Best Chocolate Desserts
My favorite week of the year is upon us. It is National Chocolate Week and I take my role as a Traveling Mama very seriously. I make sure that each hotel I recommend has been personally visited. I make sure that each product I review has been personally tested out. I even sacrifice myself, in the name of travel research, to test out each dessert that passes in front of me. So, in honor of National Chocolate Week, I’ve highlighted a few decadent culinary delights that have entertained my taste buds.
Chocolate Assortment at Angel and Phelps – Daytona Beach, FL
Chocolate Layer Cake at The Strip House – Key West, FL
Chocolate Meringue Pie at Lea’s Cafeteria – Lecompte, LA
Godiva Chess Pie at Watercolor Resort – Watercolor, FL
Handmade Chocolates at Fish Out of Water – WaterColor, FL
Death by Chocolate at Les Trois Saisons – Saint-Tropez, France
Now get out there and celebrate by eating some chocolate and tell me about your favorite chocolate dessert and where it can be found.
A few years ago I was introduced to an incredible chocolate buffet at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. It was an incredibly decadent experience and more than a little challenging to give yourself permission to eat multiple chocolate courses. – not sure if I can ever get the courage to repeat 😉
One of my favorite desserts is right here in our home town – San Diego. At The Indigo Grill (www.cohnrestaurants.com/restaurants/indigogrill/), they have this goowy, warm chocolate dessert called the Chocolate Caueta Vulcan. It’s like a lava cake, only so much more decadent. It comes to the table in a cast iron skillet that will burn your fingers if you touch it. It’s topped with ice cream and pieces of chocolate in shapes like dragons, etc. Unbelievable. And there’s enough for 2-4 easy. Yum-o-rama. My hubby and I will sometime go there just for dessert.
I really don’t think you can do better than a really gooey, slightly undercooked fudge brownie with walnuts. Although my “Wicked Good Chocolate Cake” runs a very, VERY close second.
Girl, I have 2 fav’s. One is the chocolate cake with chocolate fudge icing from Federal Bake Shop in Hixson, TN. I get one for my birthday every year… and any other special occasion I can think of. The 2nd is my chocolate peanut butter icing. Don’t ask for the recipe, because I never make it the same way twice. I don’t use measuring cups; they’re evil. But next time you drive to Chattanooga, or through there, let me know. I grew up in Hixson and my family is still there, so I can give you directions to that bakery. OMG! That icing is to die for!
My family and I had such fun w/ the tableside smores (make your own) at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX. But on a more sophisticated level, I dig the banana chocolate bread pudding at SIX89 in Carbondale, CO.
I love the “Melting Hot Chocolate Soufflé
Flourless Chocolate Cake with a Molten Hot Center served à la mode” at Roy’s Restaurant….deeelish!!
Mmmm, love it!
You can just never have too much good chocolate can you? We just visited the chocolate factory in Kohn Germany with a fountain of free chocolate! Had a sublime chocolate banana creme pie in Rothenburg recently and adored the chocolate overkill in Brugge our first fall of our world trip:
http://www.soultravelers3.com/2006/09/more-chocolate.html#more
I can not tell you how much wonderful chocolate we have sampled on our open ended world tour. Still, I think my favorite is from Gayles bakery in our home town of Santa Cruz…truly the best Chocolate mouse cake in the world!
http://www.gaylesbakery.com/index.html
I must say..the apple don’t fall far from the tree…I LOVE chocolate too! One of my favorite chocolate deserts is my Aunt Sadie’s and MiMi’s chocolate pie! A good day is a piece of that pie with a coke and trip to the mall. I challenge you readers out there to share your chocoholic recipes with the Mama’s
Big Mama
I love to eat out and have certainly had chocolate in many locales. But my favorite chocolate dessert can be found at the Millbrook Restaurant in Waistfield, Vermont (www.millbrookinn.com). It’s a double chocolate mousse pie: baked mousse for the shell and cold for the filling, made with Belgian chocolate, and to die for. (Full disclosure: My father and stepmother run this restaurant, although I wouldn’t recommend it if it weren’t truly the best. My stepmother even figured out how to make it my wedding cake.)
Adding all of these fine recommendations to my need-to-visit list. I agree, anything in the name of chocolate.
I think just might be my favorite blog post ever. I can see myself returning daily just to oogle the desserts you’ve pictured.
Much appreciated.
OMG, that layer chocolate cake gave me the chills and made my mouth water!!! MMMMM MMMM!
I host a cookie swap before the holidays in December. One regular attendee is not allowed to bring anything besides her Carmelita bars.
She gave me the recipe once as these are my favorite bar cookies. (Geez, my mouth is starting to water as I type. How sad is that?)
Anyway, she gave me the recipe. I made them and haven’t made them since b/c they are made with so much butter and all sorts of ingredients to clog your entire neighborhoods arteries.
Short story, beginning to be long…I’d rather not be reminded how bad they are for me, but I still LOVE them and insist that my friend bring them every year. I’ve tasted them at bakeries, but nothing is as good as the real deal from my friend Kelly.
P.S. I second the nomination for Gayles Bakery in Capitola, CA. Everything is yummy from this place.
Hey! OH MY GOSH! I love this. AM soooo going to follow your lead. Next trip, next chocolate fix…photo documenting it! My fav so far? A little bakery in Wash. DC THE MOST AWESOMEST Chocolate brownies. So glad you shared this on the #gno blog!
I love Sex in a Pan served at Isadores in Manteca, California. It’s a fun and tasty dessert with a chocolate pudding, chocolate cookie crumbs and bananas Served with candy cigarettes.