Honeycomb (also known as Cinder Toffee) is one of those quintessential British candies which has made its mark everywhere but the U.S. Here in Australia, people tend to either love them or hate them, and those in the “love it” camp have their favourite brand. Violet Crumble is perhaps the most well-known of the commercial honeycombs available.
Every time I’ve offered to bring someone a sweet treat from from Down Under, it’s either the Violet Crumble or the Crunchie they beg for. Honeycomb is essentially basic toffee which has baking soda added to it. The baking soda and molten sugar react, creating a volcanic eruption of sugary golden edible styrofoam. You can eat it as is, but dipping the irregular chunks into chocolate is delicious. You can also smash it up and mix it into cookies, top cupcakes with it, stir it through ice cream and sprinkle it on top of a chocolate cake for a whole new eating experience.
Here is a (mostly) foolproof recipe if you want to try your hand at making some. Be warned that this stuff is addictive, so best to make one batch at a time!
Chocolate Covered Honeycomb Recipe
(recipe originally appeared in The Age, Oct 2003)
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 Tablespoons corn syrup (or golden syrup)
- 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) sifted into 1 tablespoon of water
- Dark chocolate/chocolate bark, for melting
Line a rectangular Pyrex dish (or similar) with baking paper, ensuring the paper comes up a few inches over the edges of the dish.
Use a pot bigger than you think you need. Over medium heat, melt the sugar and syrup in a pan for about 5 minutes, stirring gently. Increase the heat to boiling as the mixture becomes more liquid and the sugar dissolves. Once the entire surface is boiling gently, cook without stirring for about 10 minutes until you achieve a golden brown colour. Quickly sprinkle the dissolved bicarbonate of soda over as wide an area as possible and stir through as quickly but gently as you can - be sure to take only a few seconds, or you’ll lose the volume. Don’t worry if tiny specks of baking soda remain - it won’t really affect the final product. The mixture will froth up in a volcanic-like eruption and the trick is to combine the bicarb while bursting the bubbles as little as possible.
Pour into your dish and leave to harden.
One hardened break into large pieces and dip carefully into melted dark chocolate. Using a fork, tap the edge of the block so that excess chocolate runs off and into the bowl. Place onto a clean sheet of baking paper to harden. When done, store in an air tight container - do not place in fridge or near moisture as it will weep and melt into an mess.
Enjoy!
This is an extremely popular treat in Buffalo, NY - we call it sponge candy. We do a version with orange chocolate too - I never took to it though - tastes like baby aspirin.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:01 amBack home we call this Sea Foam.
I’ll have to try it.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:22 amIn PA & Ohio it’s called sponge candy too - I freakin LOVE that stuff!!!!!!!!!!!
April 21st, 2008 at 1:35 pmThough I’m always loathe to choose a favorite anything, much less candy, I have to admit that chocolate-covered honeycomb candy might be my #1 choice. It’s the flavor AND texture together that really get me. Sigh. Even looking at this picture makes me salivate. Thank god I can get all the Violet Crumbles and Crunchies I want right here in good ol’ Tucson, Arizona! Or, I can make this…or beg someone to make it FOR me!
April 21st, 2008 at 9:19 pmNOBODY…NOBODY…..MAKES BETTER CHOCOLATE HONEYCOMB THAN LAYMON CANDY NIN SAN BERNARDINO CALIFORNIA—BOTH MILK AND DARK…..NOTHING BETTER
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:31 amLOL, I stand corrected! Seems like honeycomb *is* available state-side, just more as a regional treat rather than a commonly-available supermarket treat. One wonders why some of these companies haven’t taken their treats to the big time…
MichelleG
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:23 amAhhh, thanks for the memories! When I lived in Australia, I absolutely loved that stuff for about five days and then got totally sick of it
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:29 amoh my gosh you are awesome! ever since we visited london i’ve been obsessed with crunchies! yay! when i get brave enough i’ll give this a go.
April 23rd, 2008 at 3:17 pmI tried Violet Crumble once and I thought it was really filthy. I’m a freak for all things sugar but this was just too much for me.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:04 amBissenger’s Candy in St. Louis does a variation on this called ‘Molasses Puff’, and I’m seriously addicted to the stuff. The molasses-candy flavor goes nicely with the chocolate, especially the dark chocolate version. (They make it with milk chocolate, too.) I like it better than the plain honeycomb flavor. It’s worth hunting down and trying.
April 26th, 2008 at 10:22 pmI tried a violet crumble once here in the US.
My reaction was “Tastes like a block of butter dipped in chocolate” Nasty nasty stuff.. far too rich and this is from somone who, as a kid, would put white sugar in milk..
May 8th, 2008 at 3:06 pm