Chocolate Crumble Babka

If you’ve never had or made a babka, you’re in for a treat today. A cinnamon babka is very similar to cinnamon-swirl bread, or like a cinnamon roll in loaf form, but a chocolate babka is sort of amped up with a creamy chocolatey filling and, in this case, a lightly crisp crumble topping.

This is a bit of a project bake since we have to put together a dough, filling, and a crumble topping, but it’s the perfect cozy treat for a cold winter and I know you’ll love it. Let’s get to it!

How to Make a Chocolate Crumble Babka

Since there’s three elements to put together here, I find it much easier to measure and prep everything ahead of time if you can, and then you can group the ingredients together as needed here. Most everything in this recipe is pretty simple- we’re using lots of butter, sugar, and flour, plus Dutch-processed cocoa powder for this recipe.

We’re starting out by putting together the dough. First up, warm the milk, honey, sugar, and melted butter until they are about 115 degrees, and then sprinkle in the active dry yeast and let the mixture become slightly puffy to ensure your yeast is active.

Pour this mixture into your stand mixer along with 3 cups of flour and the salt. Begin to knead everything together until a soft dough forms- you want it to be soft, but still pulling away from the sides of the bowl. If it sticks to the bottoms still slightly, that’s ok. Add more flour if it’s too soft or too sticky at this stage, and then knead until you have a very smooth ball of dough- about 8-10 minutes in a mixer.

Then cover the dough and set it aside to proof. Rising times can vary pretty dramatically based on your altitude, the humidity in your area, and how warm your kitchen is, so I recommend going by visual cues. You want the dough to double in size, as pictured above, and for me this takes about 45 minutes.

For the filling, you want to simply mix everything together until you have a well-combined mixture. Make sure your melted butter is slightly cooled here so it does not melt the chocolate chips. You should end up with a paste-like mixture and it will thicken slightly as the butter cools down further.

Once the dough has risen, you want to roll it out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle and spread the filling mixture all over the top. Roll the dough into a log starting from one of the short ends of the dough. Then slice the log in half lengthwise and twist the two halves together. Place the dough into your prepared baking pan for another quick rise.

The crumble is super simple to pull together- I like to just use a fork to mix everything until the butter is well combined throughout and you have a dry mixture that holds together when pressed. Add a generous coating of the crumble all over the top of the babka and tent the babka with foil before it’s off to the oven to bake.

About halfway through baking, you can remove the foil and continue baking until the babka is deeply golden brown all over. Cool it completely before slicing and serving plain or with butter. Enjoy!

Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Chocolate Babka

Here are my tips to help along the way!

• How do I know if I’ve added enough flour to the dough? You want the dough to be very soft, but it should pull away from the sides of the bowl while the mixer is kneading it. It may stick to the bottom of the bowl a little bit, but that’s ok. If it’s almost pooling at the bottom of the bowl, you want to add more flour.
• Can I make this without a stand mixer? Yes, you can definitely pull this dough together by hand. You may just find that it takes a little longer to knead everything together into a smooth ball.
• How do I know when the dough is finished kneading? It should be fairly smooth and stretchy, and you should be able to easily form it into a smooth ball before rising.
• How do I know when the dough is finished rising? It should be about double in size- I recommend taking a picture of the dough before rising with your phone so you can easily tell the difference!
• Do I have to use all the filling and crumble topping? I developed the recipe to use all of the filling and crumble topping, but you can of course use less if you prefer. The filling should be just enough to form a thin layer over the entire rectangle.
• How do I twist the dough? After slicing the log in half lengthwise, place each half cut-side up and twist them together into a log like the one pictured. It should fit fairly neatly into your loaf pan, although the process of twisting can get a little messy with the filling exposed. It doesn’t have to be perfect!
• Why do I tent the pan with foil for the first half of baking? This helps prevent the crumble topping from over-browning during baking!
• I am at about 5,000 ft. above sea level and I find that most people who live between about 3,000-7,000 ft. above sea level do not need to make any adjustments to my recipes.

Enjoy!

5 from 1 vote

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Chocolate Crumble Babka

Servings 10 slices

Ingredients

For the babka:

• 1 cup milk
• 2 tbs. sugar
• 2 tbs. honey
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast 1 packet
• 3-3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp. salt

For the filling:

• 1/2 cup melted and cooled butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips optional
• 3 tbs. Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 2 tbs. dark brown sugar
• 1/8 tsp. salt

For the crumble:

• 3 tbs. sugar
• 3 tbs. brown sugar
• 1 tbs. cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 tbs butter

Instructions

For the babka:

1. In a microwave safe bowl, heat the milk, sugar, and honey and heat in the microwave until it reaches 110-115 degrees on an instant read thermometer- for me this takes about 1 minute. Stir in the active dry yeast, and set aside to bloom for about 5 minutes, or until the mixture is bubbly and foamy.
2. Transfer the yeast mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer along with the melted butter and stir together until the butter is distributed- this mixture will be lumpy at this stage. Add in 3 cups of flour and the salt, and begin to knead until a dough forms.
3. Knead the dough together until it’s pulling away from the sides and becomes smooth and stretchy, adding more flour as needed. The dough should be soft and slightly sticky at the bottom of the bowl when you stop adding flour.
4. Knead either in the mixer or by hand until the dough is elastic. By hand, this will take about 10 minutes, and by mixer it should take about 5. The dough may still be slightly lumpy, but should spring back when you touch it.
5. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled large bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough roughly double in size, which takes about 30 minutes for me, but keep an eye on your dough size to avoid over-proofing- I like to snap a quick picture with my phone so I can easily see how much the dough has grown.

For the filling:

1. In a medium bowl, beat together the melted, granulated sugar, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, brown sugar, and salt until you have a thick paste mixture.
2. Grease and line a 9 inch loaf pan and set aside.
3. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle- the short side should be about an inch longer than the length of your loaf pan.
4. Spread the filling evenly over the dough, going all the way to the edges.
5. Roll your dough up on the short side so you have a log that is just a little big longer than your loaf pan and has many layers.
6. Use a sharp knife to slice the log in half length-wise and then twist the halves together to make a swirled loaf. Place the loaf into your prepared pan and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rest for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 375 degrees and make the crumble.

For the crumble:

1. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt, and flour until well combined. In a small microwave safe bowl, melt the butter. While the butter is still warm, use a fork to mix the melted butter into the dry mixture until well combined and a soft crumb forms. The mixture should be fairly dry but should hold together into clumps when pressed.
2. Once the babka has rested, gently press the crumble topping all over the top of the loaf.
3. Place the loaf pan onto a large baking sheet to catch any drips or crumbles, and tent the pan with foil. Bake for 50-60 minutes, removing the foil tent about half way through baking. The loaf should be deeply golden brown on top and it should reach an internal temp of 190 degrees on an instant read thermometer. Cool before slicing and serving!

Nicole Hampton

Hello and welcome! My name is Nicole, and Dough-eyed is a food blog for people who want to bake for their family and friends in high-altitude areas. Think of me as a friendly voice there with you in the kitchen, here to give you confidence when you’re baking, and to help you with the struggles of baking at high-altitude. Come back every week for new recipes, tips, and advice on high-altitude baking!