These 10 Restaurant Chains Serve The Best Cake

Some chain restaurants have cakes that are so spectacular, they're worth dining at just for the dessert alone. In fact, some of these restaurants have built quite the cult following around their cakes online, where food fans insist that a slice is just as important (if not more so) than the main course. Whether you're a fan of towering moist chocolate layers, warm butter cakes served with ice cream that melts into them, legendary rich cheesecakes, or bold and bright fruit flavors, customers claim these desserts are well worth the calories.

Part of what makes these cakes so spectacular is that they deliver high-quality indulgence without going to an expensive bakery. Some are famous for their enormous portions, and others for their impeccable balance of rich flavor and texture. We've collected a list of the chains that serve the most delicious cake-based customer reviews from food experts and everyday diners, so if you dine at these restaurants, be sure to save some room for dessert.

It's difficult to talk about chain restaurant cakes without mentioning the one that's named for its beloved desserts. The Cheesecake Factory makes (almost) everything fresh, which is something that sets this chain apart. The company owns and operates two bakeries where it bakes more than 50 varieties of cheesecakes and other fresh desserts. Its cheesecakes often receive praise for not only being rich and delicious, but for their enormous portions as well. There's much debate online about which flavor reigns supreme, but the variety in flavors means there truly is something for everyone.

The original cheesecake recipe has apparently never changed, and the flavor tends to rank as a fan-favorite among customers for its buttery graham cracker crust and creamy filling. To put it simply, Cheesecake Factory cheesecake never disappoints, and customers appreciate the white raspberry chocolate truffle and lemon raspberry cream for a fruity flavor. The fans of this restaurant are enthusiastic too, with one customer on Reddit quipping that the "s'mores cheesecake did indeed change my life." Others swear by the Mango Key Lime flavor, with one Reddit comment saying, "It's perfect. Absolutely sensational."

Among Mastro's signature dishes, like the Seafood Tower and Prime Steaks, is its fabulous Butter Cake, and customers online say that this decadent dessert is reason enough to visit the restaurant. This legendary dish is a warm butter cake with a soft center and cream cheese layer, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, fresh whipped cream, and a raspberry drizzle. According to satisfied customers online, the dessert is well worth the calories.

One reviewer on Instagram explains why the dessert is one of her top three of all time, saying, "Served warm, with an ooey gooey buttery center beneath a scoop of vanilla ice cream the size of a small melon. And let's not forget the separate dish JUST for fresh whipped cream." Elsewhere, a skeptic on Reddit explained that after putting off trying the cake for several years, he finally gave it a shot, stating, "If it wasn't the best thing ever I would have been pi**ed, but it lived up to the hype. Worth it."

Molten chocolate lava cake tends to be a popular dessert among chocolate-lovers, for its rich fudgey flavors and combination of warm and cold textures. While there are plenty of restaurants that offer lava cake on the menu, customers online say that Chili's has one of the best. One Reddit commenter says, "Call me biased but Chili's Molten Chocolate Cake is the best dessert you can get. The taste? Perfection. The texture? Pure gooey bliss. The satisfaction? Off the charts."

This chocolate cake is filled with warm molten chocolate, topped with vanilla ice cream in a hard chocolate shell, and drizzled with caramel. What sets it apart from other lava cakes is the large portion size. This moist cake is also perfectly balanced by the steamy hot chocolate that oozes out from the center, and the creamy vanilla ice cream that melts into it. One food reviewer on TikTok calls it "hands down one of the best desserts in the game", and it's also survived the rise, fall, and resurgence of Chili's, so it's well worth a try the next time you dine here.

If you can manage to save room after a delicious meal of tender pork dumplings, flavorful orange chicken, and delicious fried rice, P.F. Changs has a dessert that's straight out of a chocolate-lover's dream. The Great Wall of Chocolate, from P.F. Chang's,  is accurately named for its six impressive layers of rich, moist chocolate cake, separated by chocolate frosting and covered in semi-sweet chocolate chips. It's served alongside fresh fruit and topped with raspberry drizzle. This indulgent dessert is so rich and thick that customers compare it to the infamous chocolate cake in the movie Matilda.

One food reviewer on TikTok, a self-professed chocolate fiend, rates the cake an 11 out of 10, saying it's one of the "best chocolate cakes [she's] ever had." Not only is the cake decadent and delicious, but it comes in massive slices, in case you're generous enough to share.

The first recorded mention of strawberry shortcake in a recipe book dates all the way back to 1588, and still this delicate, fruit-forward dessert has stuck around over decades and several recipe iterations. Today, one of the chains that serves the very best strawberry shortcake is Longhorn Steakhouse. Its strawberries & cream shortcake has made waves online for its refreshingly light strawberry glaze, fluffy and moist layers of shortcake separated by vanilla cream, and fresh aromatic strawberries. It's the perfect dessert at the end of a heavy steak dinner.

The strawberry glaze soaks into the cake, spreading the sweet strawberry flavor throughout the cake layers. Fans of the dessert claim the cake is so moist that it has a similar texture to a tres leches cake, which is soaked in milk. One food reviewer, who tried all of the Longhorn Steakhouse desserts back to back, says the strawberries & cream cake knocked her socks off, with the sweet cream frosting, strawberry layers, and fantastic strawberry drizzle over the top. In her TikTok video, she says, "This has got to be one of, if not the best strawberry shortcake desserts I've ever had from a restaurant." It's the perfect dessert to follow one of Longhorn Steakhouse's great selection of steaks.

Olive Garden has even more to offer than its infamous bottomless breadsticks and pasta bowls. It also has an impressive dessert menu, but the cake that receives the most praise from customers online is the black tie chocolate mousse cake. This layered cake is one of the most decadent chain restaurant chocolate desserts on the market. Starting at the bottom is a moist layer of chocolate cake, with a rich layer of dark chocolate cheesecake on top, creamy custard mousse, and chocolate ganache frosting studded with chocolate chips. It's luxurious and rich without being overwhelming.

Food reviewers compliment how the combination of flavors and textures balances each other without overwhelming the taste buds, and some even call it their favorite item on the menu. The good news for chocolate fans is that you can order this cake by the individual slice, or purchase a half or full cake, which serves 6 and 12 people, respectively.

Domino's rolled out its lava cakes back in 2009, and customers have not been able to get enough of them ever since, turning them into a menu staple. It's one of the menu items that helped Domino's become a go-to spot in America. In fact, unapologetic fans on Instagram call the lava cakes from the pizza joint the "gold standard" of chain desserts, claiming that even higher-end chains can't compete with these perfect discs of chocolate. Customers can't quite understand what makes the lava cakes so deliciously addicting, and what sets them apart from other lava cakes they've had.

One stunned customer asks Reddit, "What the f**k did they put in those lava cakes?" They go on to say, "My stepdad has been cooking ever since he was like nine ... He's made me lava cakes before. I've had a lot of cakes from fancy restaurants before but literally nothing tastes better than Domino's lava cakes." The dessert gives you three cake discs, each with a moist center of molten lava chocolate fudge and a slightly crispy crust, with a dash of powdered sugar on top. It's perfect for those who appreciate a dark or semi-sweet chocolate flavor.

Morton's legendary hot chocolate cake is a freshly-baked molten lava chocolate cake with a rich, gooey center, which we rank among the best steakhouse chain desserts. Despite being the most expensive dessert option on the menu, and the fact that it takes a little extra time to prepare, customers say it's well worth it, with some calling it their favorite restaurant dessert. A satisfied Yelp reviewer writes, "The chocolate cake came warm and oozing with chocolate once you penetrate the moist but firm outer layer", making it the perfect end to a lovely steak or seafood dinner.

It's served alongside a scoop of vanilla ice cream and fresh raspberries, leaving one customer so thrilled that they hope to be able to master the recipe at home. If you want to take this decadent dessert a step further, you can order it as a sundae, where it will be served in a glass with three scoops of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.

Another chocolate cake that receives high praise from chocoholics is the chocolate tower from Outback Steakhouse. The 6-layer cake is similar to P.F. Chang's Great Wall of Chocolate in that it features six decadent layers of chocolate cake, each separated by rich frosting and served with raspberry sauce. It also comes topped with a dollop of whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Some customers go so far as to call it the best chocolate cake they've ever had.

One self-proclaimed "chocolate cake connoisseur" on TikTok says that the tower is even better than the chocolate thunder from down under, which is a popular brownie dessert from the chain that chocolate-lovers adore. Tragically, the cake only appears on the menu each Winter, though customers hope it will find a permanent place on the menu so that they can enjoy it year-round.

Red Lobster has more to offer than just the mouthwatering unlimited Cheddar Bay biscuits. Among Red Lobster's popular dessert items are the key lime pie, strawberry bliss cheesecake, and brownie overload — but perhaps none is more popular than the chocolate wave, which is a layered, rich chocolate cake with layers of fudge frosting, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream doused in chocolate sauce. Like some of the other chocolate cakes on this list, it comes studded with chocolate chips for an added crunch. You can order by the slice, or purchase the entire 13,000-calorie cake to serve a party.

The cake is so popular that it went viral on TikTok, and some customers call it their favorite chocolate cake ever. One Reddit commenter writes, "Red Lobster has the best chocolate cake I've ever had," saying that this rich, moist cake is the kind of thing that could put you into a food coma. They add, "15/10, highly recommend."