Written and Photos by Danielle Smith
Since childhood, chocolate has represented love and togetherness for Amanda Cox. From an early age she began making chocolate around holidays with her mother and grandmother. She originally made buckeye nuts with her family, a treat now carried in her store Nothing But Chocolate.
Cox started her chocolate career with a few wholesale accounts, along with selling treats at festivals, bazaars and fundraisers. Once her business began to grow, she opened her first retail location in her living room, using her dining room and kitchen as a production area.
Eventually, she outgrew that space and moved into a location in downtown Cambridge. Cox’s latest chocolate home is located on Leatherwood Creek. Shelves line the shop’s deep purple walls, which display brightly colored jellybeans and delectable chocolate treats.
“I follow a lot of chocolatiers from all over the world and take my own spin on things, as well as gaining inspiration from my everyday life,” Cox says.
Cox’s seasonal chocolate designs feed the eyes as well as the tastebuds. One creation includes chocolate tools in a chocolate toolbox for Father’s Day. For Halloween, she created body parts such as brains, fingers, ears, false teeth and anatomical chocolate hearts.
While inventory varies, Cox makes sure popular items are available year-round. Cox’s award-winning, hand-dipped buckeyes were voted third in USA Today’s Best Buckeyes of Ohio in 2019. Other popular items include chocolate-covered pretzel sticks and peanut clusters. Cox’s personal favorite is anything with pecans.
Cox capitalizes on the slower summer months by highlighting a flavor of the week, such as Milk Maple Truffles or Sunflowers, a milk chocolate shell filled with soft caramel, pretzels, and peanut butter, coated in bright yellow.
Cox’s favorite aspects of her job are the creativity and challenges. From temperature and humidity, to growing the business, she always finds something to improve upon. She loves learning about chocolate and the people who come into her shop. If you are a frequent visitor, you may be lucky enough to be one of her taste testers.