These rich and buttery Chocolate Mocha Scones feature coffee and cocoa inside the dough and a two-tone coffee and chocolate icing on top!
These are mocha frappuccino-inspired scones! Sounds good right? That's exactly what these scones are! Try my triple chocolate fudge scones or browned butter chocolate chunk scones next if you love scones and chocolate.
For other coffee-flavored desserts, be sure to try my Coffee Brownie Cheesecake or Coffee Nanaimo Bars next!
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⭐️ Why You Need to Make This Recipe
- Flavor - The classic combination of the flavors of chocolate and coffee shine through in these easy yet decadent scones.
- Texture - Soft, buttery, and tender, these scones have a pleasant texture that goes well with a cup of tea or coffee.
- Method - These scones are so easy and only take about a total of 45 minutes to make!
🧈 Ingredients
Here are the ingredients needed to make these chocolate coffee scones.
Ingredient Notes
- Cocoa Powder - I use and recommend Dutch-processed cocoa powder for a smooth, deep chocolate flavor.
- Salted Butter - The butter needs to be cold from the refrigerator (not frozen) and cut into small cubes to work into the dough properly. Add ¼ teaspoon of salt if using unsalted butter to ensure proper flavor development.
- Coffee - We will use instant coffee granules dissolved in a little bit of warm water to achieve a concentrated coffee flavor without introducing too much liquid into the scone dough.
See the recipe card for the full list of ingredients with measurements.
📃 Instructions
Step 1: Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, and baking powder. Add in the cold cubes of butter.
Step 2: Work the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter until the pieces of butter are no larger than peas.
Step 3: Dissolve the instant coffee in 1 teaspoon of hot water.
Step 4: Whisk together the cream, eggs, and dissolved instant coffee.
Step 5: Turn the mixture onto the countertop and gently knead and press together until a dough forms.
Step 6: Separate the dough into 3 equal pieces and form into rounds about 3 inches in diameter.
Step 7: Cut each round into quarters and place on a prepared baking sheet. Bake in a preheated oven for 12-16 minutes or until risen and cooked through.
Step 8: Whisk together powdered sugar, instant coffee dissolved in water, and enough whipping cream to make a drizzleable glaze. Separate 2 tablespoons and add some cocoa powder to make a chocolate icing.
Dip the top of each cooled scone in the coffee icing. Then transfer the chocolate icing to a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle on top of the coffee icing on each scone.
💡 Top Tip
You can also make the scone dough up to 24 hours ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator until ready to bake fresh. I would recommend cutting the scones out before refrigerating to avoid having to work with the dough after it is firm.
❓ Recipe FAQs
Using cream in scones makes for an extra soft and rich scone so I choose cream over milk in most of my scone recipes.
I have not tested this recipe with espresso and don't think it would work very well because the espresso will introduce too much water into the scones. The instant coffee is dissolved in very little water for a very concentrated flavor.
Butter is the only fat I would ever recommend for making scones for a flakey texture and good flavor.
Scones are best served fresh but leftovers may be stored in a container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
☕️ More Coffee Recipes
Looking for other recipes featuring coffee? Try these:
If you tried these Mocha Chocolate Scones or any other recipe on my website, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and write a little note telling me how it went in the comments below. Thank you!!
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Mocha Scones
Equipment
- baking sheet
- parchment paper or non-stick cooking spray
- mixing bowls
- whisk
- pastry cutter
- measuring cups & spoons
Ingredients
For the Scones:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated white sugar
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¾ cup cold salted butter cubed
- 2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
- 1 teaspoon hot water
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 egg
For the Icing:
- ¾ teaspoon instant coffee granules cooled
- 1 teaspoon hot water
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)
- 2-3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- ½ teaspoon cocoa powder
Instructions
To make the Scones:
- Preheat the oven to 400℉. Line a baking sheet pan with parchment paper or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Cut in the cold butter using a pastry cutter until the pieces of butter are about the size of peas.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the instant coffee granules and hot water until dissolved. Add the cream and egg and whisk until smooth. Add to the flour/butter mixture and mix until a loose dough forms. Turn out onto a floured counter and knead it gently to form into a ball.
- Shape the dough into 3 rounds each about 1 inch thick. Cut each round into 4 wedges using a pizza cutter or large knife and place them on the prepared baking sheet, leaving room for the scones to spread a bit. *
- Bake in the preheated oven for 12-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool on the pan while you make the icing.
To make the Icing:
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the instant coffee granules and hot water until dissolved. Add the powdered sugar and enough cream to make an icing consistency that can be drizzled. Transfer 2 tablespoons of the icing to a separate bowl and whisk in cocoa powder.
- Dip the cooled scones into the coffee icing to coat. Transfer cocoa icing into a plastic sandwich bag with a very small hole cut in the corner and pipe onto the coffee-glazed scones. Enjoy!
Notes
- You can also make the scone dough up to 24 hours ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator until ready to bake fresh.
Sue
Is it Plain flour or self raising please
Naomi Andres
Just plain all-purpose flour!
Taryn
Coffee, chocolate, icing, and scones--what is there not to love?! These were amazing and so, so pretty too! I didn't have any instant espresso powder, but I substituted with adding 1 tbsp of instant coffee to the milk before mixing in. If I were using instant coffee again, I'd probably use 2 tbsp just to intensify the coffee flavour, but they were still perfect. 👌 And I definitely did not eat the leftover icing with a spoon... 🙈😂 Thanks for another incredible recipe!!
Naomi
So good, right?! That substitution sounds great, Taryn, thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the great review!
Naomi
Grace
These were delicious! The balance of chocolate and coffee was perfect. It was a great way to get coffee for my brother and I because we are not allowed to drink it yet. 🙂 They looked and smelled amazing!! Just checking, is 400 the right temperature? I'm so glad I made them!
Naomi
I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe, Grace! Yes, sorry, I seem to have left that out of the recipe by accident. I will fix it now.
Thanks for leaving a review!
Naomi