Gooey Chocolate Rolls (2024)

Tessa’s Recipe Rundown

Taste: Rich, sweet and chocolatey!
Texture: The dough is ultra soft and fluffy while the filling and icing are perfectly gooey.
Ease: Not difficult necessarily, but this is definitely more of a weekend baking project.
Pros: Amazingly mouthwatering.
Cons: Messy and time-consuming, but you can prepare the day before and bake off the next morning!
Would I make this again? Oh yes.

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These Gooey Chocolate Rolls are like a cinnamon roll’s deliciously chocolatey sibling.

Every bite is so soft, fluffy, tender, gooey, and rich with chocolate. You’ll wish you could re-experience that first bite anytime you think of them.

You know when you take a bite of so mething that’s so decadent, so over the top, and so mouthwatering that you wish you could just pause time to savor it?

That’s the exact experience this recipe will spark.

In fact, that first bite reminds me of the sheer joy of Christmas morning.

So much so that I think these rolls would be the perfect Christmas morning treat!

Make these for your friends and family this year and you’ll be their favorite person!

How to Make Soft & Gooey Chocolate Rolls

Can I Knead Chocolate Roll Dough by Hand?

Yes! You can knead this dough by hand without a stand mixer and dough hook – but it will take more time and some upper body strength! Check out my full tutorial onhow to knead dough by hand here.

Kneading by Hand Tips:

This is a very rich dough, so it will take longer to knead than some yeasted doughs.
ONLY add as much flour as needed to handle the dough. It’s better for the dough to be sticky at the start than to add too much flour and wind up with dense rolls, instead of light and fluffy ones.

How to Make FLUFFY Chocolate Buns

The key is to ONLY add as much flour as needed to handle the dough. It’s better for the dough to be sticky at the start. If you add in too much flour you’ll wind up with dense rolls instead of light and fluffy ones. This is true of any yeast recipe.

Depending on your kitchen environment and the brand of flour you’re using, you may not need all of the flour the recipe calls for! Likewise, you may need a little more. You’re looking for a dough that’s very soft, smooth, pliable and doesn’t stick to the sides of the bowl.

How Long Does This Dough Take to Rise?

This gooey chocolate roll dough is an enriched dough. It has ingredients including milk, butter, sour cream, sugar, and eggs to make it ultra-rich, tender, and soft once baked. But those ingredients can also increase the rising time. For me the dough took 2 hours for the first rise, and 90 minutes for the second rise. Rising times will depend on the warmth and humidity of your kitchen, so keep that in mind.

How to Tell When the Chocolate Roll Dough Has Risen Enough:

Volume: The dough should double in volume for the first rise. I always like to use a glass mixing bowl to rise my dough in, so I can see how much it’s risen more easily.
Ripe Test: The best way to tell if the dough has risen enough to shape is to perform the ‘ripe test’. Press two fingers in the risen dough up to the second knuckle and then take them out. If the indentations remain, the dough is “ripe” and ready to punch down. If not, cover and let the dough rise until the indentations do remain.
Shape and rise again: Now the dough is ready to be rolled out and shaped into rolls! Allow the shaped rolls to rise again until about doubled in size and a gentle indentation from your finger remains.

How to Make Chocolate Cinnamon Roll Filling

We’re basically replacing the cinnamon with cocoa powder in the filling for this recipe! Beat the butter, brown sugar, cocoa powder, and pinch of salt in an electric mixer until well combined and fluffy. Whipping the filling is an extra step and will dirty more dishes, but it really creates such a gooey filling. Brown sugar makes for a more gooey and flavorful filling than white sugar, so I recommend sticking with that for most delicious results.

How to Shape Perfect Chocolate Roll Spirals

Rolling up your chocolate roll dough nice and tight is the key to beautiful round rolls and visible spirals. Here’s how to achieve perfect swirls:

As you roll the dough up, stretch it towards you and then over, so it stays tight instead of floppy.
Finish off the spiral with the seam side down, to seal in the filling.
Push the ends into the center slightly with your palms to create an even log shape, then cut off the ends to even out.

How to Slice Chocolate Roll Dough

To get picture-perfect gooey chocolate rolls and show off that perfect spiral, it’s important to slice the log of dough without squashing it. Here are some of my best tips to ensure perfect slices:

The best tool for that is a very sharp chef’s knife and use sweeping motions, not sawing motions, to slice.
If you don’t have a super sharp knife, you can also use a serrated knife and sweeping motions.
Alternatively, you can use dental floss to slice the dough – but be sure it’s unflavored.
To get evenly-sized pieces, cut the log exactly in half so you have two equal-sized logs. Then cut each log in half again so you have four equal-sized logs. Finally, cut each of the four logs into 3 pieces, for a total of 12 gooey chocolate rolls.

How to Make Rich Cocoa Icing

This recipe is actually fairly similar to donut glaze! You can flood the rolls with the glaze, or just lightly drizzle it over if you prefer. For the best and richest flavor, use a high-quality cocoa powder – learn more about that here.

How to Make Gooey Chocolate Rolls Ahead of Time

These rolls are best served fresh and warm – right out of the oven, if possible! They taste best the day they’re baked and unfortunately don’t store very well. Luckily you can make the dough ahead of time. Here’s how:

Refrigerate the shaped but unbaked chocolate rolls in the pan you plan to bake them in. To give them a jump start on rising, I like to let them rise at room temperature for about 30 minutes before placing them in the refrigerator – especially in the winter when the cold air slows rise times.
Cover the rolls tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. The dough should continue to rise slowly in the fridge.
When getting ready to bake, remove the pan from the fridge and loosen the plastic wrap. Let the chocolate rolls rise at room temperature until doubled in size. The time this takes will depend entirely on how much they rose in the fridge and how warm/humid your kitchen is. It may take just 20 to 30 minutes or it may take over an hour.
Proceed with baking the recipe as written.

More Recipes You’ll Love:

Gooey Cinnamon Rolls
Cranberry Orange Coffee Cake
Double Chocolate Banana Bread
Hot Chocolate Pancakes
Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Chocolate Chip Scones

How to Make

Gooey Chocolate Rolls

By: Tessa Arias

4.75 from 4 votes

Ingredients

Dough:

▢ 1 cup whole milk
▢ 1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter
▢ 1/4 cup (57 grams) sour cream, at room temperature
▢ 1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast
▢ 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
▢ 1 large egg, at room temperature
▢ 2 egg yolks, at room temperature
▢ 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
▢ 4 to 4 1/4 cups (508 to 540 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
▢ 1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt

Filling:

▢ 10 tablespoons (142 grams) unsalted butter, completely softened to room temperature
▢ 2/3 cup (133 grams) packed light brown sugar
▢ 1/3 cup (28 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
▢ 1/8 teaspoon fine salt

Icing:

▢ 1 1/2 cups (188 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
▢ 1/4 cup (21 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
▢ 1/4 cup whole milk
▢ 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Make the dough:

In a small saucepan, heat the milk and butter until the butter is melted. Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream until smooth. Let cool until lukewarm (about 110°F).
In the bowl of an electric mixer, use a spatula to combine the milk mixture with the yeast, sugar, egg, egg yolks, and vanilla until well combined. Add in half of the flour and the salt and stir with the spatula until combined. Fit the mixer with the dough hook and gradually add the remaining flour until a dough begins to form. Only add as much flour as you need to form the dough. Knead at medium speed until the dough is very soft, smooth, pliable, elastic, and doesn’t stick to the sides of the bowl, about 8 to 10 minutes. If the dough is unbearably sticky, add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time. Only add as much flour as needed to create a smooth dough.
Lightly grease a large bowl. Shape the dough into a ball and place in the greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Make the filling:

While the dough rises, add filling ingredients to a medium mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium-high until very well combined, about 3 minutes.

Shape the dough:

Punch down the risen dough and turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. Use a rolling pin to shape the dough into a 16×12-inch rectangle, with the long side facing you.
Spread the filling mixture all over the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border at the far edge. Brush the border with water to help seal.
Roll up the dough, pulling with your hands to keep it tightly rolled until it’s an even log shape. Press the border to seal. Trim the edges.
Grease a 13×9-inch baking dish or two 9-inch pie pans. Cut the roll into 12 equal pieces using a sharp serrated knife or unflavored dental floss. Place the rolls cut side up in the prepared baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
MAKE AHEAD: Allow the shaped rolls to rise until they’ve grown in size by about a quarter. Cover the baking dish well with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Allow to come completely to room temperature and continue to rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours, before baking as directed below.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the rolls until lightly golden brown, 20 to 22 minutes.

Make the icing:

While the rolls bake, combine the icing ingredients in a small mixing bowl until a smooth pourable icing forms.
Spread over hot rolls immediately after they come out of the oven. Serve warm the day they’re baked.

Show us!If you make this recipe, be sure to snap a picture and share it on Instagram with #handletheheat so we can all see!

The post was originally published in 2019 and has been updated with additional recipe tips. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.