Cocoa

A flourless, chocolate lover’s dream. These cookies can be stored at room temperature in airtight plastic containers for up to 2 weeks—if they last that long! They will get a bit chewier after the first day but still taste great. Note: Omit the chocolate chips to make these cookies gluten-free.

My husband Adam asked me to create this recipe. He wanted a facsimile of Archway Dutch Cocoa Cookies, one of his childhood favorites. This recipe comes pretty darn close to the original, and has become a real favorite with my kids as well.

So simple, yet so perfect. These cupcakes are topped with a chocolate buttercream frosting made with no butter, no cream—but it’s rich, chocolaty, and creamy nonetheless! This frosting will frost 12 cupcakes if you’re piping it, more if you’re just spreading the frosting. If you have leftover frosting, it will keep for weeks tightly covered in the fridge. Just let it come to room temperature and whip it up again. For added panache, dress these cupcakes up with sprinkles for kids’ birthday parties, or top them with Rice Milk Chocolate Ganache (page 104).

This tasty quick bread is a great way to sneak vegetables into your kid’s diet. When you combine chocolate and zucchini, the zucchini disappears. I tell my veggie-phobic son Lennon he’s eating chocolate cake and he’s none the wiser! He thinks he’s really lucky to get chocolate cake for breakfast.

Much more wholesome than the usual Halloween candy, these cupcakes will captivate your little ghosts and goblins.

Chocolate cake with a whipped cream center is then topped with chocolate frosting, more whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and a cherry.

Do you remember eating Hostess’s prepackaged cupcakes with a creamfilled center? My version comes without the chemicals and preservatives.

German chocolate cake did not originate in Germany—according to The Dictionary of American Food and Drink, it was invented by a reader of a Dallas newspaper in 1957. This treat is typically laden with sugar and evaporated milk. Enjoy my gluten-free, dairy-free version instead.

This gooey cupcake oozes chocolate goodness. These are not your regular cupcakes—they will look like a little chocolate bowl with a crater in the middle—perfect for rich fillings! Serve warm, filled with a big dollop of Whipped Cream Frosting (page 93), and eat them with a spoon.

What better way to savor peanut butter and chocolate than with this dense, rich confection? They’re like Reese’s peanut butter cups in cupcake form—perfect for kids of all ages. Top with Chocolate Ganache (page 92).

Chocolate and banana is one of my favorite flavor combinations. Try these cupcakes with Banana Whipped Cream Frosting (page 93), along with a side of strawberries.

Smother these little treats with my White Chocolate Frosting (page 94) or try them with Vegan Chocolate Frosting (page 92), sprinkled with Chocolate Dirt (page 98). Chocolate lovers unite!

Bailey’s Drug Store, in Blue Ridge, Georgia, is long gone, but the cake lives on. Crystal’s Aunt Mary Ann and Aunt Thelma used to love eating this cake with ice cream during their lunch break at work. Both were hardworking women in the ’50s and they needed this daily treat to keep them going. Every now and then, couldn’t you also use a little noontime sweet to get you through the day? Don’t cheat yourself. It is better with ice cream, so make sure and give yourself a big scoop! We suggest good ol’ vanilla!

I LOOOOOVE Nutella. I can happily eat it straight out of the jar, so whipping it up into a mousse and serving it with a hazelnut cake just makes sense. It’s nutty, chocolaty, and creamy all at once—what’s not to love? As far as I’m concerned, anything with Nutella sells itself.

Even though this cake is visually a stunner, it’s probably the easiest cake you will ever make. Don’t worry about putting too much filling between the layers; the messier the preserves and chocolate glaze get, the better.

I’m hoping this cake doesn’t need much introduction. It’s one of those recipes for which a photograph speaks clearly and perfectly to its mega-rich glory. I will add, however, that even though a German chocolate cake is not as recognizable without its beloved pecans, you can easily omit them if you are allergic and still achieve the same delicious experience. If you want to add a little crunch and you have extra time on your hands, you can fold in graham cracker crumbs from the S’mores recipe (page 79) along with or instead of the pecans.

I often turn to unrefined sugar to sweeten my cookies because I love the crunchy texture it provides. But when it comes to whoopie pies, agave nectar works much better. The reason is simple: Traditionally, whoopie pies are built with cookies that are fairly squishy and cake-like by comparison—way more so than a typical cookie sandwich. For the filling I prefer Ricemellow Crème, the marshmallow concoction made by Suzanne’s Specialties (see page 17), but you can fill it with the Vanilla Icing (page 127) for equally wonderful results.

I’m Catholic by birth. Winter to us means Lent, which, to be honest, is about all I remember beyond the school uniforms. Anytime winter/Lent rolled around, the only thing we could count on was the house-wide hostility that would mount as we spent several weeks avoiding sweets and desserts in all their overindulgent forms. The colder months, you might recall, make up Girl Scout cookie season. In a unique show of torture, rather than simply not placing an order with the Scouts, our family bought a bunch, tossed them into the freezer, and stored them until Easter—about two months later. This recipe is for all you lifetime gluten-free folks who have never been able to enjoy a winter of Girl Scout Thin Mints—and for all you weak-willed kids who can’t help but break the Lenten period of atonement. Bless your hearts!

My favorite party dress is cocoa-powder brown. It has a crinoline slip underneath and I feel all dolled up when I wear it. I kind of look like a chocolate chiffon pie with a ruffle of whipped cream.

By now you’ve no doubt realized that many of these recipes call for high-quality ingredients that are a bit more costly than a tub of shortening or a sack of bleached flour. As I’ve mentioned before, though, I also abhor waste. This recipe might be the most ingenious recasting of leftovers you’ll ever find, the best part being that nobody could ever possibly know!

Dear Outraged Icebox Cake Purist: I understand you will be frustrated and angry that what follows is in no way an icebox cake, and for that I’m sorry. But those traditional icebox cakes you are so staunchly defending are nothing more than raw eggs, butter, and sugar mixed together and dumped into a pit of sponge cake or stale ladyfingers. Not cool for your stomach, or mine! We can do better—and have with this towering ode to the magical pairing of mint and chocolate. The cake may seem a touch underdone when the baking time is up, but trust me: You will have a beautifully moist cake that won’t dry out in the freezer, one you’ll pick at happily each time you pass the fridge for weeks to come! If you avoid evaporated cane juice, omit the cookies but add some berries or Chocolate Crumb Base (page 116).

I’m all for mindful eating—scanning each and every nutritional label, chewing each bite of food twenty times before swallowing—but we all know there comes a time when we want to slide into a pair of elastic-waisted pants and go to town. When that urge arises, I, for one, succumb. Composed of three of the bakery’s most popular items—frosting, brownies, and cookies—this extraordinary layered cake is an indulgence that would make even the lovely Paula Deen blush. Right with you, Ms. Deen!

If the vanilla cupcake is my doted-on firstborn, the chocolate version is my wild and unruly second child. Prone to petulant deflation, the chocolaty batter forced me to employ every disciplinary technique I could think of before it embraced its chocolate roots and revealed its softer, billowy side. This recipe is not as subtle as the vanilla cupcake; expect a rich, fudgy cake with an intense flavor that resonates with the most feral of chocolate addictions.