Learn French: J'aime beaucoup ce dessert, mais il est très sucré. - I like this dessert a lot, but it is very sweet.

This is the exact difference between these two words! We use beaucoup (a lot) to describe an action or verb, like how much you like something (J'aime beaucoup). We use très (very) to describe a descriptive word (an adjective), like how sweet something is (très sucré). You cannot say très aime or beaucoup sucré.

In English, we say "I like this dessert a lot," putting "a lot" at the end. Why does beaucoup come in the middle in French?

In French, short adverbs like beaucoup usually go right after the conjugated verb. So instead of putting it at the end like in English (J'aime ce dessert beaucoup), you tuck it right next to the verb: J'aime beaucoup ce dessert (literally "I like a lot this dessert").

Since we are talking about a thing (the dessert), why do we say il est instead of c'est for "it is"?

Because sucré (sweet) is an adjective all by itself. When you say "it is" followed by just an adjective, you use il est (or elle est for feminine things). You would only use c'est if there was a noun after it, like c'est un dessert très sucré (it is a very sweet dessert).

What exactly is ce doing in front of dessert?