Cocoa bombs, this holiday season’s hottest food trend, are associated with speed: In just seconds, the chocolate orb transforms a mug of heated milk into a cup of hot chocolate, complete with bobbing marshmallows.
But it’s the pace at which the sweet spheres attained popularity that’s perhaps more significant in a year which ended with nearly 15 million people reporting they were working few or no hours because of business lost to the pandemic. With the fad taking flight before big companies could latch on to it, it’s emerged as a way for one-person candy operations to earn extra cash.
In the Charleston area, for example, more than a dozen home confectioners have advertised their cocoa bombs on Facebook Marketplace. Those interviewed for this story say they're trying to keep up with demand.
“I got started just scrolling through TikTok,” said Myeshia Mcalister, a Ladson-based Medicaid coordinator who was already selling chocolate-covered strawberries when the cocoa bomb dropped. “I was like, ‘These look nice.’ I ordered the materials and I was hooked — and so was everyone else.”
Cocoa bombs typically sell for about $3 to $6 apiece. Even though making them is relatively easy, at least for home bakers armed with instant-read thermometers, Mcalister said fans are happy to pay someone else to take on the time-consuming task. Plus, many retailers are sold out of the necessary silicone molds, The Washington Post reported.
Although Mcalister stumbled upon cocoa bombs in September, the man who claims to have come up with the format first shared it via TikTok last winter. Since then, Eric Torres Garcia’s video has been viewed 2.5 million times.
“It’s just fascinating,” cocoa bomb seller April Floyd of Summerville said of the milk’s metamorphosis. “And of course, when it’s cooler, everyone wants cocoa.”
According to Floyd, milk chocolate bombs have remained her top seller. But bombs are now available in every shade and flavor. Floyd’s lineup includes white chocolate bombs and sea salt caramel bombs.
Floyd thinks of the bombs as “something great with everything else going on this year.”
Customers have told her they’re sending her confections to military members who can’t come home for Christmas and tucking them into the toes of stockings that grandparents won’t be on hand to stuff.
Still, she doesn’t think demand will outlast cold weather. She predicted the trend will end in February.
