Decadent Chocolate Cake Recipes

Does your mouth water at the thought of fluffy, decadent chocolate cake? Us too. Our best chocolate cake recipes include all the favorites: molten chocolate cake, delightfully dense fudge cake, chocolate bundt cake, and even a vegan chocolate cake made with avocados.

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Bribery Cake

Nicole Franzen/Ten Speed Press

Bribery Cake Recipe

Chocolate cake with Swiss meringe buttercream will get you across the finish line, or help someone else to.

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Dark Chocolate Avocado Cake with Chocolate Avocado Frosting

Photo: Caitlin Bensel; Food Styling: Anna Hampton; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis

Dark Chocolate Avocado Cake with Chocolate Avocado Frosting Recipe

This vegan cake (no eggs or butter!) is so delicious that our kids begged for more. The frosting is silky smooth, and the cake is light and loaded with chocolate flavor, and healthy fats.

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Chocolate Clementine Cake with Hot Chocolate Sauce

Charles E. Walton IV

Chocolate Clementine Cake with Hot Chocolate Sauce Recipe
This cake can be made a day in advance. The Hot Chocolate Sauce can be stored, covered, in refrigerator up to 1 week; reheat over low heat until warmed through. Make both the cake and sauce with the best quality bittersweet chocolate you can find. Substitute semisweet chocolate if you wish.

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Mama's German Chocolate Cake

Photo: Victor Protasio; Food Styling: Margaret Dickey; Prop Styling: Heather Chadduck

Mama's German Chocolate Cake Recipe

Bake a cake that would make mama proud. German chocolate cakes are known for being rich, indulgent cakes, so enjoy a slice with a glass of milk.

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Better Than Sex Cake

Photo: Beth Branch

Better Than Sex Cake Recipe

Chocolate, caramel, and Heath candy take chocolate cake to a whole new level.

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Dark Chocolate Cakes

Photo: Caitlin Bensel; Styling: Rishon Hanners

Dark Chocolate Cakes Recipe

Make a sweet dessert for your dinner party. Mini chocolate cakes filled with more ooey-gooey chocolate are sure to satisfy everyone's sweet tooth.

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Perfect Chocolate Bundt Cake

Time Inc. Video Studio

Perfect Chocolate Bundt Cake Recipe

Intensely chocolatey and incredibly moist, this is truly the perfect chocolate bundt cake—and undoubtedly, a chocolate lover’s dream. The cake’s rich chocolate flavor is enhanced with the addition of coffee in the batter and coffee liqueur in the glaze. Be sure to coat the inside of your bundt pan with either shortening plus a thin layer of flour or baking spray (which is nonstick cooking spray that contains flour) in order to ensure that your cake comes out clean and easy.

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Fudge Cake

Photo: Alison Miksch; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke; Food Styling: Anna Hampton

Fudge Cake Recipe

When my mother talks about this fudgy dessert, her eyes glaze over. The cake was sold at the Lowry Motor Court restaurant in Greenville, Mississippi. Mama said they displayed it by the register under a glass dome, and each perfectly square slice was neatly wrapped in wax paper.

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Chocolate “Chip” Cake

Meredith Food Studios

Chocolate “Chip” Cake Recipe

This salty-sweet treat is an easy but awesome way to upgrade a boxed cake mix and store-bought frosting. Just remember—you’ll want to serve this decadent cake within an hour of frosting it so that the chips stay nice and crispy.

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Chocolate Cloud Cakes

Photo: Brian Woodcock; Styling: Claire Spollen

Chocolate Cloud Cakes Recipe

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One-Pot Chocolate Cake

TIFS

One-Pot Chocolate Cake Recipe

This delicious chocolate cake from our friend Joy the Baker comes together in one sauce pan, so you can enjoy the rich flavor and whipped topping without the worry of cleaning too many dishes afterwards!

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German-Chocolate Cake

Photo: Oxmoor House

German-Chocolate Cake Recipe
We've lightened up a traditional German chocolate cake but kept the flavor in the moist chocolate cake layers and the gooey coconut-pecan frosting.

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Mini Triple-Chocolate Buttermilk Pound Cakes

Photo: Alison Miksch; Styling: Buffy Hargett Miller

Mini Triple-Chocolate Buttermilk Pound Cakes Recipe

If you want a whole pound cake to yourself, try these individually-portioned chocolaty pound cakes. You'll hardly be able to bake these little gems before they're devoured.

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Texas Skillet Cake

Photo: Stephen DeVries, Prop Styling: Missie Neville Crawford; Food Styling: Torie Cox

Texas Skillet Cake Recipe
Who says Texas Sheet Cake needs to be made in a sheet pan? Not us! We upped the ante on this Lone Star favorite by making it in a cast iron skillet, which gives the moist chocolate cake deliciously chewy edges and a gooey center. When topped with chocolate frosting and toasted chopped pecans—and some vanilla ice cream for good measure—it’s a cake you’ll be thinking about long after your plate is licked clean.

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Mocha Java Cakes

Photo: Jennifer Davick; Styling: Mindi Shapiro Levine

Mocha Java Cakes Recipe
Even the cook will have a hard time believing these litte chocolate-filled chocolate cakes take less than 45 minutes to assemble and bake.

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Triple-Chocolate Buttermilk Pound Cake

Photo: Alison Miksch; Styling: Buffy Hargett Miller

Triple-Chocolate Buttermilk Pound Cake Recipe

We took the traditional pound cake recipe and raised it a stunning, triple-chocolate twist. This cake means business. A duo of glazes—one creamy chocolate, the other subtle buttermilk—comes together atop this dreamy confection. It’s indulgent and, we admit, so much fun to eat and serve. Chocolate enthusiasts will be over the moon for this recipe, but it has enough unexpected flavor—thanks to the addition of the buttermilk glaze—that you’ll also win over the harder-to-please dessert eaters at the table. Warning: You—and they—won’t be able to resist a second slice. Go for it. We won’t tell.

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Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Cake

Photo: Kate Sears; Styling: Gerri Williams for James Reps

Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Cake Recipe

Eva Smith, 99, Birmingham, Ala. (grandma of Margaret Barnhart, All You integrated account manager) "My cake is constantly being requested for birthdays."

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Chocolate Fudge Sheet Cake With Chocolate-Cream Cheese Frosting

Photo: Aaron Kirk; Prop Styling: Kashara Johnson; Food Styling: Pam Lolley

Chocolate Fudge Sheet Cake With Chocolate-Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

The addition of cinnamon adds a kick of “something special” to this rich chocolate sheet cake, but if you prefer, you can reduce the amount or leave the cinnamon out all together; you will simply have a delightful, classic chocolate cake on your hands. Once topped off with a decadent chocolate-cream cheese frosting, this cake is ready to please at virtually any event you bring it to.

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Chocolate Tiramisu Poke Cake

Photo: Daniel Agee

Chocolate Tiramisu Poke Cake Recipe

The poke cake technique is incredibly easy, but that doesn't mean that poke cakes have a simple flavor. Enjoy the irresistible textures of pudding, cake, and crushed espresso beans in each bite of with this chocoatey take on Tiramisu.

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Chocolate-Mayonnaise Cake

Photo: Hector Sanchez; Styling: Caroline M. Cunningham

Chocolate-Mayonnaise Cake Recipe

If you've never known the glory of a mayonnaise cake, you're in for a treat! The staple ingredient yields an ultra-moist crumb and keeps the sugar from taking over your taste buds.

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Individual Chocolate Melting Cakes

Photo: William Meppem

Individual Chocolate Melting Cakes Recipe

Bake these brownie-like chocolate cakes in muffin cups to get individual servings, then top with coffee ice cream and caramel sauce.

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Easy Black Forest Cake

Time Inc. Video Studio

Easy Black Forest Cake Recipe

Devil's food cake layers enriched with milk chocolate and a trio of extracts are sandwiched with the simplest and most decadent stuffing of them all--ready-to-eat cheesecake filling and cherry pie filling. Capped off with fudge frosting and gooey chocolate-covered cherries, it's a cinch to wow your guests.

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No bake Chocolate Eclair Cake

Photo: LynneLong

No bake Chocolate Eclair Cake Recipe

Make day before serving

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Chocolate-and-Cream Layer Cake

Jennifer Causey

Chocolate-and-Cream Layer Cake Recipe

Save room for dessert—this is one you don’t want to miss. It certainly has its virtues: It’s made with whole-grain flour, gets topped with fresh fruit, and contains 6g of fiber per serving. But what makes this cake so spectacular, truly, is how good it tastes.

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Dutch Oven Double Chocolate Cake

Photo: Thomas J. Story

Dutch Oven Double Chocolate Cake Recipe

Use charcoal briquets instead of wood to more precisely control the fire's heat.

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Guinness Chocolate Cake

Photo: Gina DeSimone; Prop Styling: Kashara Johnson; Food Styling: Karen Rankin

Guinness Chocolate Cake Recipe

This might just be the most decadently delicious Guinness chocolate cake recipe a St. Patrick’s Day celebration has ever seen. As impressive as it may look and taste, this is a surprisingly easy cake to prepare. We opted for a bundt in developing this Guinness chocolate cake keeps in order to keep it simple to make and to ensure a perfectly moist final product. Guinness stout in the cake better makes for an added layer of rich chocolatey depth, while two boozy glazes—an Irish cream chocolate glaze and an Irish whiskey drizzle—really take this chocolate bundt cake to the next level.

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27 Decadent Chocolate Cake Recipes