This chocolate vegan babka needs just 9 ingredients and is super easy to make despite it’s intricate details. Serve for dessert or breakfast!
If you have never heard of Babka before, the hold on to your seat, because you’re in for one of the most delicious recipes. This chocolate vegan babka tastes just as delicious without milk and eggs.
Babka is a braided sweet bread that is of Jewish decent. It became widely popular in the United States in the 2010s with the success of Breads Bakery in NYC and Instagram.
Babka means grandmother and refers to grandmothers who made this recipe from leftover challah after Shabbat, from our research. They would twist the bread with seeds and nuts.
Traditionally, it was filled with cinnamon. However, when Jewish people arrived in New York city, chocolate was added.
People have been known to add in apples or cheesecake, or make even savory versions. There are also similar versions to other cultures.
Essentially, it is a made very similar to how you would make cinnamon rolls, but instead of slicing circular pieces and placing them in a cake pan, you slice the roll length wise and do a double braided twist and then place in a loaf pan.
The end result of chocolate vegan babka is this stunning masterpiece of woven chocolate, like marbling, through the bread. Eat it in slices or you can even make french toast with it!
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What ingredients do you need to make chocolate vegan babka?
You only need nine ingredients for this super easy vegan babka dough.
The ingredients that you need are:
- Flour
- Instant yeast
- Salt
- Dairy Free Milk (we like Oat)
- Maple Syrup
- Vegan Butter
- Brown Sugar
- Vegan cane sugar
- Cocoa Powder
- Vegan Chocolate Chips, optional
That’s it! Can you believe that’s all you need?
HOW DO YOU MAKE CHOCOLATE VEGAN BABKA?
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, yeast, and salt. Then, add in the dairy free milk and maple syrup.
Using a spatula, fold until mostly combined. Sprinkle a little more flour if you need to not be sticky and form a ball.
Once your ball is formed, you will want to grease the same bowl you mixed in and place the dough ball back into the bowl.
Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let sit for 60-90 minutes in a warm, draft free place.
In a small bowl combine the sugars and cocoa powder together.
Once doubled in size, lightly flour a surface and roll dough out until approximately 12×15 rectangle.
Brush the butter across the entire surface and evenly sprinkle the cocoa sugar mixture across the dough. If adding, sprinkle chocolate chips across.
Starting on one side, roll the dough into a log. Cut the log length wise carefully so you have two long pieces.
Starting at one end, pinch the ends together and then braid the two pieces together and pinch together again at the end.
Carefully place in a well greased loaf pan.
Preheat oven for 350 degrees
Place in oven for 35-40 minutes or until done.
While baking, add sugar and water to a small pot and bring to a boil. Stir and let boil until all sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
When the bread is done, brush the simple sugar syrup onto the bread. Let cool and serve.
Can you make this a Top 8 Allergen Free Babka Bread?
We do not currently have a gluten free dough recipe to recommend, although we are working to create one.
For the remaining ingredients, yes you can. We recommend oat milk which is allergen friendly.
And ensure that you are use a soy free, dairy free butter. We use Earth Balance Soy free that comes in a red tub.
If adding optional chocolate chips, use one like Enjoy Life that is Top 8 Free.
Nothing else included in the recipe contains a Top 8 allergen.
Can I prep vegan babka ahead of time?
This bread can be made and stored in an air tight container for 5-7 days.
Also — when making the dough, once you put cover the bowl to rise, Instead of leaving in a warm place, you can place the bowl in the fridge up to 2 days before you plan to use it.
Just make the recipe as written, cover and place in fridge until ready to use.
Can this dough be used to make other recipes?
For this chocolate vegan babka, we are using our vegan everything dough recipe. The possibilities are really endless for this dough. Some recipes that we have created are:
- Vegan Raspberry Cinnamon Rolls (pictured above)
- Vegan Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread (some places call this Monkey Bread)
- Easy Vegan Soft Pretzel Bites
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Chocolate Vegan Babka
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 – 4 cups flour (we prefer bread, can use all-purpose or whole wheat – see post for details)
- 1 package instant yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups dairy free milk (we like oat – can use any non-strongly flavored dairy free milk)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup (see post about other sugar source options)
For chocolate filling
- 1/3 cup vegan butter, softened
- 1/3 cup vegan cane sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips, optional
Simple Syrup
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup vegan cane sugar
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together 3 1/2 cups flour, yeast, and salt.
- Then, add in the dairy free milk and maple syrup.
- Using a spatula, fold until mostly combined. Sprinkle a little more flour if needed to not be sticky and form a ball.
- Once ball is formed, grease the same bowl mixed in and place the dough ball back into the bowl. *If you are oil free, then just make sure sides of bowl are floured, or use a silicone bowl to easily get it out
- Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let sit for 60-90 minutes in a warm, draft free place until doubled.
For the filling
- Preheat oven for 350 degrees
- In a small bowl combine the sugars and cocoa powder together.
- Once risen, lightly flour a surface and roll dough out until approximately 12×15 rectangle.
- Brush the butter across the entire surface.
- Evenly sprinkle the cocoa powder and sugar mixture across the dough. If adding, chocolate chips, evenly sprinkle across.
- Starting on one side, roll the dough into a log.
- Cut the log length wise carefully so there are two long pieces.
- Starting at one end, pinch the ends together and then braid the two pieces together and pinch together again at the end.
- Carefully place in a well greased loaf pan.*If your babka is not at the top of your pan, cover it and let it rise until it is. If it is, proceed with baking.
- Place in oven for 35-40 minutes or until done.
For Simple Syrup
- While baking, add sugar and water to a small pot and bring to a boil.
- Stir and let boil until all sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
- When the bread is done, brush the simple sugar syrup onto the bread. Let cool and serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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I love this recipe! Super easy to follow and not a lot of ingredients. The end result is very flavourful, tender (even though the dough itself doesn’t have any added fat from butter, oil, or eggs), and chewy. If you’re hesitant about using vegan buttery sticks in the filling because of the aftertaste some brands have, don’t be! You can’t even tell. I chose to add the non-dairy chocolate chips in and had no regrets. IT’S SO GOOD. Even my non-vegan husband raved about this one. I’ll definitely make it again.
That sounds like it’s a winner for you like it is for us and we’re so happy to hear that! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review, we appreciate it! Have a great day!
Hi, I made this yesterday and it was so good! I used half AP flour and half whole wheat flour and skipped maple syrup. Easiest dough ever and so simple ingredients! Love it! Thank you so much for sharing!
We’re so happy to hear you loved it! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review!
I made a double batch of the everything dough on Friday night. Super easy. Saturday morning I made half into babka- two mini loaves. I did it just as directed, only adding 1/4 cup toasted walnuts. It was a huge hit with the whole family. I’d made babka before our daughter had to go dairy free so it was great to find a safe recipe we could all enjoy that also worked really well. Sunday morning I turned the other half into Raspberry Cinnamon Rolls. Well, half raspberry, half blueberry. They were amazing!
YAYY!!! Love that you tried a few things! Thank you so much for taking time to leave a review! Have a great day!
These were DELICIOUS! My non- vegan family simply couldn’t get enough of it.❤️
We’re so excited that your family liked it! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review, we appreciate that! Have a great week and stay safe.
Delicious and easy to follow, although some of the steps are different to the video tutorial. Will make again!!
So glad to hear you liked it! Thanks for taking the time to leave a rating, we appreciate that so much! Have a great week
This recipe is incredible. I want to make this again however I don’t have vegan butter on hand. Can we use regular butter instead?
We’re a vegan site, so we can’t comment on non-vegan products as we don’t have experience testing our recipes with them. Thanks for understanding. Glad to hear you like the recipe.
Can oil be used instead of vegan butter ?
We wouldn’t recommend doing that. Butter has a richness to it that oil just doesn’t even though vegan butter is mostly oil. However, you could just melted the chocolate down and brush that on without either.
I baked It the other day and It was really delicious! I am surely going to bake It again 🙂 🌱🤩
We’re so excited to hear that you loved it! Thanks for sharing and taking time to leave a review, we appreciate it so much! Have a great day.
I’m getting ready to make this for my cheat on Saturday and cannot wait! I’ve seen photos from others who followed this recipe and it turned out great for them – I have no doubt it’ll turn out great for me, too.
One question: my loaf pan is 8.5×4.5×2.75, so a little smaller than the one you’re using. Could I still fit this recipe in a single batch? And also, it’s hard to tell from your video, so you just stuff the braided babka into the pan, or corkscrew it in?
We jut braided it and sat it inside. But depending on where your braid is when you pick up the loaf you can turn it a bit so the braid it on top if that makes sense. Also, if you can fit it inside your pan then go for it, it just might pillow over the top. If it feels like too tight of a fit, then split it into two.
This recipe turned out great. I used agave instead of maple syrup and almond milk instead of oat and it was still amazing. I also cut down the sugar in the filling and used 1/4 cup of each kind of sugar instead of 1/3 cup to get more of a dark chocolate taste. Then I made sure to knead the dough for about 15 minutes until I passed the windowpane test before letting it proof.
This is my second time making this babka and I have yet to be disappointed. I usually make the whole recipe, use half the dough for a loaf, then play around with the other half since I only have one loaf pan. The first time made this, I used the second half of the dough to make a cinnamon star bread, then this time I used the other half to make two mini babka knots and baked them for a little less time than the loaf (until the internal temp reached above 190º F and the tops were golden brown). The bread toasts up really well the next day too. The inside stays soft and fluffy while the outside gets a little crispy in the best way.
This has become my go to babka recipe and I recommend it to everyone!
You just made our day, thank you. So glad that you are enjoying this recipe and that you are adding your own spin to it. Thank you for taking the time to leave a 5-star rating. Have a great day
I tried it i thought its gona be great! But i dont know why the dough still not cooked 🙁 even though the top is golden ! I almost had it 50 mins in when i tried a slice it still tasted “ doughy” .. what mistake i have done here ? I used oats flour & almond milk and the rest doigh ingredients the same – also profing was so good 2 hrs and was perfectly rinsed . Chocolate did sm changes but that was ok. My issue with the dough only.. pls
Hi Dora. We’re sorry to hear it didn’t work for you. We mention in the post that we have not had success with Gluten Free swaps for the recipe so we can’t recommend making it that way. You could slice it and try to cook flat on a baking sheet.
Been making this every weekend for the past month. Love love love it!
This recipe is perfect, no alterations needed!
Thank you so much Lemarque! We appreciate you taking the time to leave a review. Have a great week!
Thank you so much !! The recipe looks amazing !!! I am planning to try it today , just one question though. Do we prove the dough once it has been shaped and put in the loaf tin, before we bake ? Most of the bread recipes I have come across prove the dough twice so just wanted to clarify ! Cannot wait to go ahead with the recipe !!
Hi! We hope you love the bread. So the size of the babka once shaped usually is so large in the bread pan that if you let it rise again it would spill out all over the place. However, if you put it into your pan and it’s low you could let it rise for a bit before putting it in oven.
Hope that helps.
My Ashkenazi Jewish family was blown away by this babka…it was a total showstopper!
We are beyond happy to hear of this approval! Thanks so much for letting us know. We hope you have a Happy New Year.