Chocolate

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Dark chocolate never goes out of fashion, but white chocolate was all the rage in the eighties. Foodies couldn't get enough, enjoying it in truffles, tarts and sumptuous ivory-colored mousses like this one.

This recipe originally accompanied Chocolate Layer Cake with Chocolate-Raspberry Frosting.

Cake making was quite a fad in the twenties. The new gas stoves were efficient, reliable and easy to operate; besides, with more women working outside the home, there wasn’t as much time to prepare multiple desserts, so fancy layer cakes were made to satisfy everyone. Marshmallows were popular in the decade, and they were used in desserts, salads and side dishes. Here they sweeten an old-fashioned frosting and decorate this easy-to-make chocolate cake.

This recipe originally accompanied epi:recipeLink="101009"Orange-Almond Cake with Chocolate Icing</epi:recipeLink>.

This torte has a crisp top that shatters when cut and a fudgy tart cherry center.

This dessert is an Italian takeoff on a classic French dish, Poire Belle-Hélène-poached pear with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. Here the pear is teamed with a hazelnut-orange_semifreddo_ (a sweet Italian frozen mousse) and a Frangelico chocolate sauce. For smaller appetites, cut the semifreddo into eight portions and the pears in half.

There's just a hint of chocolate in these.

This recipe was created to accompany Caramelized Banana Purses with White Chocolate Sauce. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

We particularly like this dessert made with coffee ice cream, but youcan use any flavor that goes well with chocolate and peanuts. Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 2 1/4 hr

White chocolate custard tops espresso custard in this luxurious make-ahead dessert. It's pretty garnished with fresh strawberries and coffee beans.

"My parents and I recently celebrated my mom's birthday at a local restaurant called The Farmhouse," writes Karen Eschenbach of Emmaus, Pennsylvania. "We ended a wonderful meal with an even better dessert—chocolate-peanut butter 'beggars' purses.'" Each elegant phyllo "purse" contains a flourless brownie topped with peanut butter and chocolate ganache.

A small slice of this delightfully dense chocolate cake goes a long way.

For the fudgiest brownies, be sure not to overbake these, from Steffi Berne's Cookie Jar Cookbook.