Homemade Candy

Ever made your own candy? Yeah, me neither. 

Ever put said homemade candy into a cake? Yeah, me neither. 

Until now! Toffee, brittle, honeycomb, hokey pokey; all of the various names this wonderful little candy is called. 

It’s surprisingly easy to make, just make sure you have a big enough sauce pan, as it bubbles and toils quite ferociously and just might spew all over your gas stove top 🥲. (PS - The recipe I used to make my toffee is at the bottom of this post).

The Cake!

• Caramel cake layers

• Toffee and salted caramel filling

• Salted caramel buttercream

This caramel based cake is made with dulce de leche and has some of the toffee pieces baked right into the layers. The toffee softens as it’s baked and leaves behind some wonderful pockets of textured, salted caramel goodness. 

Of course there’s homemade caramel that went directly into the salted caramel buttercream. 

Between each layer is a nice handful of the candy and of course, more caramel. 

I thought the cake may have too much caramel and not enough dimension, but I was pleasantly surprised when that wasn’t the case. 

It’s all tied together with a caramel drip and toffee pieces on top. 

Enjoy friends!

Toffee Recipe (slightly adapted from Marcela at Gimme Yummy):

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

• 2/3 cup dark corn syrup (can substitute light corn syrup for a slightly lighter flavor)

• 3 tsp. clover honey

• 1/2 cup water

• 1/4 tsp. salt (optional)

• 2 1/2 tsp. baking soda

• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

Instructions:

• Ensure all ingredients are pre-measured and ready before you begin. Things move quickly with this recipe.

• Line an 8”x8” baking pan with parchment paper, foil, or whatever other material you want to ensure things don’t get too sticky later on. You’ll want to line the bottom of the pan as well as the sides.

• Combine the sugar, dark corn syrup, honey, water and salt in a large, heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Mix briefly just to ensure the sugar has been incorporated into the wet ingredients.

• Allow the mixture to cook over medium heat until it reaches 300°F (measured with a candy thermometer). As the mixture cooks, don’t stir it.

• Once the mixture has reached 300°F, remove from heat and quickly stir in the baking soda and cream of tartar until incorporated. Use caution as the baking soda will begin to react and the mixture will triple in size.

• Working quickly, pour the hot mixture into the prepared pan and let it cool completely (anywhere from 1-2 hours). Once poured into the pan, the toffee will continue to grow in size.

• After it has cooled completely, break the toffee into pieces. (I recommend doing this in a clean kitchen sink, as the toffee tends to shoot crumbs everywhere.) Store toffee in an airtight container at room temp.