Chocolate Treats for Your Valentine

Nothing says “Happy Valentine’s Day” like homemade chocolate treats fresh from the oven. Whether you’re planning a romantic dessert for two or treating yourself to something sweet, these rich, chocolatey bakes are guaranteed to make your Valentine’s Day extra special.

This indulgent, craving-conquering chocolate cake can be mixed and baked in less than an hour. Dutch process cocoa delivers an intense but not bitter chocolate flavor, and oil and sour cream keep the cake moist and tender for days. The generous spread of buttercream frosting makes a good thing even better! Find more delicious, fast-fix bakes in our new cookbook, Fast-Fix Baking! 

With milk chocolate and drinking chocolate in the batter and a luscious White Chocolate Ganache center, these tender Triple-Chocolate Hot Cocoa Cookies offer all the coziness of a cup of hot cocoa. A blend of cocoa and ground red pepper sprinkled on top adds warmth and subtle spice to each bite.

With a whisper of coffee from espresso powder and notes of caramel from dark brown sugar, these brownies have a rich flavor that sings in every luxurious bite.

Growing up in Wisconsin, Sofia Auricchio dreamed of traditional Italian cannoli, with their crispy shell delicately lined with dark chocolate and filled with fresh ricotta cream. Inspired by those flavors, she crafted this cake with a light and airy homemade vanilla batter. After baking, she sandwiches the layers with nostalgic ricotta-mascarpone cream and drapes the entire creation in a luscious dark chocolate ganache. For years, this cannoli cream cake has been a beloved centerpiece at birthday celebrations for her daughters, Anna and Nina. It beautifully marries the best of cake with the delightful flavors of Italian ricotta and mascarpone and chocolate, sure to please any crowd.

Sparkling wine and chocolate are a winning combination, creating a celebratory tart ideal for any celebration. With a graham cracker crumb base, a semisweet ganache filling, and a sparkling wine-spiked white chocolate cream topping, this Sparkling Wine Chocolate Ganache Tart is chilled perfection. If you abstain from alcohol, you can easily make this tart into a purely chocolate and cream affair (see Notes)—because a chocolate tart is a celebration.

An ode to two of the best things to come out of the Piemonte region—hazelnut chocolate spread and panna cotta—this recipe for Chocolate Hazelnut Panna Cotta is a sweet marriage of creamy texture and unparalleled chocolate and hazelnut flavor. 

Cakey on the outside and filled with a mouthwatering center of molten dark chocolate, these lava cakes are the ultimate romantic dessert for two—just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Our Café Mocha Cookies positively crackle with ground chocolate-covered coffee beans and freshly brewed espresso in the dough, but for the ultimate decadent finish, we opted for a generous swoop of dulce de leche.

German chocolate cake, contrary to its name, is in fact an American classic. Made up of layers of richly decadent chocolate cake and covered in a sticky, sweet coconut-pecan custard, this cake is a true indulgence. Chewy coconut and crunchy pecans lend incredible texture while the golden caramelized custard and delicate chocolate flavor of the cake meld together to create a perfectly balanced bite.

Leavened with luscious meringue, these Chocolate Soufflés are the epitome of sweet science. Combining the lightness of a mousse with the crisp, sugared crust of a cake, one spoonful of this dessert offers the intersection between two wondrous textures. Rich with chocolate, this dreamy delight’s perfect accompaniment is a final cloud of whipped cream.