Corn syrup vs honey

December 22, 2005 8:51 AM

I'm going to ice a cake and the icing recipe calls for 1 tsp (5 mL) light corn syrup. Can I use honey instead?

I've done my reading and found out that corn syrup is used to decrease the stiffness of the icing and reduce cracking. I don't have corn syrup and would rather not buy a 500mL bottle to use 1 tsp. Why wouldn't honey (of which I have gobs) work?

posted by cardboard to Food & Drink (12 answers total)

I think it will work as the sugars are similar. However, it will affect the flavor.
posted by caddis at 8:55 AM on December 22, 2005

It should work for your purpose, I think, but here's some more discussion.
posted by trip and a half at 9:00 AM on December 22, 2005

Also, keep in mind that corn syrup is a lot sweeter than honey.
posted by Alison at 9:12 AM on December 22, 2005

The corn syrup is probably there to prevent crystallization (especially if it's such a small amount). You can probably just skip it.
posted by uncleozzy at 9:18 AM on December 22, 2005

It would help to know what kind of icing (ganache? buttercream?) and what the other ingredients of the icing are--that way we can figure out what the function of the corn syrup is. Not knowing any of this, I'd say uncleozzy is probably right and you can skip it. For many icings, I'd think honey would affect the flavor too much.
posted by CiaoMela at 10:47 AM on December 22, 2005

IIRC, corn syrup won't go bad anytime soon. Buy the 500ml bottle and leave it in your pantry to be used a teaspoon at a time once or twice a year.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:10 AM on December 22, 2005

If this is for a fondant icing I think you can sub in a small amount of glycerine, which you can buy at the drug store.
(I hope I'm remembering this right. I use the recipe from Delia Smith's Christmas book)
posted by nprigoda at 1:16 PM on December 22, 2005

Response by poster: It's a ganache, just 24 oz of semi-sweet chocolate and 4 cups of whipping cream.
posted by cardboard at 2:47 PM on December 22, 2005

Skip it. Honey in a semi-sweet ganache would set the flavor off to my tastebuds. A teaspoon is a really small amount for the volume of whipping cream you have, so, whatever it's purpose, it's minor. Google "semi-sweet chocolate ganache" and you'll find lots of recipes that are just chocolate and cream.
posted by donnagirl at 4:16 PM on December 22, 2005

One tsp of honey is quite a mild in portion. If you add this small amount of honey you will probably be able to tell the difference in a side by side taste test, but perhaps not in just a regular taste. If you can detect it and it bothers you I would add just a taste of cinnamon. Chocolate, honey and cinnamon makes a great combination.
posted by caddis at 5:11 PM on December 22, 2005

I've made ganache many times (both for icing and for truffles), but only using cream, chocolate, and liqueur, and my guess would be that honey and corn syrup would affect the texture somewhat differently. I'd get the corn syrup since it's not expensive and won't go bad, especially on the assumption that I might always make another recipe down the road that will call for it.
posted by scody at 5:22 PM on December 22, 2005

In this case, substituting honey for corn syrup will work -- in the sense that you won't structurally destroy your food -- but it won't taste good.
posted by majick at 5:49 PM on December 22, 2005