Top 10 chocolate cake recipes

Life's better when there's chocolate involved. But instead of just scoffing a bar, try baking one of our top 10 chocolate cakes to really satisfy your craving.

Pressed chocolate and lavender torte

Let’s start fancy (pictured above). Brothers Adrian and Michael Daniel love using lavender in all sorts of desserts, to add delicacy and floral tones. It’s the perfect cake (well, torte) to bake if you’ve got lavender already growing in your garden – the only other ingredients are chocolate, butter, eggs and sugar.

No-bake chocolate cake

A great recipe for lazy bakers. All you need to do is melt and combine a load of dark chocolate, butter, condensed milk, digestive biscuits, pistachios, slivered almonds, dried figs and cream, shove into a tin, then refrigerate for three hours until firm. Serve your no-bake cake with crème fraiche.

Chocolate cupcakes

It’s tricky to master the lovely texture of a well-baked chocolate cupcake. Lucky for us, Great British Bake Off contestant Ruth Clemens has worked out the perfect recipe already, which uses cocoa powder and even a little malt vinegar. It’s up to you how to decorate them (icing and sprinkles?)

Dark chocolate and espresso mousse cake

A gluten-free wonder from Supper Club host Sabrina Ghayour, made only from eggs, dark chocolate, olive oil, caster sugar, and three shots of strong Espresso. Whisked egg whites give the cake an airy texture, whilst the oil adds intensity and moisture. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate torte

Smooth, chocolatey, quick, easy and delicious. This torte is a great fall-back pudding anyone can manage. (It’s wheat free too, if you care). It needs a bit of dressing up before serving, as it is a little ‘rustic’ looking. A dusting of cocoa powder or icing sugar should do the trick.

Hot chocolate cake

Very indulgent, but amazingly free from butter and eggs. Instead, you’ll be relying on water, extra virgin olive oil, flour (chose a gluten free variety, if you like) and dark chocolate. Bake for 45 minutes until the top is no longer shiny, and then eat your cake warm while the middle is still nice ‘n gooey.

Dark chocolate and parsnip cakes

Little chocolatey cakes made wonderfully rich in texture with a secret ingredient - parsnips! Freshly grate the vegetable before boiling, and then add to a mix of sugar, eggs, flour, cocoa powder, rapeseed oil and dark chocolate. Fill each one with a chocolate buttercream after baking.

Mocha cake

One of our favourite cake recipes, here at lovefood HQ.  Dark chocolate and coffee work wonderfully together, but this recipe works well without the coffee too. You could even flavour your mocha cake mix with a little ground cardamom, grated orange zest, or very finely chopped chilli instead. 

Black forest cupcakes

Beautiful cupcakes, perfect for impressing guests or sharing with friends. There’s luxury ingredients in there, including Kirsch or cherry brandy, and some morello cherry jam if you can find it. Sprinkle your finished cupcakes with shaved chocolate (use a potato peeler) and a dusting of icing sugar.

Chocolate panforte

This traditional Italian fruit and nut cake is perfect if you fancy spoiling yourself. Panforte literally translates as ‘strong bread’ and Italians tend to serve it with coffee or a desert wine. It’s so tasty though that you can eat it with any drink – or just on its own!

This is a classic loveFOOD article

You might also like

Elizabeth David's chocolate mousse

Italian fig and chocolate ice cream

Chocolate cake