30 chocolate treats you have to try

Your childhood pudding on steroids, thickened into a dense custard of eggs, cream, milk and dark chocolate. 

German 'Schwarzwald Kirsch' (Black Forest Cherry Cake) gets its name from rich dark chocolate and cherries steeped in kirschwasser, a traditional cherry brandy. True Black Forest Cherry Cake shouldn't be overly sweet, as neither kirsh or the whipped cream have added sugar, the resulting cake having a deeper chocolate profile.

For true chocolate lovers, the chocolate truffle offers one of the most intense chocolate-to-bite experiences one can enjoy. The best handmade ones filled with chocolate praline or buttercream must be enjoyed quickly as their freshness soon fades.

Is this a list at Halloween? Yes. But we're including this now because if you want one at the holidays, you better put in your order as soon as possible. Our local bakeries usual sellout by mid-November!

This traditional holiday dessert is a a type of rolled cake made by taking thin, flexible sponge cake – often soaked with liquor or coffee – covering it with chocolate buttercream and then rolling it into a cylinder where it is covered with even more chocolate frosting and carved to look like a log and decorated with chocolate meringue 'mushrooms' to look more authentic. 

Crispy churros with a touch of cinnamon dipped in thick, melted chocolate puts the fun in finger foods.

Chocolate cake doesn't always mean battling a hot oven and multiple ingredients. Crisp chocolate wafers layered with sweet whipped cream turn into soft billowy bites when left to set in the refrigerator overnight.

Flourless chocolate cake layered with chocolate pudding may not remind us much of life on the river, but we're not going to argue with a dessert that allows us to have chocolate with even more chocolate. 

Dark porter beers brewed with cacao nibs and chocolate malts make these beers an interesting twist on dessert. Look for beers that also infuse orange zest, cherry, mint and even peanut butter at your local bottle shop.

But even better? You can bake with chocolate porter beers, like in this chocolate porter cheesecake. 

Looking an intense chocolate taste with fewer calories than a brownie? Light meringue cookies filled with chocolate cream or ganache have the same chewy richness with less of the guilt.

It's hard to believe, but everyone's favorite Italian dessert tiramisu – or "pick me up" – didn't start showing up in cafes and cookbooks until very recently in the '60s and '70s. Now this cocoa, espresso, ladyfingers and cream dessert is on everyone's must-have list when it comes to enjoying chocolate.

When we think of chocolate, we think of European delicacies, but few are quite as American as a homey chocolate pecan pie, especially when baked with an extra splash of bourbon or whiskey.

Unlike American and European hot chocolate that relies on the sweet to bring out the best in chocolate, Mexican hot chocolate gets its kick from cinnamon, thick condensed milk, vanilla and even a pinch of cayenne to bring out the peppery tones in high quality chocolate.

Classic French 'pâte à choux' pastry puffs filled with cool ice cream or rich custard then drizzled with a deep chocolate ganache are a decadent treat to finish any meal.

A chocolate chip cookie might be a classic, but you haven't had a chocolate cookie until you've had the famous chocolate cookies at Christina Tosi's and David Chang's Milk Bar in New York City, Washington, D.C and now even Las Vegas. Ms. Tosi recently won the James Beard award for Outstanding Pastry Chef, and with creations like cornflake-marshmallow-chocolate chip cookies, we can see why she's tops.

And we can report first-hand, this cookie is aces after a night out.

Eight layers of classic yellow cake and deep chocolate frosting make up this Smith Island, Maryland dessert. It's so beloved, it's the official cake of the Old Line State.

Not all chocolate has to be sweet. It can be earthy, spicy and complex as in the Oaxacan sauce, mole negro. The dark color comes from roasted dried peppers used in the sauce, but raisins and chocolate is what makes this mole really stand out from the rest.

By replacing oil with mayonnaise, this chocolate cake comes out incredibly moist and tender, giving chocolate a chance to shine instead of being lost to dry crumbs. You might pooh-pooh the idea, but this baker's secret to a perfect chocolate cake has been around for almost a century. 

Marshmallows, fruit, pretzels, cake, a small Volkswagen; it's hard to stop dipping once you start with chocolate fondue.

While souffles have a bad reputation for being difficult to make, a chocolate souffle is an easy dessert for any home cook to master given enough patience and egg whites.

Chocolate sponge cake layered with chocolate custard, whipped cream and topped with even more chocolate. Skip dinner to make sure you have room for dessert.

There is a reason why lava cake remains a steakhouse staple. Few things are as impressive as cutting into warm chocolate cake and seeing a river of gooey chocolate fondant spilling onto the plate begging for a bite.

This American cake doesn't have Germanic origins, it was named after Samuel German who created a specific formula for dark baking chocolate for Baker's Chocolate Company in the 1800s. Staying true to its origins, this dark chocolate cake is highlighted by crushed nuts and coconut in its rich frosting.

Chocolate can be just as intriguing cold as hot, and a cool French silk pie is a welcome addition any time of year.

An equal marriage of whipped cream and ice cream blended together, a chocolate semifreddo – Italian for 'half cold' – makes for a sophisticated rocky road when topped with marshmallows, chocolate sauce and hazelnuts.

Ultra sweet white chocolate gives way to deep dark chocolate at the bottom, and the airiness of a triple chocolate mousse prevents dessert from weighting the meal down.

While white chocolate no longer has the dark cocoa solids in it that gives chocolate its distinctive brown color and name, it is made from the same cocoa plant and has all the same characteristic richness. Besides, who wants to quibble over what's really 'chocolate' when something as wonderfully suited to go together as white chocolate and macadamia nuts are combined in one cookie.

Chocolate liqueur, vodka and cream served in a chocolate rimmed glass? Make ours a double.

We'll forgive this butter sponge cake, custard and chocolate ganache cake for calling itself a pie, if only because it's one of our favorite ways to have rich chocolate and celebrate Boston at the same time.

Sweetened cream is heated just enough to dissolve the sugar and gelatin to give this classic Italian dessert its form. Often flavored with rum, espresso and hazelnuts, panna cotta's richness gives chocolate the full-body feel it deserves.

Almost everyone has had a chocolate bar in their lifetime, and for good reason. The classic chocolate bar has taken over the world since England's Joseph Fry invented a way to mass-produce the chocolate confection in 1847, giving people a taste of what they never knew they even craved before: chocolate.