Ever wondered how to make honeycomb? Well, wonder no more – this quick and easy recipe for homemade honeycomb candy requires only 4 ingredients and 10 minutes! This delicious candy is gluten, dairy, egg, soy and nut free, and the recipe also has a vegan option.
This one will be short and sweet. Very sweet, as it happens – because this post is all about how to make honeycomb. Sometimes also called honeycomb toffee or hokey-pokey (try saying that three times and see if you don’t end up smiling like a crazy person), it’s a crispy candy that’s all bubbles and caramelised sugar and crunch and just… fun.
You can have it on its own as a sweet treat or dipped in chocolate if you’re feeling extra indulgent – and it makes a wonderful homemade gift. With its warm golden colour, shiny surface and crazy bubble patterns, it’s perfect for decorating cakes and cupcakes, elevating them from “pretty” all the way to “super-elegant-and-impressive-and-everyone-is-totally-jealous-of-your-baking-skills”.
When you think about how to make honeycomb, you might expect the process to be highly complicated and several-hours-long. Nope, not at all. A few minutes, 4 ingredients and you’re all set. Even if you’re a total baking beginner and you don’t know your macarons from your macaroons (to be fair, I still get them confused every now and then), you can totally do this – with all the flair and elegance of a Michelin star chef. Bonus points if you can get a minion to shout “Oui Chef!” at you every five minutes.
P.S. I was good and measured the ingredients both in cups and in grams. Enjoy it while it lasts.
HOMEMEADE HONEYCOMB CANDY
Ingredients
- 1/2 tbsp (4 g) bicarbonate of soda (a.k.a. baking soda)
- 5/8 cups (130 g) caster sugar
- 1/4 cup (75 g) honey or golden syrup for vegan version
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Line a baking tray with greaseproof/baking paper.
- Sift the bicarbonate of soda.
- In a large pot, heat the sugar, honey (or golden syrup) and salt until the mixture reaches 295 ºF (145 ºC), stirring it with a spatula to ensure even caramelisation. The mixture will turn a deep golden colour.
- Turn off the heat and immediately mix in the bicarbonate of soda. The mixture will bubble/foam quite a bit. Continue stirring the mixture until the bicarbonate of soda is completely dissolved.
- Pour the honeycomb mixture onto the prepared baking tray.
- Allow the honeycomb to cool completely before breaking it up and storing it in an airtight container.
- The honeycomb keeps well in a cool dry place for about a week, but it tends to absorb moisture from air, so it may lose some of its crispness and turn a bit sticky. (A wonderful excuse to "make it disappear"...)
Looking for more baking how to’s?
Check out how to make aluminium-free homemade baking powder!