My recipe for Death by Chocolate comes from my husband’s family, and it truly lives up to it’s name. I’ve taken the liberty to change the recipe around to make for a healthier chocolate indulgence.
Strangely enough, my healthier version turned out even more rich and decadent than the original. This is mostly because my chocolate cake recipe is a lot more fudgy than cakey in texture.
This could be the only chocolate dessert you’ll ever need in your life – it’s really that good! It elicits ‘mmms’ and small moans from everyone who’s tried it. If you want a surefire people – pleaser, this is your dessert. Creamy, chocolatey goodness with bits of fudgy cake – that’s all the ingredients of happiness right there!
Bake a recipe of Chocolate Skillet Cake using the version with 2/3 cup of maple syrup. When it’s cool, cut it into cubes right in the pan. Then use a metal spatula to scoop the cubes out.
Make the chocolate pudding according to the recipe and let that cool as well. Both the cake and the pudding can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to 1 day before you assemble your dessert.
For the coconut whipped cream, I made my version with the entire can of coconut milk (refer to my coconut whipped cream post for detailed instructions) which makes a soft and fluffy whipped cream. You can also use the solid cream from two cans of coconut milk to make a stiffer whipped cream. I personally prefer a softer cream in this dessert.
For this dessert, it’s nice to use a glass serving dish so that you can see the layers melding together. Place half of the cake cubes in the bottom of your serving dish.
Pour half of the chocolate pudding over the top and layer with half of the whipped cream. Repeat the layers one more time leaving a couple of cake cubes to crumble over the top for decoration.
Here’s a close-up of the final look. As you can see, the whipped cream is soft, and the layers almost melt together. This original recipe also had a layer of crunched up toffee, but I haven’t found an organic substitute for that one yet!
This will keep in the fridge for at least 3 days, although we haven’t had any around long enough to see past that!
This dessert is dense, fudgy chocolate cake with rich, creamy chocolate pudding interrupted with layers of billowy coconut whipped cream – every bite is absolute bliss!
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Death by Chocolate
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 45 mins
- Yield: 6-8 1x
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Pin RecipeIngredients
- 1 recipe Chocolate Fudge Skillet Cake, made with 2/3 cup Grade A maple syrup
- 1 recipe Coconut Whipped Cream, made with the entire can for a soft cream, or the hardened coconut cream from 2 cans for a firmer whipped cream
- Chocolate Pudding:
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 2 Tablespoons tapioca starch, or organic cornstarch (which is not grain free)
- 1/2 cup Grade A maple syrup
- pinch of sea salt
- 1 can (15.33 oz) coconut milk
- 2 Teaspoons vanilla
- 1 ounce dark chocolate of choice, broken into pieces
Instructions
- Make a recipe of chocolate skillet cake and while it’s baking, start the chocolate pudding.
- Whisk together the cocoa powder, tapioca/cornstarch, maple syrup, and pinch of sea salt until it’s smooth. Add the coconut milk and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the pudding comes to a boil, and thickens.
- Remove the pudding from the heat and add the vanilla and chocolate, and stir until completely smooth. Place the pudding in an airtight container, and place it in the refrigerator to cool. Both the cake and pudding can be made 1 day before you’re ready to assemble your dessert.
- When you’re ready to assemble the dessert, make a recipe of coconut whipped cream.
- Cut the chocolate cake into 1/2 inch cubes and place half of them in the bottom of a clear glass serving dish. Layer with 1/2 the chocolate pudding and 1/2 the coconut whipped cream. Repeat the layers and serve immediately or refrigerate up to 4 hours until serving. You can also layer this dessert into individual containers.
- This dessert can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. If you choose to go with the firmer whipped cream, it will become more solid as the dessert is refrigerated.
Notes
For a completely dairy free version, be sure to use coconut oil in the chocolate skillet cake and a dairy free chocolate bar in the pudding.
The 6-8 serving sizes may seem small, but this dessert has a really rich chocolate flavor and it’s really satisfying! It serve as many as 12 in small individual dessert bowls, but 6-8 is more comfortable.
The pudding is thick enough to hold it’s shape, so sometimes I whisk in 2 Tablespoons of water after it’s cooked if I want a softer dessert.
42 Comments on “Death by Chocolate”
I have made your decadent, delicious Death by Chocolate recipe twice and everyone loved it…never guessing it was lactose free so I could enjoy it! Am wondering however if it’s possible to make a chocolate pudding pie using your chocolate pudding recipe, but spooning it into a homemade or ready-made pie crust? Would you make any adjustments to the pudding recipe?
Am not sure if it would “gel” enough to be able to cut with a knife? In my lactose free efforts I tried just substituting almond milk for regular milk with packaged pudding mix, but it never really set. Not that there is ANY dessert better than the Death by Chocolate, but hoping for another dessert option I can eat that’s just a bit lighter! Would appreciate your advice!
★★★★★
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I think you could make a chocolate pudding pie by increasing the tapioca starch from 2 Tablespoons to 3, or if you’re using cornstarch you might need as much as a 1/4 cup since it doesn’t set up quite as thick as tapioca, (although it does have better texture in a pudding pie). Also I have a Truffle Chocolate Pudding Pie coming out in the 2nd or 3rd week of February, it’s a cross between a pudding and truffle texture being just a little firmer than a regular pudding pie. I’ll also include a link to my chocolate category where you can go through to see if there’s another dairy free dessert you might like. I hope this helps, and be sure to let me know if you have anymore questions! 🙂
https://getinspiredeveryday.com/food/chocolate/
These are just gorgeous and sound so delicious!!!
Thanks so much!
These look absolutely fantastic !! Need a dozen of these please !
★★★★★
I did have a dozen and I had to give some away so I wouldn’t eat them all!
Chocolate would not be a bad way to die. I’m drooling!
★★★★★
No doubt!
Stop it! This looks too insanely good!
Thanks so much!
I want to die this chocolate death! Mmmm! Thanks Kari!
Chocolate does make you want to dive right in doesn’t it!?!
My official response to this recipe is YES PLEASE. Wonderful!
Thank you, it’s a good one!
I love parfaits.
Me too!
Ha ha, love the name of this dessert. This might be my fate! 🙂
★★★★★
I thought it was funny too, I’d never heard of it before meeting my husband, but it’s big in his family!
I am DROOLING! This looks so delish!
Thank you!
Wowza what a delicious and indulgent treat. Chocolate everything is my favorite!
★★★★★
Me too, I’ll always choose chocolate!
These look decadent and delicious! Those layers are gorgeous! I can’t believe they’re healthy!
Thanks so much, it’s definitely decadent!
Omg, I NEED this! Seriously looks amazing.
★★★★★
Thanks so much!
Wow! Swoon! Can I just snap my fingers and have this appear in front of me? At least a couple of those bowls. Yum! This looks amazing, such a fun treat!
★★★★★
I would love to be able to snap my fingers and have some right now too!
Must! Make!
★★★★★
I sure hope you enjoy it!
This would KILL me out of amazingness! I love the chocolate and coconut layers in every glass. The mix of chocolate cake and creamy coconut kind of reminds me of layered ice cream cake. Sounds so yummy!
A layered ice cream cake with all these flavors sounds amazing too, I should put it on the list for next summer!
Can you make these sugar free?
Do you have a recipe that is totally sugar free?
I can’t have it natural or not!
I don’t have any sugar free recipes, I use natural sweeteners in all of my desserts. You should easily be able to make the chocolate pudding and whipped cream without sugar (using whichever artificial sweetener you prefer), as far as the chocolate cake goes, I’m including some links below to other websites that specialize in no sugar desserts, (I haven’t personally tried these recipes, but they are a great source for no sugar goodies). I hope this helps, and be sure to let me know if you have anymore questions!
http://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/2016/01/the-best-low-carb-chocolate-cake-recipes.html
http://www.sugarfreemom.com/recipes/sugar-free-low-carb-chocolate-crazy-cake-egg-free-dairy-free-nut-free-gluten-free/
hi, what can i use unsted of arrowroot?
i cant find it here.
You can use either tapioca starch (also called tapioca flour) or cornstarch as a replacement. If you use tapioca starch, I would start by trying half of the amount called for because it tends to thicken more than the others. After you bring the pudding to a boil, if it still isn’t as thick as you’d like, you can mix the additional tablespoon of tapioca starch together with 2 tablespoons water and slowly drizzle in a small amount at a time, whisking vigorously until the pudding becomes as thick as you’d like. Another thing to remember with tapioca is that it becomes approximately twice as thick once it’s cooled. I hope this helps, and be sure to let me know how it goes, or if you have anymore questions!
Hi Kari-
I’m thinking of making this for a holiday party and wanted to make it more “seasonal.” I was thinking about adding peppermint extract to the pudding and crushing some candy canes to go on top of the whipped cream. Do you think that would work? What about adding it to the skillet cake, or would that be overkill?
Michelle (wife of ^^Steve)
I personally don’t like peppermint with chocolate (weird, I know) so my opinion isn’t of much use. I think it would be good in the pudding, (I’m not sure what peppermint will taste like combined with coconut whipped cream). I wouldn’t put it in the skillet cake because it might be confusing with the chocolate/almond butter flavor. I would use a sour cherry sauce myself because I love chocolate and cherries (see chocolate covered cherry mousse), or sprinkle with pomegranate seeds for a festive red and white combo.
Best of luck with the peppermint endeavor! I was glad to hear that you and Steve love this dessert because it’s one of our favorites too!
Ho-ly crap…
I am not usually a big chocolate fan, but my wife said she wanted to make this for my birthday. I thought “how sweet” (since she is a HUGE chocolate fan). She made the nutella pudding instead of the chocolate pudding, and since we had a 10″ skillet instead of 9″ skillet she did a 1.5x recipe for the cake. This was one of the best chocolate desserts ever… no, just one of the best DESSERTS ever (chocolate or not). The skillet cake was the best brownies I’ve ever had, ever. I don’t know what else I can say about this… oh, wait. I had none of the usual GI tract issues I normally have with cake/pudding/milk based dessert… so thanks for that. She did include a bit of hazelnut kahlua to the coconut cream. SOOOOO GOOOOOD!!!
Thanks again!
Steve
Glad to hear it was a success! I love this dessert with nutella flavors as well and next time I’ll have to try some of my Frangelico in the whipped cream. Thanks for the great idea!
Oh mmyyyyyy…… I think I died already and haven’t had a single bite yet.
Just wait until you taste it!