These outrageously rich and indulgent chocolate sweet rolls come together with a buttery soft fresh homemade dough and brown sugar chocolate filling. They’re shaped like cinnamon rolls, but taste like flaky chocolate babka. Drizzle the warm rolls with espresso glaze or choose another topping from the suggestions below.
These make for an extra special Christmas, Mother’s Day, Easter, or Father’s Day brunch recipe!
Melty chocolate, fresh dough, and espresso glaze. What’s not to love about this trio?
Tell Me About These Chocolate Sweet Rolls
- Flavor: I often use softened butter in softer bread doughs, but opted for melted butter here. I find melted butter adds more, well, buttery flavor. This dough is sweet and so buttery—in fact, it would be fantastic completely plain. But plain’s not in our language today and we’re filling it with brown sugar, cocoa powder, a bit of cinnamon, vanilla, and lots of real chocolate. Don’t limit them to the morning hours because these chocolate sweet rolls definitely taste like dessert.
- Texture: Because there’s fat in the dough from the whole milk, eggs, and butter, the bread is extra soft, rich, and flaky. Though all-purpose flour is fine, bread flour promises extra bread-like chewiness. These textures work perfectly with the gooey chocolate swirls and smooth espresso glaze. Each bite has different twists, flakes, and pockets of melty chocolate—similar to the texture of apple cinnamon babka. They’re like warm chocolate babka rolls.
- Ease: It goes without saying that homemade bread takes time and effort. Consider these chocolate sweet rolls a fun afternoon or weekend baking project. The dough requires 2 rises, but otherwise is pretty straightforward. You can even get started the night before by following the overnight instructions. If you’re new to baking with yeast, review our Baking with Yeast Guide. Or if you’re in a real time crunch, try these super quick 20 minute chocolate crescents instead.
Use a Rich Dough for Chocolate Rolls
Before I show you how to make chocolate rolls, let’s talk about the dough. This is a rich dough, which means that it’s prepared with fat like milk, butter, and eggs. Rich doughs make soft breads such as dinner rolls, pull apart bread, and glazed doughnuts. Lean doughs, on the other hand, are made without much fat and produce crusty bread like homemade bagels, artisan bread, and pizza dough. There are so many ways to bake bread and if you want to expand your bread skills, here are all of our yeast bread recipes. (This cheese bread is a reader and team favorite!)
- Instant Yeast or Active-Dry? You can use instant yeast or active-dry yeast in the chocolate rolls. I usually use instant yeast and still take the time to quickly proof the yeast in step 1. Proofing the yeast means mixing it with a little sugar and the warm liquid to prove that it’s active—the mixture will look foamy on top, see photo below. But this step is not usually required when using instant yeast. Still, it doesn’t hurt and takes 5 minutes and you can prep your other dough ingredients as you wait.
This rich dough is supposed to be very soft, so don’t add more flour than absolutely needed. Embrace the softness and a sticky work surface because if you don’t mind the mess, you’ll be rewarded with the richest, flakiest chocolate rolls. I heard chocolate croissants were borderline jealous of all these flakes.
Do These Taste Like Cinnamon Rolls?
As far as the process goes, we’re essentially making homemade cinnamon rolls but with a chocolate filling. Make the dough, let it rise, punch it down, roll it out, add the chocolate filling, roll up jelly roll style, cut into rolls, let them rise until puffy, then bake. If you’ve made homemade cinnamon rolls before, this process isn’t anything new. We do use cinnamon in the filling, but it’s really just a background flavor behind all the chocolate and brown sugar. They certainly resemble cinnamon rolls, but they taste like homemade bread swirled with gooey melted chocolate.
Step-By-Step Photos
Proofing the yeast:
Here is the soft dough before and after the 1st rise:
Here are the rolls before and after the 2nd rise. See how puffy they get?
I don’t want to stand in your way of chocolate bliss, so I promise I’m almost done. 😉
Espresso Glaze & Other Topping Options
I couldn’t decide on a topping that would be legendary enough for these extraordinary rolls, but espresso glaze comes pretty close. The bitter espresso powder helps offset the sweet confectioners’ sugar and all the sweetness in the rolls themselves. It would taste divine on these no yeast cinnamon rolls too!
Other topping options include salted caramel, vanilla icing, the maple icing from maple bacon doughnuts, or cream cheese icing from homemade cinnamon rolls or raspberry sweet rolls. For something simple, a light dusting of confectioners’ sugar would be beautiful. Peanut butter frosting would be over-the-top and I’m certain all your sweet teeth would be satisfied for weeks. Ha!
And, again, these rolls are RICH so you could easily skip the icing on top.
See Your Chocolate Sweet Rolls!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂
More Cinnamon Roll Varieties:
- Cinnamon Rolls
- Apple Cinnamon Rolls
- Raspberry Sweet Rolls (my favorite!!)
- Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
- Maple Pecan Sticky Buns
- Lemon Sweet Rolls
- Orange Sweet Rolls
- Birthday Cake Cinnamon Rolls
- Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Chocolate Sweet Rolls
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 28 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours, 30 minutes (includes rise times)
- Yield: 12 rolls
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These rich and fluffy chocolate sweet rolls come together with a buttery soft fresh homemade dough and brown sugar chocolate filling. They’re shaped like cinnamon rolls, but taste like flaky chocolate babka. You can make the chocolate rolls within a few hours or get started the night before using the overnight preparation option.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (240ml) whole milk, warmed to about 100°F (38°C)
- 6 Tablespoons (75g) granulated sugar, divided
- 1 Tablespoon (9g) active dry or instant yeast
- 5 Tablespoons (71g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups (530g) bread flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed for hands/work surface
Chocolate Filling
- 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (10g) unsweetened natural or dutch process cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup (135g) semi-sweet chocolate chips or a 4 ounce semi-sweet chocolate bar, finely chopped*
Espresso Icing
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) heavy cream*
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder*
- 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted (sift after measuring)
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prepare the dough: Whisk the warm milk, 2 Tablespoons sugar, and the yeast together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment. Cover and allow mixture to sit for about 5 minutes or until foamy on top. *If you do not own a mixer, you can do this in a large mixing bowl and in the next step, mix the dough together with a large wooden spoon/rubber spatula. It will take a bit of arm muscle. A hand mixer works, but the sticky dough repeatedly gets stuck in the beaters. Mixing by hand with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula is a better choice.*
- Add the remaining sugar, the butter, eggs, salt, and 1 cup (about 130g) of flour and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add 3 cups (about 400g) flour, switch the mixer down to low speed, and beat until a soft dough forms and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Dough will be very soft, but not overly sticky. Beat in 2-3 more Tablespoons of flour if dough seems very sticky. Avoid adding more flour than you need.
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat on low speed for an additional 3 minutes or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 3 minutes.
- 1st Rise: Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or use nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment for 2 hours or until double in size. (I always let it rise on the counter and it takes about 2 hours. For a tiny reduction in rise time, see my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)
- Grease the bottom and sides of a metal or glass 9×13 inch baking dish or line with parchment paper.
- Roll out the dough: Punch down the dough to release the air. Place dough on a lightly floured work surface and using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough into a 10×16 inch rectangle. Make sure the dough is smooth and evenly thick. If the dough keeps shrinking as you roll it out, stop what you’re doing, cover it lightly, and let it rest for 10 minutes to relax the gluten. When you return to the dough, it should stretch out much easier.
- For the filling: Mix all of the filling ingredients together except for the chopped chocolate/chocolate chips. The softer the butter is, the easier it is to mix. (Microwave it for a few seconds to soften if needed.) Spread mixture all over the dough. Sprinkle chopped chocolate/chocolate chips evenly on top. Tightly roll up the dough to form a 16-inch-long log. If some filling spills out, sprinkle it on top of the roll. With an extra sharp knife, cut into 12 even rolls, between 1-1.5 inches each. Arrange in the prepared baking pan.
- 2nd Rise: Cover the rolls tightly and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. (Or use the overnight option below.)
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Bake rolls for about 25-28 minutes or until they are lightly browned on top. After about 15 minutes, tent a piece of aluminum foil over the top of the pan to prevent the tops from browning too quickly and baking unevenly. Remove pan from the oven and place pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes as you make the icing.
- Make the icing: Warm the cream on the stove until barely simmering or warm it in the microwave for 15-30 seconds. Whisk espresso powder into the warm cream, then whisk in the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla extract until combined. Drizzle the icing over the warm rolls and serve immediately.
- Cover leftover frosted or unfrosted rolls tightly and store at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions – Overnight: To prepare the night before serving, prepare the rolls through step 7. Cover the rolls tightly and refrigerate for 8-12 hours. (16 hours max. 8-12 hours is best, but 16 hours is OK if absolutely needed. Do not exceed 16 hours.) The next morning, remove from the refrigerator and allow to rise on the counter for 1-2 hours before continuing with step 9.
- Make Ahead Instructions – Freezing: Baked rolls can be frozen up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm up before enjoying. You can also freeze the unbaked rolls and here’s how: bake the rolls in step 9 for only about 10 minutes. Cool completely, then cover tightly and freeze. To serve, take the rolls out of the freezer and place in the refrigerator overnight to thaw. Once thawed, finish baking them for about 20 minutes.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Stand Mixer (or Glass Mixing Bowl with Wooden Spoon/Rubber Spatula) | 9×13-inch Baking Pan | Rolling Pin | Cooling Rack
- Milk: Use whole milk for the best, richest tasting dough. You could also use buttermilk. 2%, 1%, or nondairy milk work in a pinch. Do not use nonfat milk.
- Yeast: Make sure you use 1 Tablespoon of yeast, which is a little more than 1 standard packet. You can use active dry or instant yeast in this recipe. Follow all of the same instructions. If using active dry yeast, the rise times are usually *slightly* longer, but not much. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
- Best Flour to Use: For best texture, I recommend bread flour. The same amount of all-purpose flour works and the rolls will still be wonderfully rich and soft. The rolls are a little more chewy and flaky when using bread flour.
- Chocolate: I usually use and recommend one 4 ounce (113g) baking chocolate bar, such as Ghirardelli or Bakers 4 ounce bars sold in the baking aisle. Chopped fine, this is about 3/4 cup. You can use semi-sweet or bittersweet. Avoid white chocolate or milk chocolate because the rolls will be overly sweet. You can use about 3/4 cup of chocolate chips, mini or regular size, instead. Chocolate chips weigh a little more, so use 135g if you are using a scale.
- Heavy Cream & Espresso Powder: In first part of the icing recipe, we are essentially making a creamy and very strong espresso liquid by mixing warm cream with espresso powder. (Make sure you use instant espresso powder, which is typically sold as simply “espresso powder.”) Feel free to use 3 Tablespoons of very strong brewed espresso or black coffee instead. Mix icing ingredients together, then add 1 more Tablespoon brewed espresso or black coffee to thin out if needed/desired.
- Half Batch: You can halve this recipe by halving all of the ingredients and using an 8 or 9 inch square or round pan. The 1st dough rise time may be a bit shorter. Roll the dough out to (approximately) a 7×10 inch rectangle. Roll up into a 10 inch log, then cut into 6 rolls. 2nd dough rise time will be about the same. Bake time is a few minutes shorter.
Keywords: chocolate sweet rolls
I made these exactly as written with the espresso glaze…. oh Lordy! I think I died and went to heaven! Even my uber picky boyfriend went back for a second one (and then a third) and said it was one of the best things I’ve ever baked… And I think I’m a dang good baker!!! One of my daughters, who really doesn’t like coffee (I know, I know but we have to love them anyway) said she loved these!! (See, there is still hope for her) Honestly one of the best recipes ever!! Can’t say enough good things. Delicious and impressive!
★★★★★
Best rolls ever. Made them first time last Easter & the family loved them. Have made them for book club & brunch at church. Never any left to bring back home. My husband has now started offering the rolls to friends as a treat. If he is doing that, they must be good.
I have increased the heavy cream amount to 1/4 cup. The extra tablespoon helped to drizzle & stretch the glaze to cover all 12 rolls.
★★★★★
I’m not a big cinnamon roll fan but these are heavenly! I used Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet chocolate in the filling instead of semi sweet because I prefer darker chocolate. These rolls are so soft and fluffy and that espresso glaze is everything! These stayed delicious for days…we just popped them in the microwave for about 15 seconds or so to soften them and get them a little melty inside. Delicious!
★★★★★
These rolls were the BOMB! Only three if us in the house, so gave some away and everyone raved. I used half the amount of espresso powder because someone wasn’t a big coffee flavor fan. Still just as good.
★★★★★
I have made this recipe 2x and love it! I find that I struggle with kneading the dough, however. Each time it was been way too sticky (I know it’s supposed to be a soft dough but this is extremely sticky- unworkable). I weigh my ingredients and follow the directions to a T. I have attempted in the mixer and by hand. I end up having to add at least a cup or more of extra flour to make it workable. I have never been successful at kneading dough in a mixer, it never pulls away from the sides. What am I doing wrong?
Hi Shelby! You’re not necessarily doing anything wrong– a lot of factors go into this such as mixing time, speed, weather, yeast, and temperature of water. Feel free to add a little more flour to make a soft, yet workable dough.
I really love this recipe. So much so that I interchange the chocolate for cinnamon when we want cinnamon rolls, all the way to cinnamon chips! My roommate loves them both. Since I am a choco-holic, I much prefer the choc sweet rolls. I am making a batch of the cinnamon tonight.
★★★★★
Hi, can we substitute plain flour with almond flour and the sugar with coconut sugar?
Hi Aamna, we don’t recommend using almond flour here. It has very different baking properties than all-purpose flour and isn’t always a 1:1 swap. You could try the swap with coconut sugar, but we’re unsure of how that will impact results. For best taste and texture, we recommend following the recipe as written.
Hi Sally
I love all your recipes I have n ever had a failure
These amazing looking chocolate rolls are rising now. I plan to bake them then freeze them. Should I put the icing on before I freeze or when I defrost
Thanks Cheryl
Hi Cheryl! It’s best to add the icing after thawing. Enjoy!
My husband is lactose intolerant. Can I use Silk creamer or soy milk in place of whole milk?
Hi Deb, that’s fine in this recipe. The rolls may not be as rich-tasting, but it still works as a replacement.
You can also get some lactase drops (we use Milkmaid from Amazon) and make your own lactose free cream. We also use the same lactose free cream to make lactose free butter, which is MUCH better than the greasy butter substitutes.
Hi. Can I use Demerara sugar instead of light brown sugar?
Thanks
Hi Roxana, Demerara sugar has much larger crystals than brown sugar, so while you could use it, it’s possible that the filling will be grainy. Let us know if you decide to try it!
Sally, what adjustments do you recommend if all I have is salted butter rather than salted? Also, I’ve made this recipe several times and LOVE it!
★★★★★
Hi Celeste, we recommend reducing the added salt in the dough to 3/4 tsp. Here’s more on salted vs. unsalted butter in baking!
Sally this recipe had made me loved amongst my friends. I have a ex roommate who still hits me up for these rolls. They are literally the best! For extra delish I add a splash of heavy cream over the rolls just before baking. Thanks so much!
★★★★★
Hi Sally! Wondering if you have a good chocolate glaze recipe. My family members are all chocoholics and would love if I could add more chocolate to the rolls. Any suggestions?
Hi Izzy, you could try the chocolate glaze from these banana donuts – let us know if you try it!
This recipe is a keeper! Trust the process, and you’ll be rewarded with the fluffiest most mind-blowing rolls ever 🙂
It made it onto my permanent recipe book, and very few recipes qualify for THAT!
Will be making this repeatedly!
★★★★
Hey Sally,
I’ve made quite a lot of your recipes and pretty much all of them have turned out amazing. One question I have though is about any adjustments for high altitude. I live at roughly 6,100 ft (1,860 m) above sea level, and it tends to mess with a lot of my baking. Any quick tips for recipes like these (specifically yeasted doughs and the like) to adjust them for high altitude? Thanks in advance and I cannot wait to taste these!
Hi Danielle, I wish we could help, but have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
I use SAF instant yeast and haven’t proofed yeast in many (many) years. Is there a reason I should follow the recipe and not skip this step here?
I love this recipe and have made several flavor variations . Had a request for chocolate dough, how much cocoa powder would work? Thanks!
Hi Lace, glad you enjoyed these! Turning this dough into a chocolate dough would require testing. Let me know if you try anything!
Can I add coco powder to the dough mixture? If so How much should I add? Was think like a table spoon the most.
how should i wrap the dough for the second rise?
You can loosely cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen cloth!
So yummy! We will definitely be making these again. They are HUGE, so next time I think I will freeze half and bake half. Also my kids weren’t a fan of the icing, so I may go with a cream cheese icing next time.
★★★★
Instead of cutting the 16in log into cinnamon rolls, could I cut it in half and put them each in an 8 in bread pan? like two bread loaves?
Hi Abbie, We haven’t tried baking this exact recipe that way, but can you certainly try it. You may also love this babka recipe (you can fill with chocolate instead of Nutella if you wish).
Hi, the ingredients list said 540g of flour but the instructions said 400g of flour. Which should I use? Thank you!
Hi Hana, You will add the first 130g with the sugar, butter, eggs, and salt. After that comes together you will add an additional 400g of flour – and then just a bit more if needed.
Hey, can I use a hand mixer if I have dough hook attachments? (The dough hook attachments are the swirly ones, right?)
Hi Johana! Yes, they *should* work OK, but if you have any issues with them you can always knead the dough by hand. Enjoy!
Hi there! I’m wondering if Nutella and cinnamon could be substituted for the chocolate filling ingredients?
Hi Magnolia! I’m sure that would be fine! We would use about 3/4 – 1 cup Nutella for filling.
Hello!
I was wondering if all-purpose flour could be used instead of bread flour? In New Zealand I can’t find bread flour.
Thank you so much!
-Mackenzie
Hi Makenzie! Yes, the same amount of all-purpose flour works and the rolls will still be wonderfully rich and soft. The rolls are a little more chewy and flaky when using bread flour.
Hi Sally! Loved these chocolate rolls! So delicious!
I wanted to ask you a question. When I made these chocolate rolls and when I normally make cinnamon rolls, they always get very hard after just a day or two. I even keep them in an airtight container. How could I keep my cinnamon rolls softer longer?
Thank you!
-Elizabeth
★★★★★
Hi Elizabeth! How are you measuring your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or weight measure), otherwise there may be too much flour in the rolls which causes them to dry out and become hard. Also, it’s possible that they’re slightly over baked. You can try just a minute or two less next time. Popping them in the microwave before enjoying leftovers always helps to soften them up, too!
so yummy! I did a vanilla icing instead but these were delicious, especially left over and warmed up in the microwave a little bit!
★★★★★
The dough is very soft but there wasn’t enough chocolate filling. It was a bit dry.
Wowie! Perhap more chocolate chips or more frosting could help!
★★★★★
I made this recipe and have just taken them out of the oven so I haven’t tasted them yet. I noticed that the spirals are not so tight. Is this from not rolling it tightly enough? Under proofing? Over proofing?
Hi Sarah, that’s likely because they were not rolled tight enough — an easy fix for next time!
Now that I finally tasted them I don’t care what they look like. These are delicious! Seriously, though I think I also need to learn to roll out my dough evenly as well. I can’t get the hang of rolling dough in a circle, rectangle or evenly.
Great recipe! I’ve never made any sort of bread or anything with yeast but this was actually very easy and tasty. Very beginner friendly!
★★★★★
Quick question….Sally, could these been made mini? Maybe 18 instead of 12? Everyone is looking for smaller portions these days, and wondered if you had every tried saying rolling them to 7 x23. (i just did some math to find the same area, lol)
Hi Barbara! We haven’t tested that but don’t see why it wouldn’t work!
Hi Sally, I notice that the dough recipe for these differs from the cinnamon roll dough. Can you tell me what is the difference between the finished product for each? I would love to double a batch of dough and make 1/2 these chocolate rolls and 1/2 cinnamon rolls with it – which dough would be better to use? Thanks!
Hi Melanie! I find this dough to be a bit more buttery. It’s easier to work with, too. Both doughs result in fluffy, soft, sweet rolls and you can’t go wrong with either. I don’t recommend doubling either dough, though. Best to make 2 separate batches because the increased volume will affect rise times.