Teens Are Churning Out Hot Cocoa Bombs, And It's Less Violent Than It Sounds

Teens love blowing stuff up. This became clear to me in 2008, when a kid at my high school nicknamed himself "Carnage" and tried to detonate a cigarette in the boys' bathroom. Due to Carnage's fundamental misunderstanding of physics, there's a good chance he's still out there somewhere—and, with any luck, he's delighting in the latest explosive TikTok trend: hot cocoa bombs.

Hot cocoa bombs involve more of a soft "poof" than an ear-splitting "boom," but that doesn't make them any less fun to watch/make/consume. The viral food trend involves a ready-made chocolate sphere stuffed with marshmallows and cocoa mix. Basically, you plop the sphere into a mug, cover it in steaming milk, and watch in delight as the chocolate shell gives way to a rich, mallow-y cocoa in a matter of seconds. Think of it like a bath bomb, but for your mouth. (Teens also love bath bombs.)

Like bath bombs, hot cocoa bombs are undeniably satisfying to watch as they dissolve and release the goodies within. There's something very soothing about watching a food product go through multiple states of matter—powder, solid, liquid—while releasing hidden marshmallows. (The first time I watched one of these videos, I nudged my beagle awake and screamed "The marshmallows are on the inside!")

You can find the trend all over TikTok, that tantalizing Gen Z watering hole, but the trend has also inspired recipe-centric Facebook groups like "All Things Hot Cocoa Bombs." If your kitchen is a strictly bomb-free zone, you can always scoop up a pack of 16 ready-made bombs at Costco for less than 20 bucks. Of course, if you're more of a hot cocoa purist, you can always try out our stellar hot cocoa recipe—no blast-resistant bomb suit required.