Sugar. Hokey Pokey. Ginger Honeycomb Tiffin.

Southwest 4 or 5, becoming northeast 5 or 6.

Slight, occasionally moderate.

Showers at first.

Moderate or poor, becoming good.

I am not a “sweet” person. The only thing which gets me occasionally excited is anything to do with dark chocolate. Very dark chocolate. Not milk chocolate, not white chocolate, happiness starts at 70% cocoa. Preferable with a spicy kick.

Yesterday I clicked through the pictures of the Guardian Food Photography competition (don’t click that link if you are hungry or peckish, it will be then torture), and one caption made me sit up straight: Honeycomb & ginger chocolate tiffin .

Remember it`s about photos, so no recipes. So I went exploring in the WWW.

Honeycomb/Hokey Pokey/Cinder Toffee/ Sea Foam/Sponge Toffee/Dentist`s second home..you can call it anyway you like. 3 ingredients. The stages of sugar melting. And the changes if you add one more ingredient.

But lets start first about the stages of sugar melting. You have either a sugar thermometer (then pour yourself a drink while I keep on chatting), or you need to learn to work with a mug full of cold water. Melted sugar goes through various stages with increased heat. From the soft thread via the various ball stages, moving to the crack stages and arriving at the caramel. Normally sugar recipes will tell you at which start you need to add the other ingredients, e.g. once the sugar reaches soft ball stage, start adding it slowly to the egg white mixture, beating constantly (for nougat). For this recipe we need the hard glaze stage. You can either practise the stages while you go along: putting a spoon into the melted sugar, take a tiny bit out, let it drop into the cold water, lift it out and form it. Here is an explanation what you can expect. Or you can wait about 3 minutes after it has melted and start from there.

This recipe is particular easy for beginners, since it has already one part melted sugar and I add a small amout of water. The water will of course evaporate and it takes a bit longer, but it gives you a few seconds more between the hard crack stage and the caramel stage- which you want to avoid if possible.

Hokey Pokey however is more than melted sugar. The addition of Bicarbonate of Soda releases carbon dioxide gas. The gas causes the melted sugar to froth and bubble. It will also get paler. Since you have (hopefully) removed it from the heat, it cools down quickly and the bubbles are “trapped” in the cooling sugar. Here is a lovely photo from another blog of what you can expect if you make a very big batch.

However you are cooking for one, so the effect might look somehow disappointing. But it is the same. Just smaller pieces with finer bubbles. Here is what you will probably achieve.

A tiffin is a no bake cake. Once you made the honeycomb, you just need to heat a few ingredients, mix it all together and fill it into a form. Cool for an hour, top with more melted chocolate, let set as long as you can.

Since I could not find a recipe which satisfied me, I started to experiment. After all I wanted to make it gingery and spicy and chocolaty.

So, here is my take (makes four small cakes- sorry, you cant get lower, but they were done in a 4-small-muffin tin, so enough to last me over the weekend).

Honeycomb and Stem Ginger Tiffin

2 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 tablespoons golden syrup

1 teaspoon of water

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Make honeycomb first. Grease a baking tray with butter. Or use one of the reusable, waxed baking sheets.

In a big saucepan, over a low heat, stir the sugar, water, ginger and golden syrup for 2 minutes or until sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat, bring to the boil then simmer for 3-4 minutes. Dont stir, but shake the pan occasionally. It will become slightly frothy and smell like the end of a done cake. After about 3 minutes start testing your sugar. Once it has reached the hard glaze stage remove from heat and add the baking soda, stirring quickly until the mixture froths up. Pour quickly onto the prepared tray and allow to cool. When hard, break into small rough chunks. You really need to stir vigorously. Baking Soda tastes slightly salty, and while it does not matter too much here if you add another savoury kick, it can be unpleasant if you encounter a salty crystal.

1 tablespoon of raisins

2 stem gingers, finely chopped

1 tbsp brandy or rum plus 1 teaspoon of stem ginger liquid

4 digestive biscuits

All of your honeycomb

25gr unsalted butter

1tbsp of golden syrup

1tbsp cocoa

50gr dark chocolate (min 65%, but no more than 80%)

For the topping:  50g dark chocolate (min 70% cocoa solids), 25g butter

1.  Grease and baseline a tin with a depth of 4 cm (as I said, I used a 4 hole small muffin silicone tin, so no need to butter)

2.  Put the raisins and brandy/rum in a bowl and soak for 30 minutes

3.  Melt the chocolate, butter and syrup in a pan over a gentle heat

4.  Add all the other ingredients.  Mix well, pour into tin, cool and chill for 1 hour

5.  Melt the chocolate and butter in a pan.  Pour over the biscuit layer.  Chill overnight.  Store in the fridge for up to a week. You can make up to the end of step 4, wrap and freeze for up to 2 months. Or eat them all in one weekend.

Just to let you know that I did the chocolate cover in two stages. I made half and filled it first into the tins, then the mixture. You need to press the mixture down, so a bit of the chocolate cover goes sideways up. Let settle and cool and added another chocolate layer.

But this might be a bit too much if you do that for the first time.

Verdict:

Oh come on! Could something which looks like this not taste  delicious?

However, if it does not tempt you, just cover your honeycomb with chocolate or mix it into some ice cream.