Fours poches means piped cookies in French. These cookies are especially beautiful when made in chocolate and vanilla and piped into black-and-white stars.

These profiteroles, also know as ice cream filled pastry puffs, are chocolate and cradle vanilla ice cream. On the plate is a puddle of chocolate sauce.

These doughnuts, made of rich chocolate brioche dough fried into warm, airy rounds, are filled with thick, cool pastry cream. Don’t expect them to last the day.

This chocolate icebox cake is intensely flavored with chocolate and rum and lined with ladyfingers. Make the cake a day a head and keep it in the icebox.

This bittersweet chocolate cake is a deep, dark-as-night fudgy dessert that’s a cool ending to a dinner party on a starry evening. Chocoholics unite.

For this dessert, chocolate crusts cradle a creamy chocolate custard filling that’s garnished with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt.

The combination of vanilla, coffee, and chocolate extracts lends great flavor, and the yogurt keeps the mocha cake moist. The cherry sauce is irresistible.

This is the Frankenstein of cookies. One part oatmeal cookie, one part peanut butter cookie, one part chocolate chip cookie. This cookie can’t be beat.

Espresso and Frangelico flavor these creamy white chocolate truffles.

Rum, chocolate, honey, and butter. What’s not to like in these truffles?

This chocolaty, velvety-smooth, bourbon-spiked dessert custard bathes your mouth with pure pleasure. A hint if mint makes it even more intriguing.

These soft, creamy caramels from Jacques Pepin are nearly foolproof. Dip them in chocolate and wrap them in little squares of waxed for gift-giving.

These treats share the flavors and textures as Reese’s peanut butter cups, but their pedigree makes them a candidate for a dessert plate or for a hostess gift.

Satisfy your cravings for chocolate with this rich, dense torte filled with a layer of caramel and pecans and topped with caramel sauce. Decadent.

Chocolate and vanilla cake batter are swirled together for a delightful look and interested taste. Serve it as Bocuse suggests: with his vanilla custard sauce.

The highlight of this cheesecake is its chocolate brownie crust and squares of brownies baked into the cake. On top is a swirl of bittersweet chocolate.

These chocolate cakes get their kick from chipotle peppers and are served with either a cinnamon custard or a tomatillo sauce.

Subtle citrus notes in this dark-chocolate tart come from pink grapefruit and blood orange zest. Jasmine tea-infused cream adds an exotic touch.

A bao is a Chinese bun. These baos are miniature chocolate-filled doughnuts. They’re made with sweet dough, filled with ganache, and fried like beignets.

Layers of delicate ladyfingers alternate with espresso-and-liqueur laced chocolate mousse. Drizzled over scoops of the cake is a lovely vanilla custard cream.

by Jill O’Connor
from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey:
Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth
(Chronicle Books, 2007)
Makes 24 standard cupcakes
I adapted this recipe from one by Hellmann’s, increasing the cocoa powder and sugar and reducing the eggs by one. It’s easy to assemble and practically foolproof. The batter is rich and deeply chocolaty, and results in bouncy little [...]

Rich and tender, this yeast leavened cake is moistened by a good soaking of rum syrup and frosted with gianduja cream. No savarin mold? A Bundt pan will do.

These triangles are like a crunchy pain au chocolat, with phyllo replacing the yeasted dough. Dab a little raspberry jam on top of the chocolate before folding.

This fudge-like mousse cake pushes the opulence barometer right to the edge. A cinnamon nut crust holds a 1 1/2 pounds of bittersweet chocolate mousse.

Bon Appetit’s vanilla cheesecake scented with orange peel and topped with sweetened fresh cranberries is a perfect fall dessert when cranberries are fresh.