16 Chocolate Cakes to Bake for Your Valentine

What would you rather have for Valentine’s Day: A box of chocolates or an entire chocolate cake? I’d pick the cake every time. One does not often get a cake all to oneself—even on your birthday, you have to share.

From one-bowl wonders to multi-tiered confections, we’ve got 16 chocolate cakes you can bake for your valentine, no matter your skill level. (We even have gluten- and dairy-free offerings.)

Swedish “Sticky” Chocolate Cake

Kladdkaka, which translates as “sticky cake,” is a gooey-centered chocolate cake that’s wildly popular in Sweden. With only seven ingredients and an easy dump-and-stir mixing method, it’s low-effort-high-reward baking at its best. It tastes great on its own, and even better when topped with tangy whipped cream or sweetened Greek yogurt.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Cream Cake

This sumptuous, show-stopping cake is easier to make than you might think. Modified from two recipes in chef Dominque Ansel’s book “Everyone Can Bake,” this chocolate cake with mascarpone whipped ganache gets added moisture and toasty notes from coffee syrup, and rich nuttiness from a generous amount chocolate-hazelnut spread sandwiched between the cake layers. Need to make it ahead? No problem! The finished cake will hold up nicely for up to 24 hours.

Stovetop Chocolate Cake

This no-oven-needed chocolate cake is "steamed" for about 20 minutes in a Dutch oven, a method which is not uncommon in many parts of the world. (It's used to make for Indonesian and Chinese rice cakes and Korean red-bean pat siruteok.) Steam agitates the batter, causing it to set more quickly; moisture that would otherwise evaporate is retained for a stronger and uniformly moist crumb. Our chocolate version is rich but not dense, with a velvety simplicity that pairs well with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or dusting of powdered sugar.

Chocolate Blender Cake

Our chocolate blender cake comes together with only one blender and one cake pan. This brownie-like cake with a thick, rich glaze happens to be gluten-free, replacing flour with whole almonds, blitzed until powdery. A sprinkle of flaky salt makes a simple, elegant garnish.

Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

Olive oil and chocolate go hand-in-hand in the Mediterranean—and in cake, the pairing makes for luscious results. Extra virgin olive oil provides fruity, peppery flavor and gives the cake a plush, soft crumb; oil coats the flour, minimizing gluten formation so the cake bakes up fluffy, not chewy. A hit of lemon juice wakes up the flavors, while the acidity reacts with the baking soda to give it an extra lift.

Double Chocolate Loaf Cake

This velvety, deeply chocolatey cake comes to us from Claire Ptak of Violet Cakes in East London. Ptak achieves complexity from a combination of bittersweet chocolate and unsweetened cocoa powder, making for a richness that’s perfectly paired with tangy, creamy crème fraîche. Any type of bittersweet chocolate will work, but we recommend using one that’s tasty enough to eat out of hand and contains about 70 percent cocoa solids.

Claire Ptak’s Vegan Chocolate-Frosted Devil’s Food Cupcakes

The Holy Grail of vegan cupcakes come from Claire Ptak of Violet Bakery—moist, rich, devil’s food crumb finished with a light, silky-smooth chocolate “buttercream.” Vegan or not, they’re luxurious by all standards. Candied violet petals make a romantic final touch.

Chocolate-on-Chocolate Three-Layer Cake

This grand, triple-layer, old-fashioned chocolate cake comes from Cheryl and Griffith Day, proprietors of Back in the Day Bakery in Savannah, Georgia. Cheryl learned the recipe from her grandmother but put her own stamp on it with a few tweaks, including the addition of coffee, which adds complexity and intensifies the roasty, bittersweet notes of the chocolate. The cake is made with unsweetened chocolate and the frosting calls for semisweet; for the best flavor, search out good-quality chocolate for both.

Chocolate Bundt Cake with Dark Chocolate Glaze

No mixer? No problem! This rich and chocolate-y cake (also from Cheryl Day) comes together in one bowl. It’s a chocolate lover’s delight—deliciously rich, moist, tender and deeply flavored. It needs no embellishment, but Day goes the extra mile and finishes it with a ganache-like glaze that bolsters the chocolatiness of the cake while giving it an elegant luster.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Crostata

Get all the richness of chocolate pie with a far-easier crostata (sort of like an open-faced pie). Gianduja, a chocolate-hazelnut paste created in Turin, Italy inspired the filling; a nutty whole-wheat flour crust pairs perfectly with the intense chocolate. The crostata is best served the same day, but leftovers can be covered in plastic wrap refrigerated overnight.

Bête Noire

The name bête noire—French for “black beast”—refers in part to recipe developer Lora Brody’s struggle to get this cake just right. Based on a gooey, silky torte she first tried in France, she worked to perfect her recipe for over a year, even reaching out to Julia Child for an assist. For a twist, we treat this cake like a cocktail, spiking a base of caramelized sugar with bourbon, orange juice, bitters, and popped peppercorns. We pour the bittersweet orange-bourbon syrup over the chocolate and butter through a strainer to capture the now-candied peel, which we coat with white sugar and reserve for an easy, elegant garnish.

Chocolate Cake with Vietnamese Coffee Sauce

The silky, decadent sauce topping this chocolate cake takes inspiration from Vietnamese coffee, where a dark and potent brew is layered with a thick layer of sweet condensed milk. (Hence the name “Vietnamese Coffee Cake,” though it’s neither Vietnamese in origin nor a coffee cake.) Inspired by a recipe from Charles Phan’s “The Slanted Door” cookbook, the cake is ultra-moist and rich, tinged with subtly sweet Chinese five-spice powder.

Italian Flourless Chocolate Torta

When setting out to create our own version of this 150 year-old chocolate tart, we found that a combination of ground peanuts and almonds, along with whipped egg whites, delivered the dense-yet-light texture found in the original. We combined cocoa powder and bittersweet chocolate for more complexity, espresso powder to accentuate deep, roasty notes, and fiery dark rum to lift the flavors. Serve with lightly sweetened mascarpone or whipped cream, or with vanilla gelato.

Chocolate-Tahini Loaf with Cinnamon and Cayenne

This chocolate-tahini quick bread, thought up by Milk Street Facebook Community member Jennifer Polse, is a wonderful balance of chocolate’s best pairings—warming spice, fierce cayenne, and nutty tahini. A dark, shiny chocolate-tahini glaze makes this a simple quick bread elegant enough to serve as dessert.

Caprese Chocolate and Almond Torte

The cake for brownie lovers! Italy’s torta caprese—flourless chocolate cake loaded, with ground almonds—is brownie-like in texture and baking ease. We opted for deeply rich, dark chocolate, but adjust to your preferred level of chocolate intensity. Serve slices warm or at room temperature dolloped with unsweetened whipped cream.

Chocolate, Prune and Rum Cake

We were smitten with Claire Ptak’s chocolate, prune and whiskey cake, which we tried at her East London bakery, Violet. Since most home bakers aren’t as skilled as Ptak, we made some adjustments, while still creating a cake people would fall in love with on the first try. Gooey in the center, loaded with chocolate, yet complexly flavored with dark rum and molasses.

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Claire Lower

Claire Lower is the Digital Editor for Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street, with over a decade of experience as a food writer and recipe developer. Claire began writing about food (and drinks) during the blogging boom in the late 2000s, eventually leaving her job as a lab technician to pursue writing full-time. After freelancing for publications such as Serious Eats, Yahoo Food, xoJane and Cherry Bombe Magazine, she eventually landed at Lifehacker, where she served as the Senior Food Editor for nearly eight years. Claire lives in Portland, Oregon with a very friendly dog and very mean cat. When not in the kitchen (or at her laptop), you can find her deadlifting at the gym, fly fishing or trying to master figure drawing at her local art studio.