I am using the NodeMCU ESP-12E dev board.
I am able to upload via a usb to serial cable plugged into the TX and RX lines on the board by manually holding down the flash button during upload.
I have tried this exact method using the HC-05 but it's not working, below is the output from the upload in the Arduino IDE:
esptool v0.4.9 - (c) 2014 Ch. Klippel <ck@atelier-klippel.de>
setting board to nodemcu
setting baudrate from 115200 to 115200
setting port from COM1 to COM9
setting address from 0x00000000 to 0x00000000
espcomm_upload_file
espcomm_upload_mem
setting serial port timeouts to 1000 ms
opening bootloader
resetting board
trying to connect
flush start
setting serial port timeouts to 1 ms
setting serial port timeouts to 1000 ms
flush complete
espcomm_send_command: sending command header
espcomm_send_command: sending command payload
read 0, requested 1
trying to connect
flush start
setting serial port timeouts to 1 ms
setting serial port timeouts to 1000 ms
flush complete
espcomm_send_command: sending command header
espcomm_send_command: sending command payload
read 0, requested 1
trying to connect
flush start
setting serial port timeouts to 1 ms
setting serial port timeouts to 1000 ms
flush complete
espcomm_send_command: sending command header
espcomm_send_command: sending command payload
read 0, requested 1
resetting board
trying to connect
flush start
setting serial port timeouts to 1 ms
setting serial port timeouts to 1000 ms
flush complete
espcomm_send_command: sending command header
espcomm_send_command: sending command payload
read 0, requested 1
trying to connect
flush start
setting serial port timeouts to 1 ms
setting serial port timeouts to 1000 ms
flush complete
espcomm_send_command: sending command header
espcomm_send_command: sending command payload
read 0, requested 1
trying to connect
flush start
setting serial port timeouts to 1 ms
setting serial port timeouts to 1000 ms
flush complete
espcomm_send_command: sending command header
espcomm_send_command: sending command payload
read 0, requested 1
resetting board
trying to connect
flush start
setting serial port timeouts to 1 ms
setting serial port timeouts to 1000 ms
flush complete
espcomm_send_command: sending command header
espcomm_send_command: sending command payload
read 0, requested 1
trying to connect
flush start
setting serial port timeouts to 1 ms
setting serial port timeouts to 1000 ms
flush complete
espcomm_send_command: sending command header
espcomm_send_command: sending command payload
read 0, requested 1
trying to connect
flush start
setting serial port timeouts to 1 ms
setting serial port timeouts to 1000 ms
flush complete
espcomm_send_command: sending command header
espcomm_send_command: sending command payload
read 0, requested 1
warning: espcomm_sync failed
error: espcomm_open failed
error: espcomm_upload_mem failed