A person holding a plate with a slice of basic chocolate cake on it.
Boyloso
1 of 10

Basic Chocolate Cake

You can have your molten lava cake; you can have your chocolate soufflé; just give me a classic, really, really delicious, moist, loaded-with-frosting chocolate layer cake, and that's all I need.
A molten chocolate cake on a plate with the filling oozing out and a few pieces of dark chocolate on the side.
Taylor Kiser
2 of 10

Classic Molten Chocolate Cakes

These classic molten chocolate cakes (also called chocolate lava cakes) from Jean-Georges Vongerichten are made with flour, sugar, chocolate, egg, and butter. When baked, the cake doesn't cook through, creating a lava flow of chocolate when cut into. If that weren't enough, the batter can be made ahead of time.
Two vegan chocolate cakes stacked on top of each other.
Kate Whitaker
3 of 10

Vegan Chocolate Cake

This vegan chocolate cake recipe is made with cocoa powder, vinegar, soy or almond milk, and all the other usual baking ingredients. No one will know the difference between it and regular chocolate cake. Swear.
A chocolate glazed chocolate bundt cake sitting atop a white cake stand with a dish of glaze on the side
France Ruffenach
4 of 10

Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake

This chocolate sour cream Bundt cake is quick and easy to make but complex as hell in taste. And if the cake weren’t enough, on top is a sinful chocolate glazzle–that’s a glaze that’s drizzled.
A paleo vanilla cake stacked between two chocolate cakes on a wire rack.
Jenni Hulet
5 of 10

Paleo Chocolate Cake

This paleo chocolate cake also happens to be gluten-free and, even more importantly, it tastes magnificent enough to rival any regular chocolate cake. Go ahead. Taste it and see. Better yet, have others taste it but don’t let them know the secret. Bet no one notices.
A blackout cake from Ebinger's on a cake stand.
Ann Stratton
6 of 10

Blackout Cake

This Brooklyn blackout cake, like the original from Ebinger’s in Brooklyn, is easy and, more importantly, magnificently delicious. Certain to fix your chocolate fix with it’s pudding-like filling, tender crumb coating, and seriously chocolatey frosting.
A flourless chocolate cloud cake topped with billows of whipped cream on a metal platter.
David Leite
7 of 10

Flourless Chocolate Cloud Cake

This flourless chocolate cloud cake is a wickedly elegant dessert that’s deceptively easy to make. Just four ingredients–chocolate, eggs, butter, and sugar–come together for a crunchy-on-the-outside, airy-on-the-inside cake.
A partial slice of red wine chocolate cake on a plate with a fork resting beside the cake.
Laura Edwards
8 of 10

Red Wine Chocolate Cake

This red wine chocolate cake owes its rich, chocolatey flavor to dark chocolate and cocoa powder, as well as the creamy dark chocolate glaze that smothers it.
A slice of Hershey's chocolate cake with chocolate frosting on a yellow plate, with the remaining cake on a stand in the background.
David Leite
9 of 10

Hershey’s Chocolate Cake Redux

This Hershey’s chocolate cake recipe with frosting is an old-fashioned classic American dessert that will never, ever disappoint. Simple and simply the best.
A layered German chocolate cake with coconut pecan frosting on a platter with a few slices cut from it.
Carl Tremblay
10 of 10

German Chocolate Cake

German chocolate cake, with its traditional stack of dark chocolate cake layers smothered with caramel frosting and pecan goodness and coconut, invariably impresses. And it’s surprisingly easy to make.



About David Leite

I count myself lucky to have received three James Beard Awards for my writing as well as for Leite’s Culinaria. My work has also appeared in The New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Saveur, Bon Appรฉtit, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Yankee, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, and more.


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