Best Places to Buy Hot Cocoa Bombs in Des Moines
Hot chocolate, candy canes, pumpkin spice everything, and apple cider have always been popular around the holidays and fall/winter season. Then in 2020 came the craze that started from TikTok videos and social media featuring hot chocolate bombs or what many call hot cocoa bombs. Balls of chocolaty goodness split open by steaming milk, pouring the hot milk over the ball, and releasing hot cocoa, mini marshmallows, and other delicious flavors.
Last year my then 3-year-old was transfixed as he watched his ball of chocolate transform into chocolate lava in his cup. I made the mistake of telling him that it would explode so after he ran to duck for cover, I clarified that it would just melt.
Throw out the hot cocoa mix! Hot cocoa bombs are here to stay and there are many great bakeries around greater Des Moines that are selling them. We have spotlighted three of the best places to buy hot cocoa bombs in the Des Moines area to learn more about their hot cocoa bombs and other products for the fall/winter season. We even have sneak peeks of new flavors!
Dipp‘d
- Website: The website goes live at midnight on November 1 st through Christmas 2022.
- Follow on Facebook!
How it Started
Cherese Schirck was hoping to make a fun and unique treat for a co-worker who was leaving the office. She stumbled across snowman cake pops on Pinterest and decided to give them a try. She says, “I had no idea what I was doing. My kitchen was torn apart. I had melted chocolate in my hair, on my walls, stuck to my clothes.”
After lots of trial and error, she took her final creations to the office, but nobody wanted to eat them because they were “too cute.” She decided to take them to the bar where she was working part-time and they were gone in minutes. That night she received 11 orders from bar patrons and her business was born.
After 3 years in business, she has made 20,000 cake pops and is incredibly talented, detail-oriented, and creative in completing each design. Not only are her cake pops works of art, but they are delicious too. While she is most known for her cake pops, Cherese is also known for her incredible hot cocoa bombs.
Hot Cocoa Bombs
Initially, she says she started selling hot cocoa bombs in 2020 for Valentine’s Day but they weren’t popular yet and so she ended up giving them away. The following holiday season she was bombarded with requests for hot cocoa bombs and couldn’t keep up.
This year she will have 31 flavors available including 9 new flavors that will be shared on her Facebook page. Each flavor has her own homemade cocoa mix, specific ingredients that she hand-measures and each is chock full of marshmallows (a tribute to her mom who loves them).
Specialty Hot Cocoa Bombs
- North Pole Snowball: Ordering starts in mid-November for the North Pole Snowball that an elf brings back from the North Pole. This comes in a special box with a note from the elf.
- Mean One Grinch
- Gnome
- Dippie the Snowman
New Flavor Sneak Peek
Dipp’d shared 3 out of the 9 new flavors that will be featured this year. Usually, these are only shared on her Facebook page throughout the holiday season, but she gave us a sneak peek. Drumroll…. the new unique flavors include Crème Brulee, S’Mores, and Cinnamon Vanilla Nut. Follow her on Facebook as she unveils the other new flavors available this season!
How to Purchase
Orders can be placed on the Dipp’d website starting on November 1 st and customers can choose their pickup date. Pick-ups are from her front porch. Hinge in Valley Junction will also have the cocoa bombs in store, and she is currently working with several other specialty stores to sell them as well. Corporate orders and larger orders will need to go through her page directly.
Cost
$7 per cocoa bomb.
Little G’s Treats
- Website: https://littlegstreats.square.site/
- Follow on Facebook!
How it Started
At age 13, Gabe Garcia already runs a successful business featuring a wide variety of sweet treats including hot cocoa bombs, treatcuterie boxes, brownie bombs, and cheesecake bombs as well as other custom and seasonal items.
He started Little G’s Treats in 2020 as a “pandemic project” turned business. He watched the popular TikTok videos demonstrating how to make cocoa bombs and decided to try them for himself. His mom ordered the molds, and they started practicing and gave them out to family and friends. As word spread his business grew, and now they have a wide variety of desserts including one of his favorites, Cheesecake Churro Tacos.
I asked Gabe what he hopes to accomplish next, and he said, “To conquer the world with our treats! Just kidding. To continue to grow, make more people smile with our treats, and maybe one day have a mobile dessert truck when I’m old enough to drive.”
Gabe’s advice to other aspiring entrepreneurs is, “Not everyone is your customer and that’s ok. Don’t try and take the easy way out just to get it done
quickly. There is no shortcut to success. Keep learning, adapting, and evolving. Be humble and have fun.”
Hot Cocoa Bombs
Little G’s Treats has numerous hot cocoa bomb options on the website including Red Velvet, Grinch, Salted Caramel, Peppermint, Cookies and Cream, and Abuelita. They offer different sizes, shapes, and styles of cocoa bombs such as the concha hot cocoa bomb. This can be added to coffee as often traditional conchas (Mexican sweet bread rolls) are paired with coffee for the perfect breakfast or dessert. Gabe said that “being half Mexican I like to bring in some of that culture to a few of our treats.”
Specialty Hot Cocoa Bombs
Their Halloween menu drops on 10/1/2022 and runs until 11/2/2022 and will include hot cocoa bombs such as skull pinatas and color-changing Jack-o-lanterns.
New Flavor Sneak Peek
Gabe told us they are also currently testing different combinations for their hot cocoa bombs such as Horchata (a Mexican drink made from ground rice, cinnamon, and vanilla flavors), Bananas Foster, and Maple Bacon flavors. They are also currently testing Matcha, Chai, and Affogato latte bombs. These could become available this fall or winter.
How to purchase
Order on their website, and send an email or direct message. Orders are prepaid through the website or on Venmo. They create custom orders with advance notice and a deposit, so they have enough time to prepare them. Pick-ups are Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
Cost
On average $6-$8 per hot cocoa bomb.
Sweet Joy’s
- Website: https://627136ca2bc3c.site123.me/
- Follow on Facebook!
How it Started
Joy Conroy LeClaire is a mom of two and says when her kids wanted birthday cake designs that weren’t available, she decided to start making them herself. She started baking for her children and then creating custom cakes for her sister’s five children and then for friends. Everyone told her she should start selling them and so five years ago she started Sweet Joy’s with a Facebook page. It grew from there and now she is very popular, especially for creating custom cakes, cupcakes, and decorated sugar cookies.
Hot Cocoa Bombs
A client asked her if she could make hot cocoa bombs and so she decided to give it a try. Joy says she went through many bags of chocolate and had chocolate all over the kitchen before perfecting her recipe and technique. In the past, she has offered a variety of flavors including caramel, chocolate, butterscotch, and white chocolate with strawberry. This year she plans to offer milk chocolate and white chocolate with other flavors upon request.
Specialty Hot Cocoa Bombs
Joy can make many different flavors upon request as well as kinder eggs consisting of a chocolate eggshell with a small toy inside.
How to Purchase
Text to place your order or request a custom order at 515-321-1040.
Cost
Contact for pricing.
Special Offerings
Sweet Joy’s now offers cookie decorating classes in her home. One person hosts and can invite 7 of their friends and family to learn techniques to make beautifully decorated cookies with easy-to-follow instructions and great recipes. Contact Sweet Joy’s to schedule a date!
Interested in trying more hot cocoa bombs? Check out these other local places.
- Always Baked Sweets and Treats: With 5-star reviews on Facebook for their sweet treats and excellent customer service, this home bakery out of Urbandale makes regular and boozy hot cocoa bombs. Adults need special treats too!
- Flour and Sugar Bakery: This home-based bakery in Ankeny offers 18 flavors of hot cocoa bombs such as Strawberry Chocolate and Apple Cider, as well as the option to purchase a mug and cocoa bomb gift set. They are also known for their cake pops.
- Sweet B’s Treats and More: Sweet B’s name was inspired by their daughter, Brooklyn who hopes to run the bakery one day. This home-based bakery out of Van Meter sells baked goods such as muffins, cookies, bread, bars, and other sweet treats. They are just starting to make their first hot cocoa bombs for the season. In the past, they have offered hot cocoa bombs with chocolate-dipped spoons and in a gift mug for the holidays. Contact them for current offerings or follow them on Facebook.
Enjoy the flavors, designs, and custom treats that these local bakeries have to offer. Relax with your favorite mug and give these hot cocoa bombs a try! They will make great gifts this holiday season.
