5 Indulgent Chocolate Dessert Recipes to Make for Valentine's Day

Store-bought chocolates are nice, but you know what’s better? A decadent chocolate dessert made with love in the comfort of your own kitchen. This Valentine’s Day, forget the heart-shaped truffle box and make something for your significant other with your own two hands. Below is a list of five chocolatey desserts—from the elegant chocolate tart to the decidedly less elegant (but just as tasty) cast iron hot fudge pudding cake—to make for your special someone this Valentine’s Day.

What do cast-iron skillets, hot fudge, chocolate pudding, and chocolate cake have in common? Your foodie valentine probably loves them all. Here, we’ve combined all of those wonderful elements to form our recipe for Cast -Iron Hot Fudge Pudding Cake. Make some pudding (cake) for your puddin’ this Valentine’s Day. (oh hey CV) (Are you in love with your cast-iron skillet? Check out our guide to cast iron cooking.)

Our Rich Chocolate Tart recipe is a bit more involved than the others on the list, but we promise it’s worth the effort. This elegant tart consists of a rich, silky-smooth, custard-style filling baked in an almond-laced pâte sucrée dough.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Crinkle Cookies? On Valentine’s Day? Absolutely. For our gluten-free take on chocolate crinkle cookies, we used a combination of unsweetened chocolate and cocoa powder (plus a little espresso powder) for a deep, rich chocolate flavor. (Looking for more gluten-free goodies? Check out our guide to gluten-free cooking and baking.)

These Gluten-Free Fudgy Brownies are every bit as good as the real deal. Fudgy brownies contain less flour than cakey ones, so it made sense to start with our favorite recipe for fudgy brownies and use our gluten-free flour blend instead. With cocoa powder, unsweetened chocolate, and bittersweet chocolate, this recipe delivers intense chocolate flavor. Your special Valentine’s Day someone is going to love these brownies.

OK, now for some chocolate truffles that are acceptable to give to your loved one this Valentine’s Day. Homemade truffles have a tendency to be dry and grainy, but we figured out there are three keys to creating creamy, silky-smooth truffles at home. First, start with melted chocolate. Melting the chocolate before adding the cream allowed us to stir—rather than whisk—the two together, reducing the incorporation of air that can cause grittiness. Second, add corn syrup and butter. Corn syrup smoothes over the gritty texture of sugar, and butter introduces silkiness. Finally, cooling down the ganache gradually before chilling prevented the formation of grainy crystals. (Heart-shaped box not included, but we urge you to make your own.)

What are your Valentine’s Day plans? Let us know in the comments!