plate of more cupcakes and a bowl of birthday candles.

    Morgan Hunt Glaze

    These tender, deeply flavorful chocolate cupcakes take just 15 minutes to prep before baking—no stand mixer needed. A combination of bittersweet chocolate and unsweetened cocoa powder gives the cupcake its rich, bold chocolate flavor, while the fat from sour cream keeps the batter tender.

  • Dairy-Free Chocolate Cake

    20190227-chocolate-olive-oil-cake-vicky-wasik-17

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    This cake is a streamlined version of former Serious Eats editor Stella Parks' devil's food cake. Acidic ingredients like coffee and brown sugar work with baking soda to help leaven the cake, and olive oil provides the cake with a mild, buttery richness.

More Serious Eats Recipes