35+ Decadent Chocolate Cake Recipes

February 05, 2020
Photo: Aaron Kirk; Prop Styling: Kashara Johnson; Food Styling: Pam Lolley
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 this easy dessert a day before serving, as you'll have to refrigerate it overnight. 

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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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Slow Cooker Chocolate Lava Cake

Photo: Caroline Arcangeli; Prop Styling: Christina Daley; Food Styling: Sarah Epperson  
Slow Cooker Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe

This no-fuss lava cake is comfort dessert at its finest. It’s dangerously good, with a perfectly cooked cake topping and a simple, but satisfying lava made from instant pudding. The cake batter bakes over the pudding, creating a perfect cake top with moist, gooey lava underneath. You likely already have the ingredients at home, but to take things up a notch, use a good quality vanilla extract—it makes a big difference. This makes a lot, so it’s perfect to share with friends or bring to a potluck—you won’t have to worry about leftovers, trust us. Eat it with ice cream or whipped cream, and dress it up with some berries.

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Coca Cola Chocolate Cake

Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Styling: Kathleen Varner
Coca Cola Chocolate Cake Recipe

Coca-Cola cake was a favorite at family reunions during the 1950s. It resembles Mississippi mud cake, a chocolate sheet cake studded with marshmallows that are sprinkled on the top before baking or immediately after while the cake is still hot. In Mama’s Tea Cakes: 101 Delicious Soul Food Desserts, chef and author Wilbert Jones stirred the marshmallows into the batter before putting his version of the cake in the oven. If that wasn’t decadent enough, in 1997, the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain used twice the cocoa, intensifying the taste. Their rendition was called Double Chocolate Fudge Coca-Cola Cake. —Toni Tipton-Martin

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Susan’s Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Stacey Ballis
Susan’s Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting Recipe

On the surface, so simple. A moist, richly banana-flavored, two-layer cake with a dark chocolate frosting. No frills or fancies. No nuts, chocolate chips or chunks, no crispy bits or coconut. Just a basic banana cake with a simple chocolate frosting. And yet, in the marriage of these two tastes something extraordinary happens. It is cake alchemy.

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Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake with Caramel Buttercream

Victor Protasio
Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake with Caramel Buttercream Recipe

If you're looking for an easy, decadent, and oh-so-yummy chocolate fudge cake, this is the perfect recipe. The key to this layer cake’s lusciously messy look? A short spell in the freezer, which allows the ganache to set over the cake layers so that the buttercream can be spread on top of it. Make sure there is enough space in your freezer before you assemble the cake. This recipe comes in handy for birthdays, holidays, and the odd Wednesday pick-me-up.

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Dr Pepper Texas Sheet Cake

Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Styling: Kathleen Varner
Dr Pepper Texas Sheet Cake Recipe

Chocolate sheet cakes were popular among early 20th-century cooks from Kentucky to California. Dr Pepper cake takes its cues from those recipes. Fragrant with spices like ground cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg and topped with chocolate frosting, that’s speckled with pecans, it may remind some of Texas sheet cake. For nearly 20 years, I baked a version of this sweet treat to celebrate the birthday of a friend and neighbor from Wichita Falls, Texas, who was haunted (in a good way) by her childhood memories of the delicious dessert. —Toni Tipton-Martin

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Smith Island Cake

Photo: Peter Frank Edwards; Styling: Rachael Burrow, Linda Hirst
Smith Island Cake Recipe

Create a show-stopping holiday cake by icing each beautiful layer with decadent Chocolate Ganache icing. 

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German Chocolate Cake

Photo: Aaron Kirk; Prop Styling: Sarah-Elizabeth Cleveland; Food Styling: Julia Levy
German Chocolate Cake Recipe

Sam German created the mild, dark baking chocolate called Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate in 1852; in the late 1950s, a Dallas newspaper published a recipe for German's Chocolate Cake. The dessert took the South by storm and has been a staple ever since.

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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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Chocolate Biscuit Cake

Photo: Aaron Kirk; Prop Styling: Kashara Johnson; Food Styling: Pam Lolley
Chocolate Biscuit Cake Recipe

Love chocolate? Well, this cake is good news for you. In every bite, there's a soft, buttery crunch from the cookie alongside a layer of melt-in-your-mouth chocolate. What we love most about this indulgent dessert is that it's super easy, yet looks and tastes like it was quite the project. This is a chocolate masterpiece that is sure to impress your next crowd.

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