4 Costco Chocolate Desserts Worth Buying And 3 To Skip

Costco might not have it all, but it's awfully close. From unicorn cookie kits to French door air fryers, the wholesaler has just about everything you need to stock a home or satisfy a craving. If you're feeling the latter, the Costco bakery is famous for oversized goodies in bulk numbers, and the chocolate-based offerings are no different. In fact, you could feed a party and then some with just the chocolate treats from Costco's bakery, which raises the question: Which are worth tossing in your Cadillac-sized cart?

To find out which chocolate desserts Costco does best, I picked up seven and started sampling. The selection featured a Tuxedo Chocolate Mousse Cake, Chocolate Cake Filled with Chocolate Mousse, Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Icing, Triple Chocolate Muffins, Chocolate Hazelnut Filled Mini Beignets, Chocolate Chunk Cookies, and Waffle Cone Bar Cake. While there are a few other items that feature chocolate, the ones listed feel like the best representation of the diverse options Costco offers. 

With sugar coursing through my veins, I compiled a list of four Costco chocolate desserts worth buying and three to skip, based on criteria I'll elaborate on further. All prices listed are representative of the prices in my region at the time of publication. 

Costco loves to rotate bar cakes seasonally, and the Waffle Cone Bar Cake feels like the perfect summer option, taking the ice cream truck classic, the Drumstick, and transforming it into an ice cream-free cake. Featuring waffle cone-flavored sponge cake, layers of thick white cream, crunchy waffle cone crumbles, chocolate and caramel drizzles, and a crunchy chocolate topping, this cake has a lot going on. Add in three mini chocolate-filled waffle cone toppers, and it's definitely safe to call this a chocolate dessert.

The issue with this cake is twofold, though. On one hand, it's definitely the least chocolate-focused of the items I tried. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as everyone's appetite for chocolate can be different, but beyond the occasional chunk here and there, the chocolate is more of a garnish than a feature. 

The other problem I had is that this cake is simply underwhelming. I get the waffle cone inspiration, but if you remove the mini cone toppers, this easily becomes a chocolate chip cannoli cake. Again, that's not a bad thing, but I found the cake portion to be rather dry, and the cream was both plentiful and underwhelming. Even the mini cones are good up to a point. If you eat them fresh, they have a lovely crunch, but left overnight in the fridge, the outside becomes soggy. It's an okay cake with minimal chocolate priced at $18.99, making it an easy skip if you're looking for a choco fix.

Costco makes really, really good chocolate cake. Some variation of that cake will show up a total of three times across this list, and not a single one will be a skip. First up are the Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Icing. If you wanted more chocolate than the Waffle Cone Bar Cake provides, then this is a good starting point.

A dozen cupcakes will run you just $8.99, making this an exceptional value to go along with great flavor. The cake is soft, spongy, and moist without coming anywhere close to being too dense. The frosting walks a similar tightrope thanks to a light and airy texture that leans into the buttercream more than straight sugar. I like frosting a lot, even the super sugary stuff you find slathered over supermarket cupcakes, but this isn't that. The frosting is creamy and rich, but not too sweet. Add in a smattering of rainbow sprinkles, and these cupcakes are just as visually appealing as they are tasty.

The only possible knock on these cupcakes is that they're a bit messy. It's a product of the light and creamy frosting that quickly covers your fingers as you take a bite. I like to turn my cupcakes into sandwiches by tearing off the bottom portion and slapping it on top, but for this cupcake, even that's a tall order. I ate my last one in a bowl and was more than satisfied with that choice.

I've reviewed Costco's Chocolate Chunk Cookies in the past, and as part of a ranking of the best store bough chocolate chip cookies, they're pretty solid. With a 24-pack priced at just $9.99, there's no denying the value these cookies offer. The chocolate chunks are large and generously distributed, and the cookie itself is generally good, if not a standout. I say generally because these cookies are more variable than most store-bought items. 

The package I picked up for this review was on the darker side, which meant they were a touch drier and far less chewy than some I've had in the past. Maybe the ovens were especially hot on the morning they were baked, but the fact that the cookies can range from light in color and chewy to darker and more crumbly warrants a small downgrade.

These cookies are the definition of a replacement-level dessert; you can do far worse, but you can also do better. If you saw a dessert table featuring Costco's Chocolate Chunk Cookies, this would be the safe option, not one you'd be rushing to add to your plate.

Comedian Jim Gaffigan refers to the muffin as a bald cupcake, and now that I've planted that concept in your brain, so will you. Like any proper Costco item, the Triple Chocolate Muffins are oversized and brimming with chocolate. Costco changed up its muffins a few years ago, and while it stirred controversy early on, I think the muffins have finally found a new sweet spot.

An 8-pack is just $6.99, a solid value for baked goods of this size. Each chocolate muffin is filled with both chocolate chips and chocolate chunks, hence the name "triple chocolate." The bulk of that chocolate rests atop the muffins, but there are chunks and chips throughout. Like the cupcake, the cakey portion is extremely light and airy. 

I enjoy a sweet-salty combo with my muffins, so I warmed mine up for about 10 seconds in the microwave, split it down the middle, and spread some butter over the surface. The name "muffin" is doing a lot of work here, because with a little frosting this could easily be confused for a cake. Dessert doesn't have to be limited to a time of the day, so if you need a sweet treat right away in the morning, snag a Triple Chocolate Muffin to pair with your coffee.

The Triple Chocolate Muffin is excellent warmed up but still great straight out of the package. Unfortunately, the Chocolate Hazelnut Filled Mini Beignets need a little love to be a satisfying treat.

A 22-count pack retails for $9.99, which does make this a decent deal for a party or brunch setting. The mini beignets are covered in powdered sugar and filled with a chocolate hazelnut cream that's basically Nutella. The pastries are soft and fluffy and the filling is sweet, but these little details just fall flat. A quick zap in the microwave — 7 seconds was my sweet spot — livens them up considerably, and turns a blasé beignet into a steamy mini donut.

Much like the Chocolate Chunk Cookie, there's nothing inherently wrong with the Chocolate Hazelnut Filled Mini Beignets beyond the simple fact that there are better chocolate desserts available. Plus, not unlike the Waffle Cone Bar Cake, this isn't a treat that's as chocolate-forward as the others, making it an easy skip.

There is something so immensely satisfying about a thick wedge of chocolate cake. It's a classic, and Costco has more than done right by the dessert with its Chocolate Cake Filled with Chocolate Mousse. The cake itself is beautiful in its simplicity, with two layers held together by an extremely airy layer of chocolate mousse, all covered in rich fudge frosting. 

There are so many small things that this cake does right, starting with the cake itself. I enjoy a dense cake in the right setting, but for one this large, the cake needs to be fluffy while retaining its moisture, a balance that Costco nails. Similarly impressive are the mousse and frosting. The mousse has great flavor but is the least rich element, offering a pleasant reprieve from heavier chocolate notes. The fudge frosting, meanwhile, is neither overly sweet nor thick, making every bite a great balance of cake, mousse, and frosting.

For $17.99, there's no need to overthink things the next time you need a cake. Costco offers them in plain, predecorated, or personalized options depending on your needs. There's no shame in a store-bought cake, especially if it's one as good as this.

You want chocolate? This is chocolate. The Tuxedo Chocolate Mousse Cake is as close to perfect as you're going to find in the bakery aisle. Top-down, you begin with a thick layer of fudge ganache frosting coating a layer of chocolate cake. Below that, layers of white and dark chocolate mousse are dotted with brownie chunks, while a final layer of cake forms the base. It's visually striking and the taste is even better.

This cake is chocolate on chocolate with a side of chocolate. Is it rich? Of course it is; did you not see how many times I just wrote "chocolate"? That doesn't mean it's overly heavy, though, as the mix of ganaches does an excellent job of keeping this beautiful monstrosity from turning into a solid brick. The white chocolate is a twist you won't find anywhere else and those brownies are just screaming for their own feature in the bakery section. For $18.99, this cake is an easy crowd-pleaser and not only my favorite Costco cake, but my favorite Costco dessert period.

I was the envy of the checkout line as I purchased all seven desserts from my local Costco shortly after the store opened. I brought my desserts home and snapped some pictures before diving in to taste everything. My wife, a food scientist who specializes in chocolate, offered her highly-trained taste buds as assistants, and we actually came up with the exact same list of buys and skips. My evaluation was based on flavor, texture, and how well the dessert holds up over time. Costco was not aware of this review when preparing the items.