It is no secret that Chef Ron Ben-Israel tastes some of the best, most impressive dessert dishes around on his show, Sweet Genius. But did you know that Chef Ron also creates his own ingeniously inspired and impeccably decorated cakes? Yes, he is a New York City-based wedding cake baker who has a passion for designing whimsical confectionary creations that taste as heavenly as they look.

A few weeks ago I caught up with the Sweet Genius himself and we chatted about what it takes to make a classic, tried-and-true dessert: chocolate cake. Not surprisingly, Chef Ron shared that he has discovered two tricks to baking the best-ever chocolate cake and they are both easy, no-fail techniques.

Get Ron’s best-ever chocolate cake recipe

Baking perfect Molten Chocolate Cake is easy with Food Network Magazine's step-by-step how-to.

You hardly need a dedicated day to appreciate the lusciousness of chocolate cake (every day is chocolate cake day in my mind), but an excuse to indulge is always welcome. So why not give an impressive Valentine’s Day sweet a practice spin? Go ahead and mix up Molten Chocolate Cake with this step-by-step guide from Food Network Magazine.

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On key holidays, some FN staffers fire it up and throwdown — potluck-style. Thanksgiving is a huge holiday at Food Network so our potluck last week was nothing short of mouthwatering. Top prize commanded $25 bones and novelty kitchen tools were awarded for other categories — best side, best main, most apropos, fan favorite etc.

See if you can guess each pictured dish…