Chocolate

Sweetening the mousse with honey adds a Provençal touch to a classic French dessert.

This updated version of France's Christmas classic features orange mousse in a chocolate sponge cake roll and a decadent garnish of chocolate truffles. Kumquats and festive greenery add even more glamour.

Much richer than the average cookie, these treats start with a brownie crust, which gets filled with a luxurious mocha cheesecake mixture. The whole thing is finished off with a sour cream topping and then cut into bars. Be sure to bake the crust and filling a day before serving the bars.

If you're short on time, you can skip the white chocolate decoration.

This is the chocolate lover's dream dessert: rich, creamy and intensely flavored.

Here's a flourless chocolate cake with a light, soufflé-like texture. Serve it with some coffee ice cream.

It's important to use an imported chocolate, such as Lindt or Callebaut, for this recipe. The high cocoa-butter content of the imported type produces chocolate eggs that are more flexible and easier to remove from the molds. You can make all the eggs out of white chocolate, all out of bitter-sweet chocolate or a few from each.

This almost flourless cake is easy to prepare.

Like the cake layers, the frosting is made in two separate batches; each batch yields about eight cups. Ivy is for decoration only; please remove ivy before cutting cakes.

This dessert, from The Cascades Restaurant, is made with a cookie crust and a brownie filling. The chef serves it with whipped cream, passion fruit sauce and raspberry sauce.

Start preparing this elegant layered treat at least one day before you plan to serve it.

Perfect for the Jewish holiday, this flourless torte has an airy soufflé-like texture. The sauce adds a special-occasion touch.