How to Make Homemade Honeycomb, Recipe and Tips

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Honeycomb is easy to make at home, but the reaction is fast. Expect the hot sugar syrup mixture to expand four or five times or more. You need to be prepared for this and be careful. The honeycomb texture is caused by millions of carbon dioxide bubbles that get trapped an suspended in a hot sugary syrup as it cools. The carbon dioxide is released from baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) when it is mixed into a hot sugar syrup. It is the same chemical process that occurs when dough containing baking powder is baked in the oven. But in that case the reaction is slower and the bubbles are formed in the dough, rising the bread as it is cooked.

The suspended (frozen) bubbles in in the honeycomb candy make it light and create its appearance and crunchy characteristics. It is delicious coated with chocolate and can be added to a large variety of desserts.

Basic Honeycomb Recipe

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil for oiling the baking tray
3oz (80g) butter
6oz (170g) caster sugar
3oz (80g) golden syrup or light corn syrup
2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Method

Grease a 8 inch (20cm) square baking tin of moderate depth with the vegetable oil.
Gently heat the butter, golden syrup and sugar in a large, deep heavy-based pan until all the sugar has completely dissolved.
Increase the heat and boil the mixture rapidly, with no stirring. (Do this carefully as it will burn badly if it spills on you)
If the mixture begins to darken on one side, then gently swirl the pan to mix it, but do not stir. Once again be very careful. Keep boiling for about 5 minutes, until the mixture goes an even golden-brown colour. Remove the pot from the heat.
Make sure the bicarbonate of soda is free-flowing (sieve out any lumps). Add the bicarbonate of soda to the hot mixture and quickly stir it for a few seconds. The mixture will expand, slowly at first and then with a rush and may fizz. Take care as the mixture may expand 4 or 5 times the original volume - like a volcano. Always do this in a large deep baking tray to catch any overflow. This is especially important the first few time you make honeycomb until you get used to the amount of expansion and the size of pots to cope with it. Pour the honeycomb mixture into the oiled baking tin and let the mixture cool and set.
When set cut the honeycomb into pieces. You can stir it into ice creams, use it to decorate various desserts and puddings.

Honeycomb cannot be left in the air for long, as it draws moisture from the air and will become a soggy soft mess. To stop this store the pieces in plastic bags in airtight containers.

Covering the honeycomb with in chocolate helps to keep it crisp.

You can control the thickness of the honeycomb by choosing various pan sizes according to your preference.

Below is second recipe made with honey and coasted with chocolate.

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