The most expensive chocolates in the world come and go. Some limited-edition boxes have sold for millions due to the inclusion of rare jewelry. Others have been crafted for one-time auctions or for select buyers, encrusted in edible gold, or as part of promotions that no longer exist.
In our exploration of the most expensive chocolates, we prioritized those that you can still buy. These chocolates represent the height of decadence, decadence that anyone with a tooth sweet enough (and pockets deep enough) can enjoy today.
Here are the 8 most expensive chocolates currently available.
- La Madeline au Truffe
- Le Royale 54
- The Big Book
- Grateful Dead: A Collection of Curated Chocolates
- Gold Collection Ultimate Appreciation Gift Set
- Art Series Guayasamin
- Gold Swiss Chocolate Box with Swiss Antique Collectible Gold Coin
- The Royal Book Chocolate Selection
Brand: House of Knipschildt
Country: United States
Main Feature: French Périgord Truffle center
photo source: House of Knipschildt
La Madeline au Truffe or Madeline Truffle is unique on this list because, despite being the lowest entry, the price is for a single piece of chocolate, rather than a box or collection. The truffle itself is made with 70% Valrhona dark chocolate as the base. The ganache is prepared with heavy cream, vanilla, and truffle oil and encases a French Périgord truffle in the center. This of course is rolled in cocoa powder.
The box that your La Madeline au Truffe ships in is gold and made of wood. The truffle sits among ribbons on a bed of candy pearls. On the outside, the box says “Guinness World Records” because this truffle at $250 is recognized as the world’s most expensive, single chocolate.
Despite its name and its use of classic European confectionary techniques, the House of Knipschildt is actually located in Connecticut.
Did you know?
French Périgord truffles or black truffles are Southern European mushrooms, not exactly what you’d expect to find in chocolate. Their rarity as the second most expensive edible fungus on earth (behind white truffles) makes them highly sought-after ingredients in meat, soup, and risotto dishes. In the center of this luxurious chocolate, they enhance the flavor (and the price tag) considerably.
Brand: Debauve & Gallais
Country: France
Main Feature: 54 dark chocolates
photo source: Debauve and Gallais
As opposed to that expensive single truffle, here’s a box of 54 dark chocolates in Debauve & Gallais’ “Royal Collection.” It comes in that handmade blue/gray box that the brand has been selling its treasures in since 1913. For those that love their chocolate dark, this is the ticket.
Le Royale 54 comes with an assortment of amazing chocolates, from pralines to dark ganache to all kinds of outrageously delicious offerings. Some take familiar shapes, some shimmer, and some are sculpted into fleurs-de-lis. $285 may be steep, but this must be the best balance between basically affordable quality and the sheer quantity of any high-class gifts on this list.
Did you know?
Debauve & Gallais have been making chocolate since 1800. Unbelievably, they supplied chocolate officially to Emperor Napoleon and Louis XVIII. By eating Le Royale 54, buyers are eating a piece of French history.
Brand: Debauve & Gallais
Country: France
Main Feature: Commemorative box
photo source: Debauve and Gallais
To celebrate 200 years of operation, Debauve & Gallais debuted The Big Book. These chocolates come in a commemorative leather box shaped like a book, inlaid with gold leaf. We tried not to order this list based on the value of the box, but this is a nostalgic tribute to the Rue des Saints-Peres, which is the street in Paris on which the architects Charles Percier and Pierre-Francois-Léonard Fontaine built the Debauve & Gallais chocolate factory. It was bound to be fancy.
This leather-bound big book of ganache and praline chocolates retails for 239 €, which equals about $280.
Did you know?
Debauve & Gallais are so proud of their history that their book contains not only the chocolates but an actual book, detailing the 200+ year history of their house of chocolate artisans.
Brand: Vosges Haut-Chocolat
Country: United States
Main Feature: Chakra crystals
photo source: Vosges Chocolate
The founder of Vosges Haut-Chocolat, Katrina Markoff, loves the Grateful Dead branded crossovers she’s been able to pull off with her chocolate company. The most expensive currently available is called Grateful Dead: A Collection of Curated Chocolates + Cosmic Crystals.
As you can see from the photo, the various chocolate creations are dusted, flavored, and sculpted into new forms to serve as adornments for the chakra crystals. This $350 box of chocolates is advertised as being soul-nurturing, as well as delicious.
Did you know?
Vosges is known for its outrageous flavor profile when it comes to hipster chocolate recombination (the French chocolatiers on this list would squirm!). Since 1998, it’s been offering such out-there flavors as chili, ginger, black sesame, fennel-pollen, floral-anise, and even chocolate wasabi.
Brand: Godiva
Country: United States
Main Feature: 105-pc Chocolate Collection
photo source: Godiva
Here’s an entry for those looking for quantity, while still experiencing the high quality of gourmet chocolate gifts. The Gold Collection Ultimate Appreciate Gift Set by Godiva costs $356 but it comes with 105 chocolates (that’s about $3.40 apiece).
Each box combines Godiva favorites such as milk, white, dark, Belgian, ganache, caramel, fruit, and praline chocolates. This gift set is designed to be a multifaceted present for several ladies (or one really hungry one). There are no fancy inserts or gold leaf wrappers with this one. This is all about the chocolate.
Did you know?
Godiva was founded in 1926 in Belgium but now calls New York City its home. It operates over 600 shops around the world and is known for being both a gourmet chocolatier and one that is still affordable for normal people.
Brand: To’ak
Country: Ecuador
Main Feature: Oswaldo Guayasamin Art
photo source: To’ak
This $450 bar of chocolate is as much a tribute to traditional Ecuadorian chocolate as to its most celebrated artist, Oswaldo Guayasamin. Art Series Guayasamin is a duality blend of 77% cacao, with flavors of wood, caramel, tobacco, and honey, with earthy toffee notes on the finish.
The Heirloom Nacional cacao used in this chocolate is nearing extinction, though many are trying to resurrect the nearly 5,000-year-old chocolate tradition with the remaining seeds.
Did you know?
The Guayasamin drawing on the box of this chocolate depicts an indigenous Ecuadorian man, cruelly beaten and misshapen, yet bent over to the ground and planting a new tree. This represents not only a national identity of hardship but of resilience.
Brand: deLafée
Country: Switzerland
Main Feature: Antic Swiss Gold Coin
photo source: deLafee
This little chocolate box by deLafée, a luxury chocolatier based in Switzerland, costs a pretty penny for eight pieces of chocolate.
The candies in the Gold Swiss Chocolate Box are enrobed in 24-karat edible gold. They also come with an antique gold Swiss Vreneli 10 Francs coin, guaranteed to be dated between 1911 and 1922. Your gold treasures altogether cost $517.
Another, smaller box of this chocolate comes with two chocolate pieces and costs $412.50. We did not list it separately because of its similarity as well as the fact that the coin and the collection itself determine so much of the box’s value.
Did you know?
The 10 Francs Swiss Vreneli coins were made of 900 gold and only minted for a total of 11 years. Only 2.6 million of these coins exist (it may seem like a lot, but it isn’t when it comes to money). Some of them come with chocolate.
Brand: Debauve & Gallais
Country: France
Main Feature: Book-shaped box
photo source: Debauve & Gallais
The most expensive chocolate you can buy is The Royal Book Chocolate Selection. This product is related to the commemorative “Big Book” box set earlier on this list but is far more lavish. This luxury gift box features around 150 chocolates of various types to celebrate its chocolatier’s 200th anniversary.
The ganache and praline fillings are to die for. Like the Big Book, this set comes with an actual book about the history of Maison Debauve et Gallais.
Did you know?
The blue and grey boxes that contain the chocolate delicacies of Debauve & Gallais are a tradition that dates back centuries. After becoming official purveyors of confectionaries for the royal French court, in 1821 they created the trademark packaging as a tribute to the royal décor. In 1913, it was trademarked as the official Debauve & Gallais design.
The Takeaway
The world’s most expensive chocolate can range in quantity from a single truffle that costs $250 to a collection that costs thousands. Regardless of how the chocolate is packaged and sold, the creation of these confections involves craftsmanship that spans centuries of culinary history. The best part is that anyone can buy these chocolates. They may be expensive, but the ultimate chocolate bliss is nevertheless achievable by anyone, if the desire is strong enough.
