If you’re looking to make an edible gift homemade honeycomb or cinder toffee is one of the quickest sweets to make and only requires three ingredients. Follow our step by step guide on how to make honeycomb including our honeycomb recipe below.
What is honeycomb?
Sometimes called cinder toffee, or hokey pokey, (or ‘the inside of a Cadbury’s Crunchie bar’!) honeycomb is a cooked mixture of sugar and golden syrup that has bicarbonate of soda added to it, which makes the confection puff up before it sets, giving the sweet that classic honeycomb texture.
How does honeycomb get its bubbles?
The alkaline bicarbonate of soda chemically reacts with the acidic sugar and immediately forms an abundance of carbon dioxide gas, which gets trapped in the molten mixture. When the honeycomb is tipped out of the pan, the bubbly toffee begins to set and solidify.
Do I need special equipment to make honeycomb?
- A sturdy large saucepan - the pan always has to be large even if making a small amount, because when the bicarbonate of soda is added, the mixture puffs up quickly, so the pan needs to be big enough to allow this to happen safely without it overflowing.
- A wooden spoon - wooden spoons are the safest thing to stir hot sugar syrups with because they don’t conduct heat.
- A balloon whisk - whisks help to quickly mix in the bicarbonate of soda without destroying the bubbles.
- A roasting tin or cake tin lined with baking parchment - have this prepped before you start making the toffee so it’s ready.
- A sugar thermometer - this will help you cook the mixture to just the right temperature.
How to prepare a tin for cinder toffee
The most foolproof method for preparing a tin for making honeycomb is to line the base and sides with one sheet of non-stick baking parchment - if you’re unsure, follow our guide to lining any square or rectangular tin using this method .
You can also oil the tin using a flavourless oil such as sunflower or vegetable oil, but this is less foolproof as it can stick to any part of the pan that isn’t greased as well.
Do you have to add honey to honeycomb toffee?
Honeycomb toffee can be made using clear honey instead of golden syrup - it gives it a slightly more complex flavour.
What temperature do I need to cook honeycomb to?
Cook the sugar syrup mixture to 149°C - sometimes referred to as ‘hard crack’ stage on a sugar thermometer. This means the honeycomb will have a crisp, brittle texture.
Honeycomb toffee can be made without a sugar thermometer, but it won’t be foolproof - simply cook the mixture until you can see it turning a deep golden colour - this should ensure it’s been cooked sufficiently.
Should I stir honeycomb?
When making anything that involves a sugar syrup, you should first allow the sugar to dissolve over a low heat, stirring frequently, but not letting the mixture boil. If crystals of sugar remain in the pan when the temperature increases, you can end up with crystallized lumps that cannot be saved.
Once the sugar has dissolved completely, turn the heat up and don’t stir the mixture. This will prevent it from crystallizing too. If any parts of the mixture are browning unevenly, you can swirl the pan to gently mix them in.
How do I stop honeycomb from burning?
When cooking honeycomb, you must not leave the pan unattended. Stay and keep an eye on it at all times. If you are using a sugar thermometer, you should be able to heat the mixture to the correct temperature so it doesn’t burn. If you’re not using a sugar thermometer, swirl the pan to mix in any darker patches, and take the pan off the heat the moment the mixture begins to look uniformly golden.
When should I add the bicarbonate of soda?
The bicarb or baking soda should be added once the mixture has reached 149°C/hard crack stage.
How long should I whisk the bicarbonate of soda into the honeycomb for?
You need to whisk the baking soda in until you can’t see any traces of it, but you don’t want to whisk for so long that you knock out all the carbon dioxide, or that the chemical reaction happens and you miss it. Pre-sift the bicarb into a small bowl first to remove any lumps.
How do you make flavoured honeycomb?
It’s best to add flavourings with the bicarbonate of soda - added too early, they may burn during cooking. For ginger honeycomb, try adding 1-2tsp of sifted ground ginger to the honeycomb with the bicarbonate of soda.
How do you set honeycomb?
Honeycomb will start to set quickly, so although you need to work speedily, it’s important to make sure that you do it carefully too as the mixture will be very hot. The timing for tipping honeycomb into the tin to set is crucial for the right texture. If you take too long, it can mean a less bubbly result. Try to pour the mixture out in one go, and don’t take too long to scrape every last bit into the tin. Once the mixture is in the tin, do not bump it, touch the surface or try and spread the mixture to level it out, as this will break the bubbles that are already beginning to set - just pour it in and leave it undisturbed. It will take a few hours to cool completely.
How do you break up honeycomb?
Depending on how thick honeycomb is, you can break it with your hands, or use a sharp knife to cut it.
Why is my honeycomb flat?
Honeycomb can be flat for a number of reasons. If the texture of your honeycomb has a good amount of large bubbles, but the overall thickness is flat, your tin was too large and the mixture spread out too much. Try using a smaller tin if you want your honeycomb to be deep - loaf tins work well.
If your honeycomb is lacking bubbles, this could be because you either didn’t add enough bicarbonate of soda, added too much bicarbonate of soda and the mixture collapsed, or you over-whisked it, or because you waited too long to tip it into the tin or - and this is the most common - because you bumped the tin or tried to spread it after you’d poured it out.
Why is my honeycomb bitter?
If you cook the mixture for too long, the sugars will start to burn and make the honeycomb bitter.
Why has my honeycomb stuck to the pan or paper?
If your honeycomb has stuck to the paper, chances are you used greaseproof instead of baking parchment. Greaseproof paper doesn’t have the same non-stick properties. You should still be able to break the honeycomb away from the paper, but you’ll sacrifice the side that’s stuck.
If using an oiled tin, it may be that there were sections that weren’t oiled as well as they could be. Again, you can carefully chip at the honeycomb just next to where it’s stuck and remove it, but the bit that’s adhered to the pan will most likely stay stuck.
Why is my honeycomb chewy?
Chewy honeycomb happens when the mixture hasn’t been cooked for long enough. This is most common when you don’t use a sugar thermometer. If you don’t heat the mixture to 149°C the sugar won’t achieve the brittleness required for that crumbly, crunchy texture.
What’s the best way to store honeycomb?
The best way to store honeycomb is in an airtight container. Make sure the container is completely dry. You can add some pasta or rice to the container to help absorb moisture and keep the honeycomb from going sticky. It will keep for up to a week.
Why has the honeycomb turned soggy?
The sugar in the honeycomb attracts and absorbs moisture from the air, which turns the honeycomb soft and sticky. Try adding pasta or rice to the container, or cover the honeycomb in chocolate.
How do you dip honeycomb in chocolate?
Most shop-bough honeycomb is covered in chocolate to prevent moisture from getting to the honeycomb and making it sticky. If you want to make honeycomb as a gift, coating it in chocolate will give it a longer shelf-life.
To cover honeycomb in chocolate, line a baking tray with parchment and follow the cheat’s guide on how to temper chocolate, then dip the honeycomb in the melted chocolate, using two forks to cover it completely. Allow the excess melted chocolate to drip back into the bowl, then put on the lined baking tray and allow to set at room temperature.
Honeycomb, cinder toffee whatever you call it, there's no denying it's really tasty. And while making your own caramel can be tricky - requiring attention and some TLC - the resulting deliciousness is so very worth it.
Honeycomb recipe
Ingredients for making honeycomb
- 150g (5oz) caster sugar
- 150g (5oz) golden syrup
- 1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Vegetable oil to grease
How to make honeycomb
- Into a large pan, put the sugar and golden syrup. Heat gently and stir until sugar has dissolved.
- Turn up heat and boil rapidly, without stirring. Keep boiling until mixture turns a dark golden colour, this will take about 5min.
- Add bicarbonate of soda and stir rapidly for a few sec, which will make mixture instantly froth up.
- Tip honeycomb into a deep-sided, oiled 20.5cm (8in) square cake tin. Gently tip tin to help honeycomb fill sides and leave until cooled and set.
- Once cooled, break into pieces.
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