27 Decadent Chocolate Cake Recipes

They're what chocolate dreams are made of

Flourless Chocolate Cake

The Spruce / Cara Cormack

Say the words "chocolate cake" and watch young and old faces alike light up with smiles. Whether you're baking one for a birthday party, looking for an elegant dinner party dessert, or want to treat yourself and your family to something special and indulgent, these decadent treats are guaranteed to be a hit.

  • 01 of 27

    Chocolate Raspberry Layer Cake Recipe

    Chocolate Raspberry Layer Cake on a platter and cake slices on plates

    The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

    Raspberries pair well with chocolate, making the raspberry filling for this layer cake a no-brainer. Even though there are several steps to this recipe, the cake, filling, and frosting can all be prepared a day or two in advance. All you have to do on the serving day is assemble the layers, frost the cake, and add some fresh raspberries to the top.

  • 02 of 27

    Hot Chocolate Mug Cake

    Hot Chocolate Mug Cake

    The Spruce / Karen Hibbard

    A cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter day is the perfect treat, and this recipe takes this beloved beverage one step further by transforming it into a decadent cake, with those quintessential mini marshmallows on top. This single-serving mug cake is prepped and cooked in less than 5 minutes, without making a whole lot of mess in your kitchen.

  • 03 of 27

    Chocolate Bundt Cake

    Chocolate Bundt Cake on a platter

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

    This chocolate Bundt cake is moist, easy, and tastes as good as it looks. The cake is super easy to make—you don't even need a mixer. All you have to do is stir or whisk the ingredients and bake. The glaze is just as easy as the cake—the ingredients are combined and heated until the butter melts. The cake is perfect for chocolate lovers, and it couldn't be easier!

  • 04 of 27

    Classic and Easy Chocolate Cake

    Classic and Easy Chocolate Cake

    The Spruce / Julia Hartbeck

    Get step-by-step instructions for creating the perfect, classic, moist, and fudgy two-layer chocolate cake with creamy chocolate frosting. It's the perfect dessert for birthday parties, housewarming events, and other times family and friends gather to celebrate.

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  • 05 of 27

    Molten Lava Cake

    Molten Lava Cake on a plate with a spoon

    The Spruce Eats / Ana Zelic

    If you love the decadent molten lava cakes served at fancy restaurants, we've got good news. It's surprisingly easy to bake up this special occasion-worthy chocolate cake with a river of warm chocolate running from it, right in your own kitchen. Just follow our easy recipe that uses a high oven temperature to produce a perfectly-baked chocolate cake with a luxurious gooey center.

  • 06 of 27

    Chocolate Loaf Cake With Easy Chocolate Glaze

    pouring chocolate glaze over a chocolate loaf cake

    The Spruce / Cara Cormack

    This rich and moist chocolate loaf cake is the perfect size for a family dessert. Easy to prepare and bake, it requires basic pantry and fridge staples and can be baked beforehand but glazed right before serving. Both the cake and the chocolate glaze are made with cocoa powder. The resulting cake has a dense and brownie-like texture, with a deep chocolate flavor.

  • 07 of 27

    Texas Sheet Cake and Icing

    Texas Sheet Cake and Icing in a sheet pan

    The Spruce / Rachel Riesgraf

    Texas sheet cake may be so named because of its size, but ask any proper Texan and they can likely recite a family secret for making "the best." Featuring a signature Texas ingredient, pecans, the moist chocolate cake looks unpretentious, like brownies, but it makes an undeniably rich statement on the dessert table.

  • 08 of 27

    Ho Ho Cake

    Ho Ho Cake

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni 

    A favorite lunch-box treat, Ho Ho chocolate snack cakes have been around a long time, and this chocolate-coated cake pinwheel with creamy filling is easy enough to make at home, although on a larger scale. Like other jelly roll recipes, the chocolate sponge is spread with a vanilla whipped cream and rolled up into a log. Once coated with the shiny chocolate ganache, it looks just like the famous Hostess dessert we all know and love.

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  • 09 of 27

    Black Forest Cheesecake

    Black Forest Cheesecake

    The Spruce / Jessie Sheehan

    Black forest cheesecake is an insanely delicious vehicle to showcase the iconic flavor combination of chocolate and cherries. The chocolate cheesecake filling is baked in an easy-peasy chocolate cookie crust, and topped with a layer of boozy cherries. Then a frosting of liqueur-boosted whipped cream is piled on top, for a fabulous finish.

  • 10 of 27

    Chocolate Angel Food Cake

    Chocolate Angel Food Cake on a cake stand

    The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

    Classic, light-as-air angel food cake gets great chocolate flavor from unsweetened cocoa powder in our inspired recipe. It's a chocolate lover's dream, whether you dust the cake with confectioners' sugar or cocoa, frost it with the included fluffy chocolate buttercream frosting, top it with chocolate shavings or sauce, or leave it plain and serve it with berries.

  • 11 of 27

    German Chocolate Cake Recipe

    German Chocolate Cake on a platter

    The Spruce Eats / Abbey Littlejohn

    Germany is famous for many desserts, including Black Forest cake and bee sting cake, but the German chocolate cake is not one of them. Samuel German, a Texas baker, developed Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate in the mid-1800s. A Dallas woman named Mrs. George Clay, then used the chocolate to create the German Sweet Chocolate Cake we know today.

  • 12 of 27

    Chocolate Microwave Mug Cake

    Chocolate Microwave Mug Cake

    The Spruce / Julia Estrada

    Craving chocolate cake, but short on time? In only 5 minutes, you can whip up a mug-full of brownie-like chocolate cake, with baking ingredients commonly stocked in the pantry. If you love molten lava cake, undercook the cake a little, to leave the center gooey and warm.

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  • 13 of 27

    Mexican Chocolate Cake

    Mexican Chocolate Cake

    The Spruce

    Inspired by Mexican hot chocolate, our scrumptious and moist Mexican chocolate cake includes cinnamon and cayenne along with cocoa powder in the batter, for a chocolate dessert with a spicy finish on the palate. It is perfect for a Cinco de Mayo celebration, or serving to the family after a taco Tuesday feast.

  • 14 of 27

    Flourless Chocolate Cake

    Flourless Chocolate Cake

    The Spruce / Cara Cormack

    Flourless chocolate cake is a restaurant-favorite dessert everyone can enjoy at home with this simple recipe. Our wheat-free chocolate cake has a wonderfully dense, fudgy texture, with a pleasing hint of vanilla, and optional brewed coffee adding a smidge of mocha flavor.

  • 15 of 27

    Keto Chocolate Cake

    Keto Chocolate Cake in a baking pan and on plates

    The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

    Chocolate cake is a wonderful dessert, but for anyone following a keto diet, it's full of ingredients that can't be eaten. To make this keto-friendly chocolate cake, we swapped out the sugar for a 1:1 cup for cup keto sweetener along with almond meal instead of regular flour.

  • 16 of 27

    Keto Chocolate Birthday Cake

    Keto Chocolate Birthday Cake

    The Spruce / Abbey Littlejohn

    Rich and moist as a chocolate cake should be, our gluten-free keto birthday cake is a cause for celebration. We've made the classic chocolate layer cake ketogenic diet-friendly by using almond and coconut flours in place of wheat flour, and stevia, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract to achieve sweetness instead of sugar. A keto chocolate mousse would make a luscious frosting.

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  • 17 of 27

    Ding Dong Cake

    Ding Dong Cake

     Kristina Vanni

    This recipe takes one of the classic chocolate individual-sized Hostess lunch box treats and turns it into a full-sized chocolate cake. The result is a decadent dessert that is sure to impress. Moist chocolate layers are sandwiched between a cream filling that is reminiscent of the original, and the entire cake is coated in a shiny chocolate glaze.

  • 18 of 27

    Chocoflan Cake

    Chocoflan on a platter

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

    Chocoflan, or chocolate flan cake, is a fun culinary magic trick that will amaze and delight your family. You start with a devil's food cake mix, adding both cake batter and flan ingredients to a Bundt pan. Everything goes into the oven all-mixed up, and comes out magically sorted into a rich chocolate cake topped with a creamy, dulce de leche-flavored caramel flan layer. Tah-dah!

  • 19 of 27

    Chocolate Bûche de Noël (Classic Yule Log)

    Chocolate Bûche de Noël (Classic Yule Log)

    The Spruce / Bahareh Niati

    In France, the Christmas holiday season means it's time for a traditional bûche de Noël. The classic and festive chocolate yule log cake is formed from a chocolate sponge roulade (or rolled cake), with a filling of Italian buttercream inside. Decorated with festive candy mushrooms, holly berries, and greenery, it is a show-stopping dessert centerpiece for the Christmas dinner table.

  • 20 of 27

    Chocolate Pound Cake

    Chocolate Pound Cake

    The Spruce / Diana Rattray

    If you have never tried chocolate pound cake, what are you waiting for? This cake is moist, full of flavor, and can be enjoyed simply as a special treat with your afternoon cup of tea or coffee. Or serve it for an after-dinner dessert, drizzled with chocolate glaze, spooned over with warm fruit sauce, or sprinkled with powdered sugar.

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  • 21 of 27

    Mississippi Mud Cake

    Mississippi Mud Cake

    The Spruce Eats / Kristina Vanni

    Coconut, pecans, marshmallow, and chocolate come together for this easy Mississippi mud sheet cake. It's like a delicious candy bar and a cake melded together to make a delicious dessert.

  • 22 of 27

    Chocolate Zucchini Cake

    Chocolate Zucchini Cake slices on plates

    The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga

    Sneak extra nutrition into kids with our chocolate zucchini snacking cake that is as yummy as it is healthy. Kids will never notice the zucchini inside, which adds a terrific, moist texture to the cake.

  • 23 of 27

    Chocolate Beer Cake

    Beer Cake

    Kristina Vanni

    Chocolate and dark beer are a natural pairing, and they come together to make a moist and delicious beer cake. The batter includes chopped cherries and walnuts and the beer helps give the cake lift. A little beer is added to the chocolate icing for flavor.

  • 24 of 27

    Vegan Tofu Chocolate Cake

    Vegan Tofu Chocolate Cake

    The Spruce / Sonia Bozzo

    Vegan guests can enjoy this guilt-free chocolate cake that replaces the usual butter and eggs with silken tofu and almond milk, with a little maple syrup for added sweetness. The result is a delicious, dense cake that is suitable for vegan diets.

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  • 25 of 27

    Gluten-Free Chocolate Meringue Cake

    flourless chocolate meringue cake

    The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

    Where most chocolate cakes offer a soft-on-soft texture, this moist and fudgy flourless confection offers a chewy, crisp meringue with a fluffy, nutty interior. It's incredibly delicious, looks beautiful on the table, and is suitable for those eating on a gluten-free diet. Don't stress when the meringue cracks after baking — the crinkled top is part of this dramatic cake's charm.

  • 26 of 27

    Wacky Chocolate Cake

    Wacky Chocolate Cake

    The Spruce / Eric Kleinberg

    This easy chocolate cake is a wacky cake because it's made without eggs. It's almost too easy to be true! Briefly mix the ingredients with a spoon, pour the batter into the pan, and bake.

  • 27 of 27

    Chocolate Upside Down Cake

    Chocolate Upside Down Cake

    The Spruce / Julia Hartbeck

    This moist, delicious chocolate upside down cake makes its own thick chocolate topping. It's a pudding cake with amazing flavor, and it is super easy to make. Invert it while it is still hot from the oven and serve it warm with whipped cream or ice cream.