Sweet Chocolate Rolls

These sweet chocolate rolls are soft, fluffy, and full of delicious chocolate flavor – all topped with a cream cheese frosting! They start with the same base as our super popular cinnamon rolls with heavy cream but incorporate chocolate throughout for a chocolate sweet roll everyone will love. If you’re a chocolate lover and want to mix up your cinnamon rolls, these chocolate rolls are a must-try.

Chocolate Sweet Rolls

Ever since we perfected our homemade cinnamon rolls, we’ve been playing around with various versions to mix things up. We’ve tried everything from these Halloween cinnamon rolls to a sweet and salty bacon cinnamon roll.

Chocolate is one of my favorite flavors, so I knew we wanted to try to make them with chocolate. And I’m so glad we did the chocolate melts into the dough to create a creamy center that’s almost better than the cinnamon rolls, almost!

These chocolate rolls are soft, fluffy, and full of chocolate flavor all rolled up into a gooey roll. We tried it with a chocolate frosting and even a chocolate glaze, and it was just too much chocolate, so we stuck with our favorite cream cheese frosting inside.

These are such a delicious variation on the standard cinnamon roll, we typically alternate between the two, and I’m honestly not sure which one I love more. And I hope you love them as much as we do!

1. Buttermilk – you can use store-bought buttermilk or make your own buttermilk, but don’t just use regular milk.
2. Butter – both salted butter and unsalted butter will work, but for best results use a higher quality butter. You’ll need both melted butter and softened butter.
3. Heavy whipping cream – these are are better with the higher fat heavy cream but whole milk can work in a pinch.
4. Flour – all-purpose flour is best for this as it makes for a softer dough.
5. Instant yeast – this recipe allows for proofing the yeast so any type of active dry yeast will work.
6. Chocolate chips + cocoa powder – I highly recommend using both to get the balanced flavor that’s not too sweet or too dark. And stick with mini chocolate chips because they’ll melt better than the larger ones.

If you’ve ever made cinnamon rolls, you can make these chocolate rolls. It’s the exact same process but instead of using a cinnamon filling, you’re going to add a chocolate filling instead.

I’ve included step by step instructions of how to make these homemade chocolate sweet rolls, but I highly recommend using the recipe card at the bottom of this post for specific details.

1 – Proof the Yeast

Place the water and heavy cream in a microwave-safe bowl or liquid measuring cup and heat in the microwave for about one minute, just until the mixture is warm to the touch. Pour the warmed liquid into the bowl of a stand mixer.

Sprinkle in two tablespoons of granulated sugar and the yeast. Stir gently to mix, then let the mixture sit for 5–10 minutes, or until the yeast becomes foamy.

2 – make the Chocolate roll dough

While the yeast is proofing, measure out the buttermilk and warm it in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Set it aside for later use.

In a separate small bowl, mix together the melted butter, eggs, egg yolk, sugar, and salt. Stir until the mixture takes on a wet, sandy texture.

After the yeast has finished proofing, pour in the warmed buttermilk and mix until incorporated. You can use either the paddle attachment of your stand mixer or a rubber spatula.

Next, add the rest of the wet ingredients to the yeast mixture and stir again until everything is well blended.

Attach the dough hook to your stand mixer then begin adding flour to the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook at medium-low speed, adding one cup at a time until it begins to form a dough.

Once a dough ball begins to form, add just enough flour so that the dough consistently cleans the side of the bowl (aka pulls away from the side of the bowl).

Continue kneading the dough for five minutes or until the dough has a smooth and soft look to it.

While the dough is kneading, take a large bowl and lightly grease the inside of it.

When the dough is done, remove it from the stand mixer and place in the lightly greased bowl then cover with a dish towel or plastic wrap or a bowl cover.

Set in a warm place to rise until it is doubled in size, this should take about an hour.

3 – Roll out the chocolate Roll Dough

Line a large cookie sheet or a 9×13 baking dish with a piece of parchment paper.

Once your dough has finished its first rise, turn it out onto a large lightly floured surface.

Using your hands, pull and shape the dough into a rectangle. Once the shape is formed into a basic rectangle, use a rolling pin to roll it out until you have a rectangle roughly 24×18 and no thicker than ¼ inch.

4 – Add the chocolate roll

In a medium bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and cocoa powder together until it’s sandy.

Spread with the filling mixture all over the top of the rolled out rectangle of dough using a silicone spatula, making sure to cover every space available.

Then sprinkle the mini chocolate chips all over the top of the filling.

5 – roll and cut the chocolate sweet rolls

Starting on the long end, tightly roll the chocolate roll dough into a log, working it tightly but without pulling the dough too much. Then gently pinch the edges shut to seal them.

Use unflavored dental floss or a sharp serrated knife to cut the cinnamon rolls into 12 pieces that are two inches thick. I like to measure each and make a little indention with the knife as I go to make sure I can get all 12 in before I actually cut them.

Gently place the cut rolls onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Cover the rolls and allow them to double in size again, roughly 45 minutes.

6 – Bake The Chocolate Rolls

While the rolls are rising, preheat the oven to 350. Once the rolls have finished their second rise, place in the preheated oven and bake for 20-23 minutes.

Once they start to turn light golden brown, remove them from the oven. You do not want to over bake these or they won’t be result in the gooey chocolate rolls you’re hoping for!

7 – make The cream cheese Frosting

In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl, add the softened butter, cream cheese, and Karo syrup. Beat together until the mixture is creamy and smooth. Add the vanilla extract and mix until fully incorporated.

Gradually mix in the powdered sugar, a little at a time, until the frosting is smooth and all the sugar has been fully blended in.

8 – Frost and Serve the Chocolate Rolls

Let the baked chocolate rolls cool for a few minutes then frost while still warm so the frosting spreads across the rolls easier. The frosting may melt just a little bit that’s fine, it’ll just add to the gooey nature of these chocolate sweet rolls!

Once frosted, enjoy warm! We often like to cut these in half because they are pretty large and filling, but you can serve them however you want.

Keep any leftover chocolate sweet rolls refrigerated for up to three days.

To reheat, you can microwave them for a few seconds or place them in a cold oven. Set the oven to 350°F and let the rolls warm up as the oven heats, checking every few minutes and removing once they’re heated through.

If you love these cinnamon rolls, you should try these other sweet brunch recipes next!

• Tiktok cinnamon rolls – the easiest ever cinnamon rolls using a TikTok hack!
• Million dollar deviled eggs – another classic with a twist!
• Breakfast tater tot casserole – a simple brunch recipe you can make ahead of time!
• Cinnamon sugar muffins – these taste like donuts and muffins together in one delicious treat!
• Mini pancakes – cute little fluffy pancakes, these would also be great on a breakfast board!

Note: This post was originally published in 2014 with a shortcut mini chocolate sweet rolls recipe that has since been updated to this chocolate rolls recipe.