5 Chocolate Desserts That Are Impossible To Resist

Chocolate. Is there a word in existence with greater power to make us salivate with its mere utterance? Rich and warm, sweet and comforting, chocolate is deeply flavoursome and brilliantly versatile, whether gobbled on the hoof or transformed into a beautiful dessert to round off an elegant dinner. Dark, milk or white, there are many ways with the sweet stuff, whose flavours can be harnessed in a myriad of dangerously good ways. Plus, according to nutrition and microbiome expert Tim Spector, it can be pretty good for us too, with a hit of 70 (or above) per cent cocoa being a rich source of the polyphenols which feed our gut. All the more reason to dig into these five decadent desserts, then.

Chocolate Molten Cake

Olive Magazine


There are few puddings that bring so much comfort as those that melt seductively in the middle, begging to be demolished just to see them oozing their sweet goodness. All the better, then, if said pudding is of a chocolate persuasion. This recipe is winningly simple though, as its writer Anna Glover notes, timings are paramount. Perfect for loading into a bowl and devouring by the fire. Get the recipe.

Chocolate Raspberry Pudding Cake

Nigella


We have, we confess, something of blind spot when it comes to chocolate with fruit – with two notable exceptions: orange and raspberry. This recipe demonstrates how beautifully the combination of chocolate and raspberry seems to just work, the faint tartness of the fruit working the dark chocolate to create what feels like an effortlessly sophisticated dessert. Nigella is, of course, a master of such rich and luxuriant flavours – in fact, we’d go so far as to say that if a recipe could personify its author, it would be this. She writes, ‘Think, rather, of a mousse without fluffiness: this is dense but delicate with it. And it’s heavenly at blood heat, when the gooey chocolate sits warmly around the sour-sweet juicy raspberries embedded in the cake, like glinting, mud-covered garnets.’ Also note her advice that it’s best devoured within an hour of coming out of the oven – not that we foresee that being a problem. Get the recipe.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Tarts

Great British Chefs


If you are partial to a chocolate-dipped pretzel, then these tarts are destined to be very much up your taste buds’ street. With a pretzel crust, these crumbly beauties are coated with caramel before being filled up with melted and salted dark chocolate. They’re easy to make and dish up as individual portions too – what in the world is there not to love? Get the recipe.

Millionaire’s Cheesecake

Delish


Buttery shortbread, caramel and a thick coating of chocolate: millionaire’s shortbread – the inspiration behind this cheesecake – should never be passed up when on offer, its gooey component working to perfection with the crumbly base, all finished off with the crisp layer of fridge-cooled chocolate. But why stop there when you could sandwich a cheesecake layer in there betwixt the caramel and the base? Lightening the whole affair, it also makes it all the more indulgent – and great for making ahead and serving up to doubtless appreciative friends. Get the recipe.

Chocolate & Citrus Cassata

Food & Wine


Hailing from New Orleans, this recipe is a showstopping work of art wrought in chocolate. We won’t lie – it is one for the seriously committed chocolate fiend. You’ll need an hour and a half, a whole shopping basket’s worth of ingredients, and an offset spatula, a bench scraper, and a cake turntable to achieve the smoothest cake. However, if you have the time, inclination and the right level of chocolate obsession, this is one no guest will forget in a hurry, and for all the right reasons. Get the recipe.