35+ Decadent Chocolate Cake Recipes

Updated February 05, 2020
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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

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Bribery Cake Recipe

This recipe is from Odette Williams' Simple Cake, a compendium of approachable, delicious cakes for celebrating every day. Per Williams, this cake is "A not-too-sweet chocolate cake, topped with silky Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream, sprinkled with a little sea salt crunch: This is the cake you bake to help you or a loved one get across the finish line."

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Dark Chocolate Avocado Cake with Chocolate Avocado Frosting

Credit: 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

Credit: 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

Credit: 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

Credit: Beth Branch

Better Than Sex Cake Recipe

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

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Molten Dark Chocolate Cakes

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Molten 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

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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

Credit: 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

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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

Credit: Brian Woodcock; Styling: Claire Spollen

Chocolate Cloud Cakes Recipe

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One-Pot Chocolate Cake

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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

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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

Credit: 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

Credit: 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

Credit: 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

Credit: 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

Credit: 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

Credit: 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

Credit: 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

Credit: 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

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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

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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

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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

Credit: 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

Credit: 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

Credit: 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. If nothing else, it serves as further proof that Guinness and chocolate are a match made in dessert heaven. 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

Credit: 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

Credit: 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

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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

Credit: 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

Credit: 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

Credit: 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

Credit: 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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Molten Dark Chocolate Cakes