America's Test Kitchen

Dark Chocolate Desserts

When you're looking to satisfy a serious chocolate craving, these recipes deliver. No matter the dessert—cookie, pudding, cake, or pie—there’s nothing like the flavor of chocolate to make it truly irresistible. In this chapter, we set out to develop ultimate versions of two favorite chocolate desserts: chocolate mousse and chocolate cupcakes. Rich, frosting-like mousse is utterly delicious—for about two spoonfuls. Yet light and silky versions often lack decent chocolate flavor. Once you start adding more chocolate, texture suffers and becomes heavy. We wanted the best of both worlds—a light and silky texture with big chocolate flavor. Chocolate cupcakes are another treat that suffer from faint chocolate flavor. Ever try a mix? Sure they’re easy, but the flavor often falls short. And most homemade chocolate cupcakes aren’t much better. Some may have good chocolate flavor, but the crumb turns dense and confection-like. We aimed to develop a moist, feathery cupcake infused with chocolate flavor. And for such a homey treat, we didn’t want to spend all day, so these cupcakes would need to be almost as easy as using a boxed mix. Recipes: Dark Chocolate Mousse Chocolate-Orange Mousse Chocolate-Raspberry Mousse Premium Dark Chocolate Mousse Dark Chocolate Cupcakes Easy Vanilla Bean Buttercream Easy Chocolate Buttercream Easy Coffee Buttercream Easy Peppermint Buttercream Tasting Lab: Just What Is Dark Chocolate, Anyway? Equipment Center: Muffin Tins, Updated