Me and my sweet tooth! This time I’m offering up a killer sponge candy recipe that you can use for making your wedding favors! If you want to get really decadent, dip the sponge candy in chocolate. If you make this, please let me know how it turned out! I love to hear feedback from my readers.
BTW, in Canada we call it sponge toffee; in England it’s called cinder toffee; in Australia they call it honeycomb and in California it’s called sea foam. No matter what you call it, it’s yummy!
Please note: Although this is easy to make, it’s imperative to use an accurate candy thermometer. One of our batches was overdone because our cheapo candy thermometer wasn’t accurate. (We found this out after the fact by using the method for testing your candy thermomter found on this site.)
Sponge Candy Recipe and Tutorial (adapted from Christine Cushing’s Sponge Toffee Recipe)
Ingredients
Vegetable oil for greasing pan
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
6 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla
Liberally grease a 10-inch round spring form cake pan with vegetable oil. Trace the bottom of the pan on a piece of parchment paper. Line the bottom of the pan with the parchment paper circle. Line the sides of the pan with a parchment paper so that the parchment paper creates a collar that sits 1 to 2-inches above the pan. Liberally grease the parchment paper.
In a deep medium saucepan add sugar, corn syrup, water, and vanilla. Over medium-high heat bring the mixture to a boil (without stirring) and cook until hard crack stage, i.e. until temperature reads 300 degrees F. on a candy thermometer. This should take about 10 minutes. If sugar crystals form on the sides of the pan during the cooking process, brush the sides of the pan with a clean pastry brush dipped in water.
Remove from heat. Working quickly, add the baking soda and quickly blend to incorporate the soda into the sugar mixture, about 5 seconds. As you can see in the photo, the mixture will bubble up when you add the baking soda. Be very careful not to touch the hot mixture.
Immediately pour the hot toffee into the prepared pan.
Let cool and set completely before touching.
Cut into pieces. As you can see, it makes a huge mess. But the messy little crumbs can be saved for your ice cream!
You can stop right here and store the sponge candy in airtight containers until your wedding day (obviously, you’re not going to be making this stuff months ahead.) But if you are a chocolate fiend like me, you’ll take it one step further and grab that bag of semi-sweet Chipits in your fridge.
I melted my chocolate chips in the microwave. The key to microwaving chocolate is to do it slow. Very slow. Did I say slow? Otherwise you will muck it up badly like I did the first time. If you need some tips on melting chocolate chips in the microwave, go to this site.
The next time that I melt chocolate chips, I will try the stovetop method. For this method, you simply bring a saucepan of water to a simmer and place a stainless steel bowl over the saucepan, making sure that the water does not touch the bowl. Once the chocolate melts, just add more chips until they are all melted, then dip your sponge candy.
Once the chocolate is melted, simply dip the sponge candy into the chocolate. I tried using tongs, but it didn’t work for me so I used my fingers. Messy, messy, messy. After dipping, lay chocolates on parchment paper to harden. Store in airtight containers. If you are making these as wedding favors, simply pop into cello bags or tins. Your guests will be raving about your homemade chocolate sponge candy!
Obrigada !!!!!!
Adorei a receita e vou fazer essa maravilha .
Você tem a receita do bolo esponja ???
Bjs,Verônica
Thank you! I've been looking for a recipes for chocolate dipped honeycomb for ages! I'm in California and I've always seen it called honeycomb, but maybe I should have been searching for sea foam? Thanks again!
You're welcome Adrienne. Hope you have fun with it!
I'm so happy to have found your recipe. I just discovered sponge candy even though I've been living in Western NY for years. I'm really excited to make it! It looks fairly simple. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
Hey Christina,
Thanks for the recipe. I'm dutch so youre recipe has just travelt to the other side of the world.
I'm still waiting for the sponge to cool. I'm really excited to taste it.
How cool Sam. Hope you enjoyed it!
Whe loved them. I'm going to make them for my wedding as a gift.
after two failed attemps using other recipes, i'm so happy you included pictures and good descrptions for each step! I feel confident this time; 3rd's a charm right?
Thanks!
Thanks for your comment Rosie. Let me know how it turns out!
I'm so glad I found this! Chocolate dipped Seafoam candy is my favorite to purchase at the Rocky Mountain Candy Co. I'm giving this a trial run tomorrow. If it works for me (will altitude affect it, do you think?) then it will be the goodie I give to neighbors for Christmas this year.
In New Zealand it's called Hokey Pokey. One of our favourite candy bars is called the Crunchie bar, which is exactly this, just in a long bar form. Yum!
Thanks Christina -- I made this for the first time using your recipe, and it came out wonderfully. It's so dramatic, and looks like amazing rocks. The next time I will make sure the baking soda has no lumps before adding it, since it doesn't have time to dissolve. I will also make the parchment collar higher (3 inches above rim), since it spilled over. It made much more than I expected, which is good! This will make really special Christmas gifts. Thanks again.
Glad it turned out for you Priscilla. It is very dramatic and fun to make!
I've tried this 3 times and its burned everytime. I don't understand why this isn't working for me. I do not usually have a problem with baking or making candy. I was very disappointed... was really hoping to be able to make this for my sister-in-law for Christmas.
Hi Lynette. I'm so sorry to hear that! Did you use a candy thermometer? If so, maybe the temp is off?
Thank you for the great tutorial! Any hints on how to clean the pot? I had a wee bit of trouble the las time I made some. Thank goodness the lovely sweets made things a little better...
Hi Mags... I think I just threw mine into the sink right away and let it soak for a long time.
It sounds great and looks delicious!
Unfortunately, in Europe, it's very difficult to get corn syrup or golden syrup, well, I guess this cannot be substituted, can it?
Little late but to clean the pan fill it with water and bring the water to a boil until the toffee dissolves
I wonder if I would be the only family member to like it.... and that would be dangerous to my waistline! I enjoyed how you walked through the recipe. Thanks for sharing :)
I am so happy that I found this recipe. Crunchie's are my favourite kind of sweets and now I can make them (In rock form)!! Oh and P.S. In England we call it Honeycomb :) Thank you so much for sharing the recipe! Very appreciative.
My son in law used to buy this chocolate covered sponge candy at a local chocolate factory in Nevada. I made your recipe this afternoon. Used a 10 inch springform pan. Followed your recipe to the letter; poured it into the parchment lined pan - my paper color was easily 5 inches taller than the tooltip of the pan. The sponge grew as soon as it went in!! Came out phenomenally !! This candy will be made in my kitchen for family and friends for life!! Oh the irony is that the store sells sponge candy chunks my son in law bought sells it for EIGHT DOLLARS A POUND!! Yikes! Thanks again!!
That's great Sheilagh! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out!
Sooooo, I did burn it, but when I added the baking soda, I blended it for not even 1 second and it immediately overflowed all over the place! Is it because I cooked it for too long? I only used 2 tbsp.
Sorry to hear you had trouble wit hit Domovorto. Like all candy, it's finicky. I hope you don't give up.
Hello,
I tried your recipe a second time today. Even though I tried to adjust the temperature, my thermometer was still way off and I burned the first attempt. Because I was worried about having it burn a second time, I think I may have taken it off the heat a little too soon and it didn't foam up as much as the first time. However, unlike the first time, it has yet to sink. Fun little side note, I was able to colour it! My sponge is now a lovely shade of green. Quick question, how long will this keep? I need it to last about a week. Although I suppose I could always just make more :)
Grew up eating this my whole childhood in Wisconsin. It was called Angel Food Candy and could only be found at Christmas time. No where to get it here in Georgia so my sister sends me several bags each year. Now I'll be able to try this out and make my own. Thanks a bunch.
I tried this receipe to the tee and ended up burning a pan and the place was so smokey that i had to open windows and doors. Someone tell me what I did wrong because everything was followed as it was said in the receipe. Hmmm. So looking forward to having sponge candy and all I got was smoke and a mess.
Sorry to hear that Jamie. Candymaking is quite a science! Hope you don't give up!
For burners: turn down your heat. I have a gas stove and I set it to 6 (med). 7 was just too high for me I burned two batches and the second burned right at the very end of cooking and only alittle so as to ruin the flavor. Turning it down took about 16 min to cook it but no burn! It looks beautiful and smells good! Also soaking my pan cleaned it up just fine even after my first pretty burned batch. Also I used a thick bottom pot
I have a gas stove and in order to get candy to 300 ° it ends up burning. What can i doto make this right?
There is also a recipe on how to make this in the microwave. It is similar to the way they make peanut brittle but without the peanuts. :) The microwave version literally takes like 5 minutes and is SUPER EASY.
1 cup sugar
1cup dark karo syrup
1 tablespoon of vinegar
Mixed cooked same way then add
1 tablespoon of baking soda
And mix the same way!
Just another Recipe!
When I lived in Buffalo Ny. My friend and I use to get this candy all the time. I have not been able to find this candy since I left Buffalo over 20 years ago. I am looking forward to making Sponge Candy. Good memories, Good times. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
I tried this recipe, it tastes good, but it sticks to my teeth. I used a candy thermometer, took it to 300. It took about 20 minutes. Maybe it cooked to long? It is not light and fluffy its hard and kinda rough on the teeth.
I have loved this candy since I was a small child and can't ever find it anywhere to purchase. So just now I attempted to make it. Mine isn't as airy as it should be and also tastes on the borderline of being burned. As I emptied it into the parchment lined pan the bottom of my kettle showed signs of it beginning to burn. However, I had to leave it on the heat until it reached 300 degrees. If I take it off at a lower temp to avoid the burning will it still work?
Hi Deb.. Candy making is always finicky. Our first batch was overdone too.
In my Freshman year in college, my suitemate from Chicago had this candy shipped to her from her parents. I have looked for the recipe - not knowing what to call it - for 45 years. Now I have it! Thanks.
When I made this yeArs ago it had instAnt coffee in it. Can't find recipe I used.
It might be a good idea to check your baking soda and make sure it is still good.. monoamine is out dated so tomorrow it's off to buy a new can.
I have been buying this sponge candy from Canelake's in Virginia Minnesota ever since I was a little girl (I'm 73)It's not cheap but look forward to it every year when I head North from TX. They have a website and mail their candy. Maybe not in the summer though, not sure. Their's is chocolate coated.
Hi!! I make sponge candy all the time as it's a must have in buffalo ny but I have a little diff recipe but I think it's important to mention that this candy is very fussy !! If u make it when it's hot or humid out it will be terrible the whole middle turns soft an yucky!! So I wod make an thefridge or make wen it's Cooler an no humidity
I just finished making these and what a wonderful recipe! Thank you! Christina!
A couple of tips if anyone may be interested : When I added the ingredients I layered them "completely" over each other instead of just putting them in on top of each other. Temperature is key! I boiled mine between medium & medium high on my flat top stove. It took about a good 20 minutes, watching the thermometer closely so it reached the hard crack (300 degree) stage. Patience is a must when making a candy. I wish I would have mixed the boiled mixture together a couple of turns before I added the baking soda. Because it sets up so fast the baking soda wasn't completely incorporated but nonetheless it came out perfect! Dipped in dark & milk chocolates.
This is my first attempt to try making sponge candy. It is my hubby's favorite and I want to surprise him for Valentines Day. My batch looks just like the picture, except when cooled, it is soft. I wonder if I didn't cook it long enough. The thermometer read 300, and I am uncertain if I should have let it cook for 10 minutes at 300. I will give it another try!
Mine came out soft. What went wrong?
Have always made, what the Midwest calls "fairy food", with a more complicated recipe. I can hardly wait to try yours. I always mix the crumbs into the left over (what left over?) dipping chocolate. Makes tasty butter finger drops!!!
my sponge candy came out chewy
I just want to say Ive tried a lot of seafoam candy recipes and usually failed but this one is amazing and perfect! Its actually better than the candy I have bought at chocolate shops. I live in Utah and one tip I would like to give on candy making since I live in high elevation is you need to always boil water with your thermometer placed inside, at sea level water boils at 212, in Utah it boils at 204, that's an 8 degree difference so I always take 8 degrees of a candy recipe. So for 300 degrees I take the candy off at 292. Just a tip!
We actually call this Honeycomb the UK (never, ever heard of Cinder toffee). We have a candy bar called Crunchie - chocolate covered honeycomb.
With 2 tablespoons of baking soda added, do you get that metallic taste you get at times when there's too much baking soda in a recipe? You said your recipe is adapted from Christine Cushing. I saw her recipe which is close to Canadian Living's recipe, except Can. Liv. calls for 1 1/2 tablespoons of baking soda.
Hi Khandi, we have never noticed a metallic tastes. It's delish!
This turned out amazing. Although I did dip in almond bark instead of chocolate chips. Just easier and worked great. Was wondering if you could pour this out on a cookie sheet instead? Anyone tried this?
I have been making Fairy Food for years for a Christmas candy. I use an old family recipe from my Mom, who always called this candy Fairy Food. (She was born and raised on a farm in Wisconsin.)
It tastes good, and is especially delicious when dipped in chocolate, but I was always disappointed because it never "fluffed up" very much.
I just made your recipe and am amazed at how much yours "fluffed up"!! It is much more airy than the recipe I have been using.
Thank you, Christina! Sorry, Mom, but I'm going to be using Christina's recipe from now on. -But I'll still call it Fairy Food :)
So glad you had luck with this recipe, Barb!!
I am from Buffalo, NY and Sponge Candy is the best kept secret of our area. When you buy this candy in our area it is very expensive. I am going to try to make it. It will probably not going to be like the store bought, but it will be a challenge.
First attempt it looked good but some pieces got real chewy at the end and tasted as if they were cooked too long (hint of a burnt taste)? I'll check the thermometer, but if Rd hiring your teeth when you eat it, is this from over- or under-cooking the mixture??