New online sweet shop Chocolatl makes a splash on the San Antonio scene with colorful bonbons

Now this is some sweet news for the end of your week, San Antonio.

Chocolatl Chocolates & Confections, a new SA-based online chocolatier, is now distributing eye-catching, hand-crafted bonbons and other sweet treats to Texas and beyond. Owned and operated by local pastry chef Alessia Benavides, Chocolatl launched in January of this year, after graduating from San Antonio’s lauded culinary business incubator program, Break Fast & Launch. The program aims to “help entrepreneurs launch sustainable food concepts” through mentoring and training.

Benavides, who is also a pastry chef instructor at the Art Institute of San Antonio, has always adored finely-crafted chocolates but struggled to find higher-quality chocolates in San Antonio, she said in a press release.

“So, I decided I was going to open up my own virtual chocolate shop,” Benavides said. “I would like to show people about the good quality chocolates that I love.”

The pastry chef enrolled in classes and found she was a natural at negotiating the nuances of working with chocolate, thanks to her prior training. Now, sweet-toothed San Antonians can order bonbons in flavors such as crème brûlée, guava cheesecake, mango margarita and key lime pie through the company’s website.

“Since I understood the basics it was easy for me to master all of it. I just didn’t know the intricacies, the depth, of making bonbons, but now I know how to formulate flavors and I create my own recipes,” Benavides said.

Chocolatl sources all of its chocolates from Valrhona, a French premium chocolate manufacturer known worldwide for making the best chocolate. Benavides then incorporates two or three layers of fillings into each bonbon — the the Guava Cheesecake bite, for example, features pâté de fruit, cheesecake ganache and a graham cracker element.

Chocolatl is now shipping its sweet wares to San Antonio and the rest of the United States.

Coming soon: SA Current Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting San Antonio stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.

Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

Related Stories

Little Bites: Crawfish Fest, Fiesta-inspired menus, anniversary parties making San Antonio food news

The Good Kind’s new singer-songwriter series and Toro Chico’s new canned cocktails are also making food news this week.

Texas’ Yellowbird hot sauce inks Nacho Fries deal with fast food giant Taco Bell

Yellowbird’s and Taco Bell’s collaborative Spicy Habanero Ranch sauce can be added to any menu item from now until April 27, or while supplies last.

First Look: Forthcoming San Antonio bar The Bunker Mixology unites craft cocktails and art

The sleek, nightclubby spot taking over the former location of Jet Setter and The Last Word will open to the public this Friday.

Nostalgic San Antonians, listen up: new Tampico Hard Punch doesn’t come in a gallon jug, but it does include booze

The brand many of us remember from our childhood now has an alcohol-spiked version.

These multi-faceted San Antonio pastry chefs are raising the profile of the local food scene

We sat down with four of the San Antonio area’s finest pastry chefs to discuss their unique claims to fame within the culinary scene and highlight their divergent paths.

This article appears in Apr 5-18, 2023.