Chocolate, orange and cinnamon all come together in a showy breakfast, dessert, or tea time loaf that is makes a show-stopping gift to anyone, even yourself.
Mix everything but the flour together in a larger bowl until the eggs and honey are well incorporated. Dump in the flour and stir together. It will look kind of lumpy and a lovely dark yellow color from the eggs and the honey. Make sure the flour is fully incorporated and the bread is fully together, albeit very sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temp for two hours. After two hours, put the covered dough in the fridge. So easy right?
As soon as the dough is chilled, it is usable, but you can leave this dough in the fridge for up to 3-5 days.
Melt the chocolate and butter together in the microwave in short spurts of no more than 20 seconds at a go, stirring between. Chocolate can burn quickly and will hold its shape often even when melted, so stirring between 20-second bursts is a must. Add in powdered sugar, cocoa and zest and stir until it is a thicker filling, but easily spreadable.
Generously butter two loaf pans and set aside.
Divide the dough in half, and roll out one of the halves on a generously floured board into an 8x16 inch rectangle. The dough is sticky, so it is best to leave the other half of the dough in the fridge while working and to work quickly.
Spread 1/2 of the chocolate filling over the dough, leaving about a 1/2 inch space on the long sides (this will be the ends of the loaves) Roll the dough up, starting at the small end so you have a log about 8 inches long. Place in the refrigerator and repeat the steps with the other half of the dough and refrigerate your second log while you take the first one out to assemble and place in your pans.
Using a sharp, long and serrated knife, cut as cleanly as you can lengthwise down the dough. I have tried cutting it horizontal to the table and also cutting perpendicular down toward the board. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Just do what you can to cut cleanly and quickly. You want to try to avoid the rolls fanning open if you can help it, but even if they do it will be fine. This is always a challenge. The dough often looks smooshed and messy. Don't fret--they will still look great and taste amazing.
Then take the two half logs that are cut and place next to each other and gently wrap the two around each other, lifting one over the other ins a simple twist with the cut side always facing up. Gently place in the buttered pan and repeat with the other log.
Let rise for about 1.5 hours at room temp.
Preheat oven to 350 and bake the risen babka for about 40-45 minutes until they feel light and are gorgeously browned. You can tap the bottom of the bread (out of the pan) and if it sounds/feels hollow, it is a good indication the bread is done. You will want to pop the bread back in after so you can apply the syrup without making a huge mess on the counter.
While the bread is baking, mix the sugar and water together and heat slightly (on the stove or very briefly in the microwave). Stir in the zest from the rest of the orange and allow to sit.
As soon as the bread comes out of the oven, brush the syrup over the entire tops of the bread. You can then evenly pour any remaining syrup on the babka and let cool in the pans until you can easily handle and turn out the babkas. The cooler the bread is before slicing, the cleaner the cuts will be, but the bread is so fantastic when it is still a bit warm, no one will blame you for diving in before it is completely cool.