Love is in the kitchen! Celebrate with 36 Valentine’s Day Dessert Recipes including cakes, cookies, small-batch desserts for 2, and more. From rich chocolate cake and fudgy brownies to festive Valentine’s Day cupcakes and easy sparkle sweetheart cookies, there’s something on this list for everyone to love.
As a New York Times best-selling cookbook author, I’ve made my fair share of seasonal desserts. February is one of my favorite baking months, because the flavors of rich chocolate, sweet berries, and buttery red velvet thrive. Of course, all the pink frosting is a lovely bonus. (Looking at you, strawberry cake!)
If you’re in need of a special treat, here are 36 Valentine’s Day Dessert Recipes.
Every year, my first Valentine’s Day bake is a batch of Valentine’s Day Cookies. I use my fan-favorite sugar cookies and decorate with royal icing to make the cookies look like the popular conversation heart candies. You’ll need just a few cookie decorating tools, or you can use my easy cookie icing and leave off the words for plain heart cookies. (Equally delicious!)
If cookie decorating isn’t your thing, grab a bag of chocolate hearts for easy sparkle sweetheart cookies. (Or peanut butter Valentine’s Day cookies for the peanut butter lover in your life.) These white chocolate red velvet cookies are also simple to make but look extra elegant with a dunk in white chocolate and festive sprinkles to finish.
The list below also includes several small-batch recipes that are ideal for small celebrations. My small chocolate cake yields just enough for a single-layer 6-inch round cakeโor 6 cupcakes. Top with decadent chocolate ganache or your valentine’s favorite frosting. And my 1 giant double chocolate cookie was made with chocolate-lovers in mind!
To really make your valentine swoon, try my show-stopping chocolate raspberry cake. And for more Valentine’s Day baking inspiration, see my Valentine’s Day recipes section.
36 Popular Valentine’s Day Dessert Recipes
Valentineโs Day Sugar Cookies
My recipe for sugar cookies promises flavorful cookies with soft and thick centers, slightly crisp edges, and flat tops for decorating with royal icing to resemble conversation heart candies.
White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Bars
Exceptionally quicker and much easier than a full cheesecake, these white chocolate raspberry cheesecake bars are luxuriously creamy, perfectly sweet, and swirled with layers of fresh raspberry.
Valentineโs Day Cupid Cupcakes
These Valentine’s Day-inspired cupcakes are all dressed up with Nutella filling, strawberry and Nutella swirled buttercream, and a chocolate candy heart.
Chocolate Raspberry Cake
This is a decadent 3-layer cake with so much to love: layers of moist dark chocolate cake, sweet silky chocolate buttercream, and homemade raspberry filling, all covered with a luxurious chocolate raspberry ganache.
Raspberry Sugar Cookies
These raspberry sugar cookies are like regular cut-out sugar cookies, but with two major upgrades in the dough: tangy cream cheese and freeze-dried raspberries.
Valentineโs Day Chocolate Bark
Little bakers love making this easy recipe for Valentine’s Day sweetheart swirl bark featuring pure chocolate, pink swirls, festive sprinkles, and lots of conversation hearts (or your favorite candy!).
Sparkle Sweetheart Cookies
These are drop-style sugar cookies, so there’s no rolling pin or cookie cutter requiredโjust roll in colorful sprinkles and top with chocolate hearts for the perfect easy treat for your sweetheart.
Easy Cheesecake Pie
This easy cheesecake pie is smooth, creamy, and perfect for cheesecake lovers who want a quicker, easier alternative to a classic cheesecake.
Peanut Butter Valentineโs Day Cookies
With a chocolate heart candy nestled on top, these super soft sweetheart peanut butter Valentine’s Day cookies are the February version of peanut butter blossoms.
Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
This recipe produces my best red velvet cake with superior buttery, vanilla, and cocoa flavors, as well as a delicious tang from buttermilk, all topped with a luscious cream cheese frosting.
White Chocolate Red Velvet Cookies
Enjoy the signature red velvet cake flavors of vanilla, butter, and cocoa, but as a soft-baked chewy cookie with a generous dip in smooth white chocolate.
Seriously Fudgy Homemade Brownies
This is our go-to recipe for seriously fudgy brownies that are thick, dense, and intensely chocolatey; with shiny, crackly tops and melt-in-your-mouth centers.
Homemade Strawberry Cake
The one thing that sets this strawberry cake apart from others? Tons of REAL flavor. This recipe is also in my best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Chocolate Raspberry Crinkles
Just like chocolate crinkle cookies, but with the added flavor of real raspberries, these chocolate raspberry crinkle cookies are soft-baked and chewy, deeply rich and fudgy, and coated in a raspberry-confectioners’ sugar topping.
Chocolate Cherry Thumbprints
Sweet maraschino cherries strike just the right flavor balance in these deeply chocolatey cookies. You can find them on page 49 in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Easy Chocolate Lava Cakes
Chocolate lava cakesโwith their deliciously rich molten chocolate centersโcome together with 6 simple ingredients and are ready in just 25 minutes.
Champagne Cake Roll
This light and spongey champagne cake roll is flavored with reduced champagne and vanilla and filled with champagne whipped cream. Cheers!
Homemade Chocolate Truffles
Spread the love this Valentine’s Day with rich, creamy, and indulgent chocolate truffles… made in the comfort of your own kitchen!
Date Night Chocolate Fudge Cakes for 2
This recipe for chocolate fudge cakes for 2 is a 30-minute small-batch recipe,ย and is perfect for when you don’t need to feed a crowd.
Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies
These red velvet cake-inspired chocolate chip cookies marry the velvet-soft texture and light cocoa undertones from the popular cake flavor with classic chocolate chip cookies.
Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies
Pink, pretty, and irresistibly richโthese ultra-fudgy raspberry cheesecake brownies are swirled with creamy, tangy cheesecake and real raspberry flavor.
Chocolate Cake Pops
Combine rich chocolate cake with the best chocolate buttercream, and coat in melted chocolate for a treat that will make your tastebuds pop!
Homemade Chocolate Mousse
With the pure flavor of real chocolate and its smooth, velvety texture, this mousse strikes the perfect balance between rich and light. You need just 6 ingredients and there’s no baking required.
Oreo Balls
These are a simple, no-bake treat everyone loves, and you can customize them by using your valentine’s favorite flavor of Oreo cookie and type of chocolate for coating.
Easy Drop-Style Sugar Cookies
These are soft, chewy, sprinkle loaded drop sugar cookies made from only 8 ingredients. No rolling pin or cookie cutters required!
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes
Extra moist chocolate cupcakes filled with sweet strawberry buttercream and topped with rich chocolate ganache!
White Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes
These are strawberry cupcakes made with real strawberries and zero artificial flavor, topped with an ultra-creamy frosting that combines melted white chocolate and freeze-dried strawberries.
Creamy Small Batch Cheesecake
If you want to celebrate Valentine’s Day with cheesecake but don’t want the large yield of a standard recipe, try this easy creamy small batch cheesecake made in a loaf pan.
Easy Crรจme Brรปlรฉe
Flecked with espresso and vanilla, you need only 6 simple ingredients to make crรจme brรปlรฉe worthy of a restaurant dessert menu.
Small Chocolate Cake (6 Inch)
If you’re entertaining a small crowd or if you just need to satisfy a chocolate cake craving, here is my much-loved recipe for a 1-layer 6-inch chocolate cake.
Chocolate Hand Pies
Steal their heart with a batch of warm and gooey chocolate hand pies, featuring chocolate pie dough and chocolate ganache filling!
Tiramisu
Tiramisu is a timeless, always impressive no-bake Italian dessert combining espresso-dipped ladyfingers and a lightly sweetened mascarpone cream.
Flourless Chocolate Cake
A 1-bowl dark, rich, and deliciously moist flourless chocolate cake recipe without any special tools, decorating, or assembly required, this is chocolate cake made easy… and completely gluten free.
Chocolate Soufflรฉ
Although rich and fluffy chocolate soufflรฉ certainly looks impressive, it a relatively quick recipe that only requires 7 basic ingredients.
1 Giant Double Chocolate Cookie
Extra chewy, fudgy, and with double the chocolate, this mega-sized cookie couldn’t be easier to make. It’s perfect for sharing with your valentine… or not.
How to Make Crepes
Easy to make with just a blender and a standard skillet, these crepes are ready for your choice of sweet or savory fillings and toppings.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Hello! Cookies look so good, cant wait to try them out! Is this recipy nut free by chance? ๐
Hi Camila! Which cookie recipe are you referring to? Here are all of our nut-free recipes, if you’re interested in browsing.
Raspberry cheesecake brownies for ladies night
Absolutely love biscuit recipes. They donโt last long in my house with grandkids
I just printed off the recipe for the Frosted Sugar Cookies Bars. I am opening a Bakestand in a few weeks and these would be perfect as individual boxed treats. Who doesn’t love a good sugar cookie…and with that icing! โค๏ธ
Hello Sally,
My name is Carmela and I love your recipes, I already did your cinnamon rolls wich are so incredibly delicious, my question is, I am looking for a good donut recipe and I was wondering if you have it and you wanted to share it, either baked or fried, thank you so much in advance!
Carmela
Hi Carmela! Here’s our favorite fried donuts recipe. We also have a selection of baked donuts to try – you can find all our donut recipes (baked and fried) here!
You are my go to site for dessert recipes for any occasion!
These gave me great ideas! Thankyou so much!!! I will give them a try!!!
I made the Valentine cookies and the children loved them. They taste extra good with the cream cheese. I just sprinkled the colored sugar on the top to decrease it a bit. We used dark and milk chocolates. Thank you!
I absolutely love ALL of these deliciously described recipes. Thank you Sally. Your newsletters bring some really heartfelt memories of my mom. She could bake anything and everything with the same ease you do. Forever on my thoughts.
Thank you for recipes for two people
Can’t wait to make a bunch of these valentines recipes
Love all these recipes
It’s so cute I love it
Melts in your mouth delicious!
You are my favourite site to go to when I am baking. I love baking and have always had great success with your recipes. I bake for my grandchildren and my son-in-law who is a fireman and takes my baking to work so all those fellows to enjoy.
We’re so happy to hear that our recipes are a hit with your family, Donna. How sweet of you to bake for them!
Sally, THANK YOU for your Valentine’s Day post! Once again, I used your site for my Family and Consumer Science class kitchen lab research to help them prepare for a special Valentine’s Day cookie baking lab. Our maintenance guys happened to be working in our room as I gave the assignment and posted your images on my smart board. Needless to say they asked to be invited back on Monday for samples! Thank you for all you do to share and inspire the best baking message. Love the new website look! XOXO
Making the red velvet cookies with white chocolate dip for Valentineโs Day! Thank you for all these new ideas in this post. Sallyโs is still my fav!
My husband can be fussy but he loves chocolate. I have been making your 6 inch chocolate cake. A perfect size for the two of us! I also make chocolate sugar cookies with chocolate frosting and red and pink sprinkles. He always brings an empty tin home with requests for the cookie recipe! Thank you for making it fun and easy to spread the love, Sally!
I made the White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Bars, Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies, and Red Velvet Cheesecake Swirl Brownies the other day (it was a wonderful day full of cheesecake) and they were all a hit! Definitely recommend!
the strawberry cake was so AWESOME. I suggest that to people needing an idea, you could also use the recipe for cupcakes.
I love this blog so much! Any suggestions for mail-able Valentineโs treats?
Hi Abbi, Cookies are always our go-to treat to mail!
Hi Sally and crew!!! I made your chocolate swi meringue cookies a while ago and they came perfectly fine until about 4 days later where they were all hard and super SUPER sweet. I love your recipes so much!! Happy belated Valentine’s Day!!
-Savannah
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS BEAUTIFUL ORGANIZED COMPILATION!
It turns out I’ve made an almost embarrassing number of these recipes! My favorites are the red velvet cheesecake brownies as well as the Triple Chocolate layer cake. For something small I would highly reccommend thelava cakes.
I love that you have divided up your 36 choices into groups of 4! I usually just hit delete on blog posts that offer more than a handful of compiled recipes (10 is the very top of my attention span!). It just gets to be too many choices and usually a large number of โjust okayโ choices at that! This format made the large selection much more interesting and I found a number of recipes to pin for next week!
Thank you for compiling this, Sally and crew!
I love all of your recipes, and I cannot WAIT to make some for Valentine’s Day! I hope you and your families stay well in these difficult times!!
Have a great day!
Happy Valentine’s Day! ๐ ๐
Best,
Veronica
The Red Velvet Kiss cookies are wonderful! I made them at Christmas with my grandchildren, and I was delighted that the method of putting the cookies directly into the freezer after topping with the Hersheyโs Kisses actually WORKED to keep the kisses on the cookies! Flavor was good, making them grandchildren was great fun, and having the kisses stay of the cookies was fantastic! Thanks for the method.
The first recipe of yours that I made are the red velvet oreo brownies and they didn’t even make the list I made them for my boyfriend in university for Valentine’s Day and now as husband, he still requests them every year!
What a sweet tradition, Liv! So glad to hear your boyfriend enjoys our Red Velvet Oreo Brownies.
I can’t wait to try the red velvet cheesecake swirl brownies. My daughter just had a birthday “party” and because I made so many desserts, we had plenty left over. All were your recipes and were delicious!!! thank you for all you do!
The dark chocolate raspberry coffee cake is out of this world!
100% can confirm that the red velvet cheesecake swirl brownies are DIVINE. It’s probably a good thing it doesn’t make an enormous pan because no one in my house can resist them. ๐