Chocolate Honeycomb Candy - House of Nash Eats (2024)

This homemade honeycomb candy recipe results in a sweet confection crafted from airy, caramelized sugar and baking soda that is sure to delight and impress friends and coworkers! The delightful crunch of honeycomb candy with its crisp texture and irresistible sweetness in every bite is made even better by dipping it in chocolate.

Homemade Honeycomb Candy Recipe

Craving honeycomb candy but finding it hard to come by in the states? This hugely popular candy that is known by many names is easy to make at home as long as you have acandy thermometer(affiliate link)! I’m sharing my best tips and tricks for making homemade honeycomb that is even better than a Violet Crumble or Crunchie bar!

What is Honeycomb Candy?

This honeycomb recipe goes by many names: seafoam, hokey pokey, cinder toffee, and sponge toffee are all other common names for honeycomb, which is a crunchy candy that is between caramel and toffee in terms of flavor and like an aerated toffee or brittle. It also just happens to be gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free.

Honeycomb candy gets its name (I think) from the unique texture created by stirring baking soda (not baking powder!) into a molten sugar and corn syrup mixture once it reaches the hard crack stage. It bubbles up and foams quickly, then maintains the airy structure as it cools into a brittle bar that can be broken and shattered into a million crunchy bits or bigger chunks.

It is really best when fresh as it starts to get sticky after a day or two, even in an airtight container. Although if you coat it in chocolate, it will last a bit longer. And the bonus is that the burnt toffee flavor (but not in a bad way at all) goes so well with chocolate!

Honeycomb Recipe ingredients

• Sugar: Like basically every candy recipe I know of, you start out with sugar. Granulated sugar is most typical of all the honeycomb recipes I looked at, although I think you could get away with brown sugar as well.
• Corn syrup: Another classic element in candy making. This gives sweetness and helps avoid crystallization of the sugar granules.
• Honey: You could omit the honey and just replace it with additional corn syrup, but I just felt like if you call something honeycomb, it might as well have a little bit of a honey flavor to it. I haven’t tried completely replacing the corn syrup with all honey, but it might be possible. In England, I believe they use golden syrup, but since that’s an ingredient that isn’t easily accessible here, I just use honey instead.
• Water: This will cook off as the candy mixture comes up to temperature. Candy making is all about science!
• Baking soda: This one is super important. If you don’t use it, the honeycomb won’t foam up and create the beautiful structure that gives it it’s signature texture, look, and name. Be sure yours is fresh.

How to make Honeycomb Candy

1. Prep everything! This is really, really crucial to this recipe since everything happens fast once the sugar mixture comes up to temperature. Measure out the baking soda in advance and prep a surface or 9×9-inch pan by lining it with parchment paper if you want thicker honeycomb. You could pour the honeycomb straight onto parchment paper on a baking sheet and it will spread out more, giving you thinner pieces of honeycomb. Either way is fine, but I wanted big, thick pieces of honeycomb so I opted for the square pan which held it in more.
2. Heat sugar, corn syrup, honey, and water in a large saucepan. You want your pan to be on the larger side than it looks like you need from the ingredients, because when you stir in that baking soda in a bit, things are going to get crazy as the honeycomb foams up. Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat, then cook until it reaches 300 degrees F on a candy thermometer (affiliate link).
3. Stir in baking soda. Working quickly, as soon as the thermometer indicates the liquid sugar mixture is at 300 degrees F (the hard crack stage), remove from the heat and quickly add the baking soda, stirring right away. The honeycomb will foam up and almost triple in size, turning a beautiful golden brown color. Immediately pour the mixture into your prepared pan or onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Be super careful because it is hot, hot, hot!
4. Let it cool. It will take about one hour for the honeycomb to set up. After that, you can break it into pieces or cut it into chunks with a sharp, large knife.

5. Dip pieces in chocolate. This step is optional but honeycomb is so good covered in chocolate! Just melt chopped semisweet, dark, or milk chocolate on short bursts in the microwave, then dip each piece of honeycomb in the melted chocolate, setting aside on wire racks, parchment paper, or a silpat mat to set. You can dip entire pieces so they are fully enrobed in chocolate, or just parts of pieces to show off the honeycomb structure inside. You can even sprinkle the chocolate with flaky sea salt if you love salted chocolate and caramel.

How to store Chocolate Covered Honeycomb

This can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container. Ensure the chocolate coating has completely set before storing. This usually takes around 1-2 hours at room temperature or a shorter time in the refrigerator. Place the chocolate-covered honeycomb pieces in a container that seals tightly. This helps prevent exposure to air and moisture, which can cause the candy to become sticky or lose its crispness. If you have multiple layers of candy, consider placing parchment paper or wax paper between the layers to prevent them from sticking together.

Chocolate Honeycomb Candy FAQs

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