Cocoa

Alone, this cake is moist, tender, and elegant, the chocolate echoed by the glossy glaze. But let's put our cards on the table: The exuberant confetti of colorful sprinkles is what makes you want to dive right in. They're just so much fun. Indeed, this cake turns any meal into an occasion with a capital "o."

Some of us remember clamoring for a fudge pop as soon as we heard the jingle of the ice cream truck. Others reminisce about walking down to the corner store on a sultry August afternoon, reaching into the frosty ice chest for one of these frozen treats, and then peeling back the thin paper wrapper for that first cool bite. These homemade fudge pops, which call for just five ingredients you may already have on hand, will bring your memories to life: They taste smooth, deeply chocolaty, just right.

I'd often sneak into my mom's car and ride stowaway-style in the back seat when she left home to "make groceries" at the A&P or Schwegmann's. No sooner had she turned off the ignition than I'd pop my head up and scare the bejesus out of her! In the market, we'd get coffee beans ground fresh from this giant red coffee grinder—I swear it was at least 3 feet tall. My mom gave the coffee man (usually the bagger at the checkout aisle) explicit instructions on the coarseness of the bean grind for her chicory-laced coffee. After he had bagged our beans, I'd stick my nose up the metal spout and inhale the heady aroma that always made me dizzy and happy. In a typical New Orleans home, a pitcher of coffee can almost always be found in the fridge, whether left over from the morning or brewed specifically to make iced coffee later in the day. This coffee and chicory cupped cake is made with a stiff, eggless cake batter that gets topped with a cocoa crumble and then covered with coffee. Baked in actual coffee cups, the cake soufflés up and makes its own built-in lava sauce on the bottom. It's fantastic eaten within an hour or two of baking while the cake is still warm, soft, and molten.

In name alone, a devil's food cake is an obvious choice for a Halloween dessert. This one will far exceed your expectations of deep chocolaty naughtiness hidden under a fluff of espresso-tinged frosting. (If your trick-or-treaters are too young to embrace the slightly adult bitterness the coffee flavor adds, feel free to substitute a couple of teaspoons of good old vanilla extract.) Have some fun with a very tasty spiderweb—you'll want to eat it rather than shriek and brush it off.

Chocolate and pears make an excellent combination. Here, bittersweet chocolate and sweet pears meld together to form the perfect balance. For this recipe, you can either take a rustic approach and toss the pears haphazardly into the pan or opt for a more elegant look by arranging the pears in concentric circles. Look for a good dark chocolate, which is not the same as unsweetened chocolate. Also, there are two kinds of unsweetened cocoa on the market; be sure to use unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa, not natural cocoa. When combined with baking soda, natural cocoa can impart a bitter taste to baked goods and cause them to rise too much.

If you're making these sweets for your kids, remember that chocolate (raw chocolate in particular) can be somewhat stimulating. To avoid turning bedtime into party time, it's safer to make these a daytime snack. For truffles with a completely smooth texture, a high-speed blender is preferable. Any other blender most likely won't puree the shredded coconut, so the truffles might be a little grainy (though still completely yummy).

The alias for this cake might be "Extreme Chocolate." It is particularly rich and fudgy, calling for both bittersweet chocolate and cocoa powder and topped with a glaze that is equally indulgent.

Goldies, my organic twist on a Twinkie, have become one of my most notorious treats. I like to bake these with an easy chocolate cake (which just happens to be vegan) as a base, as it's the perfect partner to the sweet, creamy filling and dark, almost Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache . For a chic finish, I brush them with gold metallic dust. To give the Goldies their unique look, you will need specialty baking pans. These pans are commonly sold as éclair pans, but since éclairs went out of style two decades ago, you may have better luck ordering them (and the wrappers if you want) online through cooking-supply stores such as kitchenkrafts.com, sugarcraft.com, or cakedeco.com.

It's not a real party without chocolate! Savor this sweet treat and you'll get 20 percent of your daily calcium.

These wee sandwich cakes, also known as Moon Pies, got their start in Pennsylvania Dutch country. They are known as whoopee pies because children exclaim, "Whoopee!" when the cakes are ready. Whole Foods sells Tiny Trapeze brand marshmallow cream, made with "no junkie stuff," as the container states.

The spice rub for this steak evokes the complex flavor of a rich Mexican mole sauce, but with almost no investment of time. It's great for a weeknight dinner party.

Somewhere between custard and cake lies the clafoutis, a simple French country dessert traditionally made with cherries. In this dark chocolate and raspberry version, your blender does most of the work.

In this simple, fresh-tasting dish, a crisp coconut coating keeps the fish moist and gives it real island flair. Chef Roxanne Russell grates and dries her own fresh coconut to get long, beautiful strands, but any grated dried coconut will do.

Spumoni trumps all others as the ideal frozen treat: It's richer than gelato, lighter than ice cream, and smoother than frozen custard. The inspiration for this classic flavor combination came from L & B Spumoni Gardens, in Brooklyn, a favorite spot for this tricolor treat.

You can bake this cake as two layers, fill it with your favorite fruit preserves (try black cherry or raspberry), and frost it with the Mocha Buttercream Icing. Or bake it in a tube pan and top it with any icing or just a light sifting of cocoa or confectioners' sugar (like snow on mountaintops!).

This signature Payard treat delivers a delicious dose of heart-healthy fat and antioxidants, courtesy of the nuts and cocoa.

What better way to celebrate the holidays than with something fabulous? In this elegant European-style cake, thin layers of different flavors come together in each bite. Fine-textured spongecake, soaked in espresso syrup, plays off of crisp hazelnut meringue, while the coffee and mocha buttercreams intensify the richness of a collapsed chocolate soufflé. The faint, bitter edge of dark coffee essentially saves this dessert from itself.

Let's just say that finding yourself alone in a room with a plate of these cookies and a tall glass of milk would be very, very dangerous. The trifecta of chocolate, hazelnuts, and rum is irresistible. Decorating the cutouts with royal icing adds a festive touch.