Chocolate + Chocolate = Love

It’s almost Valentine’s Day. I can tell because everything in every store is pink, red, and chocolate. And 4 of the 5 most viewed posts on the blog this week are indulgent chocolate desserts (the popular non-chocolate recipe is the recipe for a Blood Orange Margarita – now that’s why we get along). So if you’re looking for a chocolate dessert to knock your significant other’s socks off (let’s stick with “socks” – my 11-year old niece reads this), I’ve got a couple of favorites:

Chocolate Overdose Cake. This is the most viewed post over the last few days. Inspired by a dessert that our favorite pizza place used to serve, it’s a layer of chocolate mousse sandwiched between a brownie base and a top layer of chocolate cake. If that’s not enough, it’s coated in chocolate ganache. You’ll need a few hours and almost 2 pounds of chocolate to make the recipe. You’re welcome. (About the chocolate, not the few hours. I’m sorry for that part.)

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake. A rich, gooey chocolate center inside a cake. The recipe can easily be made without a fancy mixer and scaled to serve only 2 people. Should you not want a couple of extras hanging around for breakfast the next morning.

Dark Chocolate Mousse. Correction, the world’s best chocolate mousse.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries. They’re probably a lot little cliche. And a little messy to make. But is it really Valentine’s Day without them?

Red Velvet Cupcakes. I’m an unapologetic Red Velvet fan. I strongly feel that copious amounts of scary red food coloring should be dumped into every baked good possible… and then slathered with cream cheese frosting.

Chocolate Raspberry Tart. A dense, rich chocolate tart spiked with raspberry liqueur. You can say “I love you” and “You have a gym membership, right?” without really saying anything at all.

Chocolate Truffles. You melt chocolate, cream, and maybe a little booze, let it cool, and then scoop it into rounds. That’s it. A fancy dessert with little effort.