Sponge toffee

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Sponge toffee is a sugary confection with a light, rigid, foam-like texture.

It has many regional names including: honeycomb toffee, cinder toffee in Britain, puff candy in Scotland, hokey pokey in New Zealand, sponge candy in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Buffalo, New York, or occasionally sea foam in Washington, Oregon, California and Michigan.

The main ingredients are typically brown sugar, corn syrup (or molasses) and baking soda, plus an acid such as vinegar. The baking soda and acid react to form carbon dioxide which is trapped in the highly viscous mixture. The lattice structure is formed while sugar is liquid and then sets hard.

It is generally home-made, and a popular recipe for children, but is also made commercially and sold in small blocks, or covered in chocolate (most popularly the Crunchie or Violet Crumble bar).

New Zealand's hokey pokey ice cream, despite sharing its name with a New Zealand term for sponge toffee, is generally made with hard toffee.