Ep 72: Sweet Somethings - Fudge & Honeycomb
Proper salted vanilla fudge, cheat's milk chocolate fudge, honeycomb and tempering chocolate
Hello! Please find below show notes and recipes… The new episode is out now on all major podcasting platforms ;)
Honeycomb
Adapted from this recipe by Sarah Cook.
200g/ 1 US cup caster/superfine or granulated sugar
110g / 5 tbsp golden syrup
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Butter, margarine or baking spray, for the tin
Baking paper, for the tin
Grease and line an 8x8inch / 20cm square tin with baking paper - or if you prefer it thinner and crunchier (like me), use a baking tray with a larger surface area.
Put the sugar and syrup in a pan over a low heat. Melt together without boiling until the sugar has dissolved. Simmer until a couple of shades darker and until it reaches 149C/ 300F. If you don’t take it to the right temperature, it’ll still be nice, but it’ll be chewy rather than crunchy.
Turn off the heat and tip in the bicarbonate of soda then mix in very quickly and thoroughly. Scrape into the tin and leave to set for at least an hour. Break up.
Salted Vanilla Classic Fudge
Slightly adapted from this recipe by Katy Gilhooly.
Follow the three golden rules below and you won’t go wrong.
The temperatures here are very important. If you don’t want to buy a thermometer, some methods say you can check if it has reached the ‘soft ball’ stage by removing a little and placing in a bowl of iced water to see if it becomes a soft ball as opposed to a liquid caramel. This sounds like more of a pain to me than just using a thermometer.
Beating the fudge is crucial. It really makes a huge difference to the texture, making it soft and melt in the mouth rather than crystallised.
Setting it at room temperature is likewise vital. It can go sticky rather than fudgy if it’s set in the fridge.
397g/14oz tin (sweetened) condensed milk
460g/ 2 US cups+4 tbsp light muscovado sugar
150ml/ 2/3 US cups whole milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
125g salted butter
1/2 tsp fine salt - up to 3/4 tsp if your butter is unsalted
Flaky salt (or vanilla salt if you’re lucky enough to have some!)
Butter, for the tin
Butter and line an 8x8inch / 20cm square tin.
Heat the butter, condensed milk, milk and sugar together until the sugar dissolves.
Bring to the boil until it reaches 116C/ 241F. Cool to 110C/230F. Stir in the vanilla extract. Transfer to a stand mixer. Beat really well until it cools to 60C/140F. You can alternatively do this by hand if you have a strong, patient arm or lots of help, but I don’t recommend it.
Spoon into the tin and smooth the surface. Crumble over the flaky salt. Leave to fully set at room temperature. If you set in the fridge it may go sticky.
Milk Chocolate Fudge
Slightly adapted from this recipe on the Carnation website.
This isn’t as stable as “real” fudge - it’s best eaten within a few days, then it hardens up. However it’s far easier to make, including easy to make with kids who can then decorate however they like. My youth group threw on all sorts of sprinkles (see below!). Nuts would be delicious though.
I tried making with dark chocolate (very intense, but nice if you like that sort of thing) and white chocolate (horribly cloying) and found a high quality milk choc was the best option.
450g/ 16 oz high-quality milk chocolate (mine was 35% cocoa solids)
397g/ 14 oz (sweetened) condensed milk
Any toppings you like, e.g. toasted nuts, sprinkles, salt
Chop the chocolate. Melt the chocolate and condensed milk together, stirring really well. You can do this in a pan on a low heat or in the microwave, Press into tins. Leave to set at room temperature. Eat within 3 days.
Some thoughts about tempering chocolate
Why is it that we clam up when thermometers or ratios are mentioned? We understand the importance of having your oven at the right temperature or having the right size tin and it’s no different. Ingredients don’t hold grudges, they just behave as the chemical components they are.
There are two ways to temper chocolate.
The easiest way to temper chocolate is the seeding method. Use about 1/3 chocolate that’s already tempered (ie. good quality bars). Melt the non-tempered chocolate, or 2/3 of your chocolate and chop the tempered chocolate. When the 2/3 has just melted, stir the 1/3 in vigorously. The stable crystals in the tempered chocolate encourage stabilisation in the melted chocolate. Set at a cool room temperature, not in the fridge, as this can lead to “blooming” (when the chocolate has light patches).
Here is the harder way to temper chocolate - but it’s still simply a science, not unknowable dark magic. In a completely dry bowl, stirring, heat it to 50C/ 122F. Specifically, 45-50C / 113-122F for milk or white chocolate, or 50-55C for dark. Stirring, cool it down. You need the thermometer to read 26-27C / 79-81F for white chocolate, 27-28C / 81-82F for milk chocolate, or 28-29C/ 82-84F for dark chocolate. Then, continuing to stir, warm it up a little bit to its working temperature: 28-29C/ 82-84F for white chocolate, 29-30C / 84-86F for milk chocolate, or 31-32C / 88-90F for dark chocolate.
I’m not going to go into marbling, because I’m not a professional chocolatier, but it essentially uses the seeding method just in a different way.
These look great!