This chocolate vegan babka needs just 9 ingredients and is super easy to make despite it’s intricate details. Serve for dessert or breakfast!
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If the best fall vegan breakfast idea were to plop onto your lap, it would be this vegan chocolate pumpkin babka recipe.
If you’ve never had or heard of babka before, it is a braided sweet bread that is of Jewish decent.
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.
Today, we are putting our own fall twist on this delicious bread and not only adding chocolate, but also adding pumpkin and pumpkin spices.
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 vegan chocolate pumpkin 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!
Frequently Asked Questions:
How do you eat Vegan Chocolate Pumpkin Babka?
Honestly, just like any other bread, slice it and eat. Toast it if you want. Or if you are feeling fancy or have leftovers, let it get stale and make our vegan babka french toast with it.
Do I have to use pumpkin?
We know that not everyone likes pumpkin and we totally get that.
If this is you, then we’d recommend making our chocolate vegan babka recipe instead.
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.
For the chocolate, use one like Enjoy Life that is Top 8 Free.
And finally for the coconut cream, you can you
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 I freeze vegan babka?
Whether you are just one person or you are a family but want to only eat half the loaf, you can absolutely freeze it.
For easier time afterwards, we recommend letting it cool completely, slicing it, and then laying on a wax or parchment lined baking sheet. Freeze it for 20-30 minutes and then place it in an air tight freezer bag or container until you are ready to use.
Heat up for 15-20 seconds at a time until thawed out.
Can this dough be used to make other recipes?
For this vegan chocolate pumpkin babka, we are using a variation of 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
For a visual of how to braid, watch how we make our chocolate vegan babka:
Pin these vegan chocolate pumpkin babka for later:
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Vegan Chocolate Pumpkin Babka
Ingredients
For the dough
- 3 ¼ – 3 ½ cups flour (we prefer bread, can use all-purpose or whole wheat – see post for details)
- ¼ cup vegan sugar (can sub with maple syrup or agave)
- 1 package instant yeast (1 package = 2 ¼ tsp)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon cloves
- ½ cup dairy free milk (we like oat – can use any non-strongly flavored dairy free milk)
- ½ cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
- ¼ cup vegan butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
For filling (can make this up to 5 days in advance)
- ½ cup vegan cane sugar
- ¾ cup coconut cream (can sub with any dairy free milk if needed)
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 6 oz vegan chocolate (chips or bars)
- 8 tablespoon vegan butter, diced, room temperature
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Simple Syrup
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup vegan cane sugar
Instructions
- In a large bowl or stand mixer bowl, whisk together 3 ¼ cups flour, sugar, yeast, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and allspice.
- Then, add in the dairy free milk, pumpkin, vegan butter and vanilla.
- Using a spatula or dough hook, 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.
- 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
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, cream and salt. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until sugar completely dissolves, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Stir in chocolate, butter and vanilla until smooth. Let cool to room temperature. *If making ahead, store in air tight container in fridge. Let come to room temperature before using.
- Once dough has risen, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly flour a surface and roll dough out until approximately 12×15 rectangle.
- Brush cooled chocolate mixture across the entire surface.
- 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.
I attempted this recipe and I think I’m missing something or there’s an error in the ingredient list. I don’t think the amount of milk is correct. 1/2 cup of milk? My dough is so dry and crumbly. Help! I really want to try this recipe!
Thanks for trying the recipe! The dough shouldn’t be dry or crumbly. Flour measurement and pumpkin consistency can really affect hydration. I recommend spooning and leveling flour (or weighing it) and adding plant milk 1 tbsp at a time if needed until the dough is soft and pliable.
I struggle Constantly with rolling out the dough. So my question is what’s the tip on that I struggle with it no matter what whether it be pizza or any type of roles whenever there’s dough I can’t roll it out I do have a rolling pin I don’t know what I’m doing ahhhhhh help?
Make sure that it’s room temperature (unless called to be cold). Don’t overwork the dough or it will seize up. Start with a dough ball that is the shape that you are looking to finish with. Pizza start with a circle. Need it to be a rectangle, then shape it into a rectangle before rolling. Those are starting points
so I haven’t actually eaten this yet but seems like it’ll be yummy.. rolled the dough out to what I thought was 12×15 and still had way too much chocolate! Is that how it’s supposed to be? I couldn’t really pile it on b/c it dripped all over the edges and made a mess :(. lol. Any suggestions? Also, what do you use for vegan butter? I used earth balance but just curious.