Honeycomb Candy — aerated honey-sugar candy
Honeycomb candy — also called sponge candy, hokey pokey, or cinder toffee — is a brittle candy with a porous honeycomb-like interior. It is made by adding baking soda to a hot sugar-and-honey syrup, which creates a foam that sets into airy crystalline bubbles.
i. Origin & history
Honeycomb candy is foundational across many countries' Christmas and holiday baking: British cinder toffee, Australian hokey pokey, Buffalo sponge candy. The science of the baking-soda-foaming-into-set-sugar is the same everywhere.
ii. Ingredients
Makes 24 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust
- 300 g sugar
- 100 g golden syrup
- 60 g honey
- 60 ml water
- 2 tbsp baking soda (sifted)
- Pinch salt
- Optional: 200 g dark chocolate, melted
iii. Method
- Line a 20 cm square tin with parchment.
- Combine sugar, syrup, honey, water and salt in a heavy pan. Heat to 150 °C / 300 °F on a sugar thermometer — hard-crack stage.
- Off heat, immediately whisk in baking soda — the mixture will foam dramatically.
- Pour into the tin without further stirring (stirring deflates the foam).
- Cool 60 min undisturbed. Break into shards.
- Optional: dip shards in melted chocolate.
iv. Tips & common mistakes
- Use the freshest ingredients you can. The recipe relies on them.
- Read the method through first. Several steps must be ready in advance.
- Season patiently. Sweetness and salt are tuned at the end, not the start.
v. Variations
Cinder toffee (British) is the canonical name. Hokey pokey (NZ) is the smaller version often mixed into ice cream. Cadbury Crunchie is the chocolate-covered commercial version.
vi. Common questions
What is honeycomb candy?
Honeycomb Candy is aerated honey-sugar candy, from north american cuisine. It is made by adding baking soda to a hot sugar-and-honey syrup, which creates a foam that sets into airy crystalline bubbles
Where is honeycomb candy from?
Honeycomb Candy is from the north american dessert tradition; the recipe and history are detailed above.
How long does honeycomb candy keep?
See the storage note in the Quick facts panel: 2 weeks airtight.