This World Chocolate Day, explore some unique chocolate recipes like this chocolate zucchini bread. This dessert or baked treat is one of a kind and can be a great conversation starter as this loaf emerges from the oven looking dark, almost brownie-like, with melted chocolate chips visible at the top and a crumb so moist and fudgy that first-time tasters inevitably will ask what is in it. The answer lies in the shredded zucchini, which tends to cause disbelief, then conversion. Baking with zucchini is quite easy and perfect to try on World Chocolate Day, when your goal is to produce the most intensely satisfying chocolate experience ever. Zucchini does not have any pronounced flavour, which is what makes baking with it so delightful. It contributes enough moisture to the chocolate bread, which is released during baking and also into the batter for a crumb that stays soft and tender for days after baking. It’s the same principle that works for a carrot cake and also an apple cake. The cocoa in this chocolate zucchini bread recipe must be natural, unsweetened cocoa powder, not Dutch-process. Natural cocoa (fruity flavour) is acidic and reacts with the baking soda in the recipe to produce lift and structure. Dutch-process cocoa has been treated to neutralise its acidity (with a mellow flavour) and will not react the same way, potentially producing a denser, flatter loaf. The espresso powder also boosts the flavour of the cocoa exponentially without tipping the bread into coffee territory.

This World Chocolate Day, celebrate everything chocolate by trying this no-bake and no-cook bonbon recipe made with just chocolate and ice cream. This recipe is the kind of thing that makes people assume you spent hours in the kitchen, when in fact you spent fifteen minutes of active work and the rest of the time letting your freezer do the rest. You just need to melt chocolate and coat ice cream balls in it to make this dessert, and you can top the dessert with sprinkles, flaky salt, crushed cookies or peppermint. The bonbon is not a new invention, and chocolate-coated confectionery has existed in various forms for centuries across European patisseries, where the French word ‘bonbon’ means ‘good good’, which is used to describe any small sweet, coated or made with chocolate or sugar. The ice cream version also follows the same recipe but needs to be frozen. You get a dessert with a cold and creamy centre enclosed in a firm chocolate shell that provides textural contrast and a delightful sensory satisfaction. So, this World Chocolate Day, pick up your favourite brand of ice cream tub, preferably chocolate or add vanilla to the mix. You can also opt for your favourite ice cream flavour, be it mint, coffee or butterscotch. The ice cream is scooped into balls, frozen solid, so the melted chocolate does not melt it. The chocolate coating needs to be thin and messy is the look to go for, as bonbons are not truffles, which need a polished appearance.

Chocolate cherry sandwich cookies are proof that one of the best things you can bake on World Chocolate Day requires no special equipment, no tempering of chocolate, and no more than thirty minutes to make a delicious chocolate dessert. All you need is a cake mix, preferably chocolate, or you’ll have to use cocoa powder, to make softer cookies that are a hallmark of whoopie pies or sandwich cookies. Into the cake mix go an egg and butter to make the cookie dough, which is shaped and baked. The filling is where it gets interesting because these chocolate cherry sandwich cookies use Maraschino cherries, which are premium syrup-soaked preserved cherries which you can source from any speciality supermarket or online stores. Along with the cherries goes their juice into the classic butter-and-powdered-sugar base that makes the buttercream. The cherry juice does double duty here: it tints the buttercream a pale pink and also makes it sweeter, with an unmistakably cherry flavour. Before trying the recipe, here are some tips, that even an easy dessert recipe, which is a World Chocolate Day special, needs patience. The cookies must be completely cooled before the frosting goes on. A warm cookie will melt the butter in the buttercream, and the frosting will slide, thin out, and lose the thick, holdable consistency that makes a good sandwich cookie worth eating. The buttercream also needs to be sufficiently thick for the cookies to stick, so make sure to adjust the consistency if too thick or runny.