This tutorial has been a loooooong time coming. Since I published my banoffee pie recipe, I’ve had readers and friends asking me to make a honeycomb tutorial. I wasn’t ready because the honeycomb recipe I had then was from my notebook when I was an apprentice and I haven’t really experimented on how to get the best result, I just kept using this recipe and it worked for me, but I learnt it doesn’t always work for everyone, so today I made 4 batches of honeycomb and tweaked each one to see which one would give me the best result. Now I’m ready to share with you a Mrs.Fancypants approved recipe with matching photos and videos.

Test 1: This was my original scribbled recipe from the stone ages. LOL. I used 100g white sugar, 80g golden syrup and 8g bi-carb soda. I brought the sugar and golden syrup to the boil on medium heat and left it for 3 minutes then whisked in the bi-carb soda. I never really had a problem with this recipe, except that it was sickly sweet and has the after taste of bi-carb soda. The other thing wrong was, some readers just couldn’t get the right result and it’s frustrating for them (and me!). I knew this was because there were too many variables and there was no temperature specified for the caramel. I needed a recipe that was accurate so there’s less chance for failure.

Test 1

Test 2: So then came test 2. This is the same ratio as above, however, I pulled out my handy-dandy candy thermometer and heated my sugar to 150C (aka hard crack) then instead of whisking, I stirred the bi-carb soda using a wooden spoon. The sugar took 8 minutes from when I turned my stove on, to reach 150C. So in case you don’t have a thermometer, you can use a timer as a guide. This was great because it wasn’t sticky at all and it was super crunchy. However, I still found it sickly sweet. That’s where test 3 comes in.

Test 2

Test 3: I thought maybe use glucose instead of golden syrup. Glucose has very mild sweetness while golden syrup is 25% sweeter than sugar, I was just concerned about the colour. I was tempted to do half and half glucose and golden syrup, but I thought, if I wasn’t a chef, would I have golden syrup and glucose in my pantry at the same time, all the time? NO. So I stuck with glucose. It just didn’t turn out great, that’s all I could say. LOL. The result was pale and thin, more like a light caramel shard than honeycomb. So that’s that, back to the drawing board.

Test 3

Test 4: Since I haven’t addressed the sickly sweet problem, I then thought back to golden syrup but half the amount then make up the other half with water. Same as before, on medium heat, bring the mix to 150C. This time it took 10 minutes. Again, in case you don’t have a candy thermometer, that’s your guideline, as well as the visual in the video. And if you watch and listen, you’ll see what I mean.

Test 4

After all the experimentation and multiple tooth brushing to get rid of the sugar on my teeth, I’m happy to report that both test 2 & 4 gave me good results. Both were crunchy, aerated and golden. But I have to pick a winner, and I choose test 4 because it’s less sticky on top and easier to handle plus it sorted out the sickly sweetness that I didn’t like from test 2.

  • I made 4 batches of honeycomb today!
  • A candy thermometer will help you accurately make honeycomb and other sugar recipes.

I also want to point out that both 2 & 4 didn’t have an after taste because the sugar is cooked to 150C the bi-carb soda dissolves in the mix easily, which is great. Test 1 has a bi-carb soda after taste and that used to bother me, but now with my tried and tested updated recipe, my honeycomb is exactly how I want it. I strongly recommend to get a candy thermometer, they come as cheap as $6 and totally worth skipping 2 coffees for.

I made a video to serve as a visual guide. In baking and cooking, I like to get to know the process. I didn’t have time to do this in a commercial kitchen, because of course, I needed to be super quick, but when I can, I look for signs when I cook that when the food tells me it’s ready. Like when the bubbles slow down or they change size, small things like this. So please watch the video, you might pick up something new!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJs0IkqB0QB/

So there you have it, now that you know how to make honeycomb, give my Banoffee Pie a go! I hope you learned something today, and please comment below for any questions and tag me on social media if you try this at home. Be careful in handling hot sugar, but more importantly have fun while cooking!

 
Difficulty: Medium

Failproof Honeycomb

Makes 2 cups

Ingredients

Instructions

0/6 Instructions
  • You will need a candy thermometer, a wooden spoon for mixing and a medium rectangular baking pan. Make sure everything you need is ready before starting the recipe.
  • Line a medium rectangular baking pan with parchment paper then grease lightly.
  • In a small sauce pot stir golden syrup, water and sugar together then put on a medium flame.
  • Leave the mixture on medium heat and bring it to the boil then clip on a candy thermometer, cook until candy thermometer registers 150C, about 10 minutes from when you put the sugar on the heat.
  • Turn off the heat then sprinkle bi-carb soda and use a wooden spoon incorporate the bi-carb into the mix. This will make your honeycomb bubble. Do not over mix or you will not get aeration on your honeycomb.
  • Turn over onto your prepared baking pan and let set for a few hours then you can snap or cut it into small pieces.

Yesterday, my high school classmates and our families, had a picnic at Centennial Park. Getting set-up and finding a spot was a tad challenging, but we got there in the end! It was nice to be able to catch up with friends after the lockdown restrictions have eased. More than that, it was great to be at the park where we weren’t rushed to vacate the table for the next booking, or limited by set menus, or are anxious that the other table is too close to ours. We had space, time and unlimited menu selection.

I brought a creamy chicken & macaroni salad and banoffee. The banoffee was demolished, and I received plenty of compliments and questions, and of course, recipe requests. So I thought, yeah, it passed the test! The husbands loved it, the kids loved it, the ladies loved it, so I might as well make a post about it here and find out if you would love it too!

This was a half recipe for a smaller banoffee, but normally you go all the way up the sides.

Banoffee, as far as I know, is an English dessert. The base is a biscuit base with fresh bananas & dulce de leche topped with whipped cream. Sounds uncomplicated right? Mrs.Fancypants version, the one that was demolished at the picnic, is similar. My banoffee is no-bake and I make it in a 9 inch springform not a pie plate. The crust is made from biscuit crumbs and can be chocolate or plain. I’ve tried both and I like it either way. I made the plain crust more interesting by using brown butter instead of normal melted butter. The filling is dulce de leche, whole fresh bananas and stabilised Chantilly cream. Stabilised Chantilly cream is basically whipped cream with vanilla, icing sugar and gelatine. It holds it shape for days, and holds up against the mound of honeycomb that I pile on top. Yes, I top my banoffee with honeycomb and grated dark chocolate. Now do you understand why it was such a big hit?

Watch this video to find out what brown butter is and how to make it. Then you can move on to printing off the recipe and trying my version of banoffee. I would love to see how you went, so snap a photo, tag and use #mrsfancypants on Instagram.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeaURfNiAOc

UPDATE: I’ve now published a video on how to make honeycomb. Feel free to watch it below as well!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJs0IkqB0QB/

 
Difficulty: Easy

Mrs.Fancypants Banoffee

Makes 1 x 23cm springform tin

Ingredients

    For the crust: Option 1: Chocolate crust
    • Option 2: Digestive biscuits
    • For the filling:
    • For the topping:

Instructions

0/17 Instructions
    Dulce de leche:
  • Line the bottom of a medium pot with a small tea towel. Place the can of condensed milk in the pot on top of the tea towel, making sure the pot is tall enough so that you can fill it up and the water will be at least 2 inches above the top of the can. You can have more than one can, but you will only need one for this recipe. You can keep the rest for frosting cakes or using as spread. The tea towel will prevent the can(s) from making rattling noises while you cook your dulce de leche.
  • Bring the water to a boil then slow it down to a simmer and cover with a lid. Make sure that the water is only simmering, it has never happened to me, but the can might explode if the water evaporates rapidly.
  • Cook the dulce de leche for 2.5 hours then let it completely cool down in the pot. Set aside.
    • Pie crust:
  • While the dulce de leche is cooking, it’s time to make the crust. Crush Oreos or digestive biscuits until it resembles sand. Add the butter and mix with a spoon until it looks like wet sand.
  • Take a 23cm springform pan and grease lightly. Then start pressing the crumbs on the base and all the way up the sides of the springform. Put in the fridge or freezer to set.
    • Make the toppings:
  • Make sure you have everything ready before starting. Line a medium rectangular baking pan with parchment paper then grease lightly.
  • In a small sauce pot stir golden syrup, water and sugar together then put on a medium flame.
  • Leave the mixture on medium heat and bring it to the boil then clip on a candy thermometer, cook until candy thermometer registers 150C, about 10 minutes.
  • Take off the heat then sprinkle bi-carb soda and use a wooden spoon incorporate the bi-carb into the mix. This will make your honeycomb bubble. Do not over mix or you will not get aeration on your honeycomb.
  • Turn over onto your prepared baking pan and let set for a few hours then you can snap or cut it into small pieces.
    • Make the stabilised whipped cream:
  • Put the water in a small cup and sprinkle powdered gelatine on top. Let stand for 5 minutes to bloom, then blast for 5-10 seconds in the microwave until the mix is liquified.
  • Start whisking your cream then add the sugar 1 tbsp at a time. Add the vanilla then slowly pour the liquid gelatine mix in. Whisk to soft peaks or stiff peaks depending on your preference. Set aside.
    • Assemble:
  • Take the crust out of the fridge and line the bottom with the bananas. No need to slice the bananas, just keep them whole and trim them so they form 1 layer.
  • Cover the bananas with all of the dulce de leche.
  • Spoon the whipped cream to cover the dulce de leche and fill up you pie. Set in the fridge.
    • To serve:
  • Just before serving, take your pie out and decorate with the honeycomb. Once you put the honeycomb on the pie, you can’t put it back in the fridge.
  • Grate some dark chocolate to fill in the gaps on top. Now your banoffee pie is ready to be served.

Notes

  1. If you don’t feel like making dulce de leche, you can get a ready-made can of top & fill by Carnation from your local store.
  2. I use gelatine to stabilise the whipped cream and this means that you don’t have to worry about the cream collapsing or being too soft. This helps the cream keep its shape for up to 2 days and also hold well against the honeycomb piled on top. However, if you are serving the pie right away, you can skip the gelatine and water and just whip the cream and sugar to stiff peaks. This should hold for a few hours.
  3. Watch the video to find out what is brown butter.

Tags

#banoffee  #pie