25 Best Valentine's Day Dessert Recipes

By The editors of MidwestLiving.com
Updated March 21, 2020
Credit: Blaine Moats

Valentine dessert recipes include decadent cakes, glazed Valentine treat cookies, easy truffles and chocolate souffles.

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Gâteau au Chocolate

Credit: Blaine Moats
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This exceedingly moist and rich (but so simple!) cake is all about chocolate and butter; if you can swing it, choose top-quality brands.

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Mini Raspberry White Chocolate Whoopie Pies

Credit: Kritsada Panichgul
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This special-occasion dessert will disappear quickly. Soft cookies sandwich a white chocolate mascarpone filling and seedless raspberry preserves.

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Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes

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Top these gooey-center, intense chocolate desserts with powdered sugar.

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Valentine’s Day Marshmallow Treats

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Dress up rice cereal hearts with frosting, pretzels, peanut butter, chocolate and other toppings for Valentine's Day sweets.

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Red-Hot Velvet Brownies

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These cinnamon-spiked red velvet bars taste just like red-hot candies-with a layer of luscious cream cheese frosting on top! 

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Mini Chocolate Soufflés

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These warm, bittersweet puffs have coffee in them, but you'd never know it. Performing culinary sleight of hand, the hidden ingredient just helps chocolate taste more chocolatey, like a capful of vanilla would, but with a darker intent.

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White Chocolate-Cherry Shortbread

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Dip these cookies in melted white chocolate, then roll in nonpareils and edible glitter for Valentine color.

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Cookie Canvas

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Whip up flavored icing for cookies, sweet rolls, cakes or coffee cake in minutes. Just mix 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar with 2-3 tablespoons liquid, then drizzle away. For a Valentine's Day treat, try maraschino cherry juice for pretty pink color. Maraschino cherry juice, coffee and creme de menthe add color as well as flavor. Most other liqueurs and citrus juices yield white or cream-color icing. For unflavored drizzle, use milk.

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Three-Tiered Chocolate Cake

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Few foods say "celebration" like cake, especially chocolate. We challenged our Test Kitchen to come up with a fresh, delicious twist on this all-time favorite. The result is a decadently rich dessert. The recipe includes variations such as Hot Chocolate Cake, Spice is Nice Chocolate Cake and Mocha Chocolate Cake. Three-Tiered Chocolate Cake

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Cake Bites

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Candylike tiny cakes require just a basic recipe using a mix, frosting and candy coating. Customize to suit your tastes with extra flavor and toppings!

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Fudge Brownie Hearts

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These Valentine treats combine bittersweet and semisweet chocolate with plenty of butter, eggs, granulated sugar and brown sugar for a moist, rich dessert. After the brownies have cooked and cooled, you can cut them into bars or use 3-inch heart-shape cutters. Drizzle with a vanilla glaze.

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Valentine's Day Chocolate Trail Mix

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Sweet, salty, chewy, crunchy-this trail mix has everything you want in a snack. Plus chocolate, of course!

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Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

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Use a basic sugar cookie dough to create any of four heart-shape designs for this sweetheart of a Valentine cookie.

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Red Velvet Cheesecake

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We took the red velvet cake we love and gave it a creamy twist. Don't let the red color fool you: The flavor is all chocolate.

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Candy-Box Caramels

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Make packaged caramel squares a perfect, easy Valentine treat by dipping them in sprinkles, crushed nuts and bits of candy. Drizzle with dark or white chocolate to add even more color.

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Cocoa and Brown Butter Shortbread Bites

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Browned butter infuses irresistible nuttiness into these four-ingredient cookies without sullying their essential simplicity or sandy texture. Dip them in satiny chocolate for effortless glamor.Cocoa and Brown Butter Shortbread Bites

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Salted Almond Truffle Tart

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One of our testers described this tart's filling as "chocolate butter." We couldn't agree more. It's fantastically rich, with roast-toasty salted almonds in the crust and flaky sea salt on top to balance the sweetness.

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Vanilla Pudding with Chocolate Chip Cookie Brittle

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Put a twist on old-fashioned cookies and milk with this creamy vanilla pudding topped with crispy-buttery cookie bits.

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Puffed Heart Lemon Cookies

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A lemon-flavor glaze, colored white or pink, adds a sweet-tart topping to these cakelike confections for a Valentine's dessert.

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Ebony and Ivory Cupcakes

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Drizzle this chocolate cupcake with Powdered Sugar Glaze and then rolled in chocolate shavings if you want it to look like ours. Or top the glaze with nuts, hard candies, chopped chocolate or colored sugar.

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Heavenly Devil's Food Cake

This moist and rich creation includes unsalted butter, eggs, cocoa powder, two kinds of sugar and buttermilk. Serve with whipped cream and berries, if you like, or your favorite flavor of ice cream. Or frost with desired cake frosting.

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Creamy Peanut Butter Truffles

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Minnesota's Saint Paul Hotel features truffles similar to these at its annual Chocolate Lovers' Tea.

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Red Velvet Pots

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For a cake that comes together in minutes, just mix and microwave. Top with a powdered sugar heart.

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Tinted Angel Cake

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The many colors of Kool-Aid, a Nebraska invention, mean there is an array of choices for this angel food cake that starts with a mix. Pink lemonade Kool-Aid adds pastel Valentine dessert prettiness and a delicate flavor to Tinted Angel Cake.

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The Original Chocolate Fondue

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Fondue stars at the Melting Pot restaurant in Indianapolis. We offer The Original Chocolate Fondue recipe as well as versions based on s'mores and caramels. Dippers include fruit, angel food cake, pound cake cubes and marshmallows.

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Mocha Meringue Kisses

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These light-as-air sweet kisses, flavored with cocoa and espresso powders, are fat-free and just 32 calories each.

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Valentine's Cocoa Angel Cake

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Flavored with cocoa powder and generously frosted with sweetened whipped cream, this tender Valentine's Day dessert from our Test Kitchen was featured on a Midwest Living® cover.

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Double Thumbprint Cookies

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Fill these pretty Double Thumbprint Cookies with cherry or raspberry preserves for a Valentine dessert.

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Honey and Poppy Seed Hearts

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Honey gives these cinnamon-spiced cookies great flavor and a slightly soft texture.

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By The editors of MidwestLiving.com