Chelsea

Chelsea Trusted 135 Years SPOT

Never Fail Sponge Cake

By Chelsea Sugar
Never Fail Sponge Cake
12 servings
  • 174 reviews

  • Difficulty Easy
  • Prep time 15 mins
  • Cooking time 20 mins
  • Serves
    12
Ingredients

    4 eggs
    1 Tbsp boiling water
    3/4 cup Chelsea White Sugar (170g)
    1 Tbsp Edmonds Standard Grade Flour in a 250ml cup; fill up rest of cup with Edmonds Cornflour
    2 tsp Edmonds Baking Powder

    Whipped cream and jam or lemon curd, to sandwich cakes together
    Strawberries, to decorate (optional)
    Chelsea Icing Sugar, to dust

Method

    Preheat oven to 180°C bake. Grease 2 x 20cm round sponge tins and line with baking paper.

    Beat 4 egg whites with the boiling water until stiff. Add Chelsea White Sugar slowly. Beat until dissolved. Mix in yolks one at a time.

    Place Edmonds Standard Grade Flour in a 250ml cup, then fill the rest of the cup with Edmonds Cornflour. Sift into the sugar and egg mixture with Edmonds Baking Powder. Fold in.

    Divide mixture between the two sponge tins and bake for 20-25 minutes, until pale golden and cooked through.

    Once cooked, and while still in the tin, drop sponges from a height of 30cm onto the bench.  The sponges should then hold their height, and not go flat once cool.

    When cool sandwich together with cream and jam or lemon curd. Decorate with strawberries, if desired, then dust with Chelsea Icing Sugar.

If you like this recipe you may love these

Reviews

Average Rating
4174
(174 reviews)


Its really yummy I’d say you should try it

the best ever i loved it

What a disappointment

Fluffy, light sponge recipe that never fails.
Could do with adding to the instructions which are ambiguous and takes a little baking experience to know where to improvise.
Hints: mix with hand mixer on med speed rather than a stand mixer.

Hi all. Made this cake this morning. Easy enough but instructions a bit thin for a non experienced cook....for eg I imagine you add the boiling water to the egg whites slowly while they are mixing? Not just throw boiling water on the raw eggs. Also I assume you mean whisk egg whites rather than beat? I am an experienced cook and folded everything gently and smoothly. The volume of the cake was enormous when I put it in the pans (about 3" high) but it sunk about 1/2 way through cooking....not to a pancake but height reduced about 50%. Is that normal? Both cakes still about 1.5 inches high and texture looks ok judging by the little bit that broke off . Haven't tried it yet but probably wouldn't use this recipe again. Too little info and the whole time I was a little unsure of if I was doing the right thing

Kia ora, I make this recipe all the time. It's a winner every time in our house. I'm wondering if anyone has made these into cupcakes? Besides a shorter baking time, what else should i consider? I don't want it to fall apart if its a cupcake. Thanks folks :)

not the winning recipe, but still nice/average. A bit to floury for me I'm afraid and way to much cornstarch/cornflour! But tastes good with lemon curd.

It sunk straight when i took it straight out of the oven. It tasted of too much cornflour. didn't really rise. Tasted bitter, a bit lumpy but still average. Agreed it taste to much floury

Amazing! Lives up to it’s name. My daughter requested this for her birthday cake. It Made a beautiful fluffy two tiered sponge, we used Barkers Raspberry spread and fresh cream garnished with frozen raspberries and grated white chocolate. Devine!

This is in my treasure chest of recipes - light, delicate and easy

The best sponge cake I have ever made

I made this to the method and recipe.
Um not quite right I’m afraid
Far too much cornflour in the mixture.
It tastes very floury
I wouldn’t recommend

AMAZING!!! The best sponge I've ever made! I am a beginner baker and it was easy even for me. All of my family loved it and it was gone in minutes! Totally 100% recommend.

This is now my go to sponge recipe and it works everytime. I use gluten free flour and I'm an efficient baker so i just throw eggs and sugar and beat till fluffy. then i add flour ingredients. Sometimes I add the water sometimes i forget, it's all good though.

Quick, very easy to follow recipe, excellent for making lamington squares, thanks Chelsea,

would buttermilk iceing work on this??

Great cake. CCan I add some vanilla essence or change the sugar type to change the flavour if certain people wanted that?

Great cake. Can I add some vanilla essence or change the sugar type to change the flavour if certain people wanted that?

My first successful sponge. This recipe is great! Thank you Chelsea.

A disaster - I even did exactly the recipe for once and one side collapsed completely and the other almost edible. They overflowed the paper I had lined the tin with, then shrank to nothing at the end. Trying again with a different recipe.

Absolutely lovely sponge topping for any fruit. I made a Feijoa Dessert with this sponge topping. It was such a hit with my family who are excellent home cooks. Thank you Chelsea Sugar a quick and easy and tasty way to end our Anzac Day celebration for those who gave their lives so that we have the privilege of freedom.

It failed the first time - and then I realised it was me, using the wrong measuring cup for the sugar. Tried again - perfect. My tins are a bit smaller, 16cm, so I ended up with each sponge 7cm high - magnificent birthday cake height!
Mindful of my expert sponge maker Gran's advice to go gently, I also beat the yolks separately before adding and folded them through the whites, rather than 'mixing' per the recipe.

I failed it, it caved in and it tastes like an actual sponge. Think I'll try another recipe next time

so good make again everytime i need a sponge cake

For me, this recipe worked a treat.
Easy to follow instructions which I weighed and measured exactly as well as did an extra step as mentioned in a previous review, where I did the drop step before baking and after baking, turned out perfectly.
Yum, will make again for sure. A bit of a tribute to my grandmother who was fantastic at making sponge cakes for our birthdays, growing up.

For me, this recipe worked a treat.
Easy to follow instructions which I weighed and measured exactly as well as did an extra step as mentioned in a previous review, where I did the drop step before baking and after baking, turned out perfectly.
Yum, will make again for sure. A bit of a tribute to my grandmother who was fantastic at making sponge cakes for our birthdays, growing up.

First time sponge baker here, great recipe! No problems.

Just made this for the first time ever making a sponge. Really hope it tastes as good as it looks, cos DAMN! It looks amazing! Great height. No shrinkage.

Love this sponge cake recipe! Constantly baking and this recipe is a gem! I just use the golden sugar which gives it a golden colour.

I haven't tried it yet but it looks delish. it sunk after 10 mins and smells a bit eggy but we're covering it with fondant so that might help. it was easy as to make and I'm only 11. The batter was kinda watery but that might be 'cause we put food coloring in it. Thanx Chealsea for the great recipe.

great step by step love your recipes

I'm not a qualified Baker, my first time baking a Sponge and I have to say.
Mine was perfect.
Here's a tip to some below
READ and FOLLOW the instructions and use some commonsense and your sponge just might turn out like, amateur mine Did PERFECT

image description

Easy to make light and fluffy best I have ever made

Easy to make soft and fluffy best ever I have made

I generally stick to baking from a box but even I managed to make this no problems :)

I’ve never made a sponge before as thought it would turn out a disaster… but this recipe was so good, made a beautiful light fluffy sponge, easy to do too, husband has given it the tick of approval

Very easy ,my first time for a sponge,delicious

Very easy ,my first time for a sponge,delicious

Perfection❤️

First every sponge recipe that didn't flop! Good texture too

True to its word, it never fails! and is ALWAYS delicious!

I followed the recipe exactly and it failed. Haha don't know no what happened. The cakes sunk in the middle and rose around the outside.

I've made this recipe a few times now with a slight adaptation for gluten free and allergies.
Tapioca instead of cornflour
Edmonds gf flour
I teaspoon guar gum
Works out really well.

this recipe was alright, sponge wasn't as fluffy as i thought but it's a really good recipe for a first-timer :)

image description

amazing

Not sure what happened to mine but
the batter didn’t rise
had no flavour
the first time I tried it using the exact time, too dry
Second time I tired it taking off a couple minutes, didn’t cook all the way through.
My family described it like an eggy tart.
Although apart from the parts that were uncooked i thought it tasted great.

Brilliant - I have tried repeatedly to make a decent sponge and this recipe WORKS! Thanks so much.

I love it. it was yum everyone in the world eat it

hi I havent made it yet but want to increase the recipe to fill 2 x 23 cm tins do you reccommend doubling the recipe?

I'm an experienced baker and have made hundreds of cakes. I tried this instead of my usual sponge recipes for a kids birthday, as I was looking for something lighter and it was a total disaster. I followed the recipe exactly and initially they rose well, but they sunk in the oven after 15 minutes and sunk further on exit despite dropping them. I've been left with two cakes sunken entirely flat in the middle that taste like bizarre meringue. Total waste of ingredients.

So easy to make and so delicious.

I made with gluten free Edmonds plain flour and it was great. .

Definitely not a 'never fail sponge' - it was wierdly 'eggy', not sweet at all and just a strange all around texture

Absolute fail. Go figure

Great recipe and use it all the time but one I added too much water and it was harder to stiffen.

Great success with the recipe. My mother was an expert sponge maker and she just had an old fashioned hand beater with a handle. Don't know how she did it. Even with all the mod cons my sponges although lovely aren't as good as hers. Lots of fun making them and I'm sure they will be greatly appreciated by the whanau.

Not eggy at all, reading comments now and becoming concerned but tastes and smells great. Used buttercream instead of jam and cream, cake wasn't overly sweet so it was perfect! I did use all gluten-free flour, no cornflour but I think it's fine. Probably better if you follow recipe but I don't think that's possible! So super light and fluffy, quick method LOVE IT! I usually use Chelsea Winter but she doesn't do a sponge so thought this was a risk but love it!

My son (aged 12) has made this cake twice and both times it has turned out perfectly.

Made this and wow!! was very impressed. Perfect, perfect, perfect is all I can say. Not dry, eggy nor was it floury and definately will do again. Thank you so much for this.

Such a good recipe, I have made it so many times.

I've made 6 sponges so far & love it ..my sister has asked for butterfly cakes for Xmas dayI will let you know how I go..

IT COULD NEVER BEAT MY GRANNYS SWISS ROLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!
she makes the best swiss roll ever in the history of the universe!!
I haven't made this recipe just yet but will do!
Looks delish though..!

It works so well. I am so happy with this recipe.

As long it's Chelsea...its a kiwi brand I've grown up with all my life....now my daughter's a baker" myself am a Chef

Very nice sponge cake

My daughter wanted to learn how to make a sponge and chose this recipe. It was perfect!

After years of trying this is the first sponge that actually turned out just like my grandmother's and it was so easy

this is a great mixture but it needs to be lined the tin

So light and fluffy. Delicious and easy!

An old favourite of mine use it all the time

a bit dry and chewy but still nice

So nice and fluffy!

This recipe has never failed for me. I love it.
I also drop the sponges before I place into the oven.
When sandwiched with cream & jam, the cake sits a respectable 125mm high.

this is a horrible cake it didnt work at all so you cant call it a never fail cake. It tasted horrible when it was done and i dont understand why a ckake needs that much cornflour. Never make this cake. It doesnt even deserve 1 star.

Did not have a great outcome with this cake. It was definitely fluffy and beautiful but had a very eggy smell and taste. Followed the recipe to a tee so unsure what I could do to prevent this.

i gave this name of this recipe the ultimate test by forgetting to put the baking powder in and it didn't fail - I was amazed - was still alot more than edible and the proper version is simply delicious!

Made my first ever sponge from this recipe and used duck eggs as I had some given to me and it was delicious. The only problem I had was trying to get the duck egg whites stiff . But still came out perfectly yum. Thanks will make this again .

Epic recipe!! First time making sponge and it did not disappoint!

Thankyou for this easy to follow recipe. The cakes turned out perfectly, light with an even shape and texture and no 'dome' on top. Delicious too.
I've had varying success over the years in making spongecakes but not with this recipe!

OMG this recipe is amazing I used it for a special term and it was amazing I did the whipped cream and jam and everyone loved it so I'm giving you this rating cause I think you deserve it so THANK YOU!!!!

I'm using it for a trifle! Not sure how it tastes just yet, but it looks good in the oven!

Still laughing as my never fail sponge...failed! 15 mins in the oven and both have dropped. I thought i would try this recipe ss it is very close to my cornflour sponge that worked everytime. Oh well...i guess covid lockdown has brought baking issues too!

Just divine especially when you use free range eggs

I love this cake. Never fails to impress, and so, so easy to make.

So glad I tried this recipe after a failed first attempt at another recipe.
Sponges look great and nice and fluffy

This is the best sponge recipe I have ever used. Followed the instructions and came out perfectly light and delicious. Even the dropping the tins to avert sinking actually worked . THANKYOU

Cake was awesome! Made it for my birthday and everyone loved it! Thanks :)

Niceeeee

It was pretty good a bit dry and sticky on the bottom. Was nice with lots of cream and blackberry jam.

Hey does anyone know why my cake has gone flat? I’ve done everything right down to detail and checked about 10 times but everytime I make it, it seems to fal flat

I failed, you can not say never fail cake.

Most horrible cake ever made, first of all it was so flat like 1 -2cm tall and only fit one cake pan and it tasted like a literal omlette, I currently feel sick from it.

It was so light and fluffy best sponge cake recipe. I recommend it with Edmonds lemon butter cream, together the sweet and sour is balanced.
I mad it for guests for dessert with lemon fondants on top and they loved it.
best sponge cake.

smells as good as tastes

I followed the recipe instructions to the letter and the sponge was as promised. Light, airy and did not fall flat. In the past my sponge cakes have been epic fails so I’m pleased to find a recipe that delivered.

Light, airy, sweet but not too sweet and delicious.
I think I overcooked it as it was a bit dry.
I cooked for 25min.
Will make again soon for sure!
Thank you for this lovely recipe.

Does this work without baking it in two separate tins? Because I do not want the jam/whipped cream in the middle, please get back to me soon as I want to make this soon, Thx ^^


CHELSEA SUGAR: Hi there, we think this should work ok. You will need to increase the cooking time and either use a bigger tin or high sided tin.

Wonderful Sponge cake!

I did it for someone’s birthday and it came out spectacular! Filled with jam and cream and strawberry’s! It was the best sponge I have ever made! It tasted brilliant and I recommend his recipe!

Wonderful Sponge cake!

I did it for someone’s birthday and it came out spectacular! Filled with jam and cream and strawberry’s! It was the best sponge I have ever made! It tasted brilliant and I recommend his recipe!

Found simple quick and easy, duck eggs need no separating, just beat away.

Really nice and simple.. cake turned out pretty good! Decided to fill with fruit salad and whipped cream instead. Delicious! Thanks CHELSEA NZ

Perfect!! Thank you for sharing. This recipe has never failed me and I often get requests to bake it

Very good. Included tsp vanilla essence in the tbsp boiling water. Looked good and tasted great.

Fabulous simple, easy and quick. Quicker with duck eggs, no need to separate whites. Love it. Thanks a million.

Just came across this recipe. This is the Fielders sponge recipe I used to make as a youngster but without the boiling water! Must try this recipe or should I stick to tried and true .

I had to cook it for 30 minutes and once a stick came out clean I brought it out. The bottom was green for some reason and it had an oddly salty taste.

I'm an experienced baker but was curious about the boiling water addition, so I tried this out. I made one batch, adding the boiling water while the egg whites were being whisked. I made one 7 inch cake and a few bite sized ones (for a tea party). Turned out brilliantly, split and filled with jam and cream, was very similar to the airy light sponges from the freezer section of the grocery store. The sort of thing you can eat and not think you've eaten anything.

What a fail! I am a confident baker but this recipe was a complete disaster. Most ended up on the oven floor so it was hollow and it had a eggy smelly and tasted like a sweet omelette. Nothing like the delicious sponge cake I grew up with. Will give the Edmonds recipe a go next time.

I made this and OMG it is so good. My whānau thought I had bought it from the store. This is going to become one of our go to recipes.

Very light and fluffy. Easy to make. Can't wait to bake it again.

Beautiful texture, and height but shockingly eggy and had to throw it in the bin.

Absolutely gorgeous sponge. Made it about 5x now and it’s perfect every time. No egg taste? Just a heads up, staler eggs used are better.

Really good feed. Really nice.

I haven’t made it yet but I’m wondering is it 180 fan forced or normal? Also, how do you fold the flour in enough so there’s no lumps but so cake isn’t tough? Thanks.
Chelsea Sugar:
180 degrees Celsius for conventional baking settings. Fold the mixture slowly until no lumps are visible in the mixture. Then stop folding.

I followed the recipe but as I didn't have a cake baking dish I used cupcakes trays and it worked well.

Yummy. Thank you so much.

This recipe was a complete success....I followed it to the letter ....20mins at 180 was all the cooking time required Light, fluffy & perfect tasting. This will now be my 'go to' Sponge recipe. Thanks!

Love it

Best sponge I have ever made. Light, fluffy and wow it rose really well. Will certainly use this recipe in the future.

Nice and easy recipe, I forgot about it and both tops got burnt, buggar!, however I just sliced the tops off, beautiful light sponge, not an eggy taste, nice and soft and spongy, just what I wanted for my trifles.

Interesting and awesome

Easy recipe and baked well but I feel it has a rather eggy flavor so needs vanilla extract in it. I have mixture left over so will add some in and see if it's better. I will be putting raspberry icing all over anyway so should help cover the eggyness.

Absolute disaster. Turned out more of an egg cake than anything else.

This turned out really well! However, it didn't say anywhere in the recipe to grease the pans or anything and now the cakes are stuck in the pans. What should I do? Do I just wait for them to cool down? Help!
Chelsea Sugar:
You can loosen the sides and bottom of the cake from the tin with a silicon spatula.

It is grate I've tried your gingerbread man recipes and this was just as grate as the last

Awesome job

Recipe was horrible. Batter was water consistency and it dropped all through my oven

We did this for a school project and ended up eating more than planned. It was really fun to make but the egg separation was really hard to do.

Made this so many times and every time it comes out perfectly

good recipie for sponge cake

You shouldn't this cake never fail because somehow our's failed. It looks good until you taste it. All you can taste is cornflour which makes it inedible. Do not make this cake if you want a cake that won't fail :(

Just made it and it's turned out great. Taste is awesome.

Looks easy! Chelsea, May i use any other flour to substitute cornflour ? Like tapioca starch or glutinous rice flour ?
CHELSEA SUGAR: You can use tapioca starch but not glutinous rice flour.

Just made this cake was flat and tasted bitter had to throw out for the birds, even they are flying over it!!!

I'm confused about the 1 tablespoon of flour in a cup and the rest of the cup cornflour, is this any sized cup? It's not very clear. Or is it over all one cup of cornflour with a tablespoon of flour?
CHELSEA: a standard NZ 250ml cup.

Good

What is the drop process and how big is the cup size?
CHELSEA: in NZ we use a standard 250ml cup. re: the drop, drop the sponges in the tin from a height of 30cm. They should then hold their height once cooled. Recipe has been updated.

Absolutely amazing! This has to be the best sponge sandwich recipe I have tried, to date. Turned out better than expected.

Amazingly light and fluffy. Very easy and fast to make, I also found the egg flavour a little strong even with vanilla essence. So i would only use three egg yolks next time. Great basic recipe.

Sponge was hard!

Omg..pretty awesome..very good size..didn’t get a chance to sandwich though my kids ate it within minutes of dropping it. Flavour, texture and taste are pretty good...this recipe is a keeper.

Beautiful light sponge. Made it several times and is always lovely light and tasty.

It was delicious.

I made this using gluten free flour, came out perfectly. Very happy.

It didn't turn out like the picture, it hardly made any batter so I ended up with a very small sponge cake! The flavor was great though.

Mine failed. Actually not sure what happened but they sink while cooking.

Is it nearly one cup of cornflour (with one tbsp of flour)?
CHELSEA: yes that's correct.

Question: can I cook this as one cake and cut in half? As I don’t have any sponge tins? Thank you.
CHELSEA: Yes! Just allow a little more cooking time. Insert a skewer and if it comes out clean, it's ready.

May want to specify in the recipe how exactly you 'drop' the sponge as some people could be attempting a sponge cake for the first time and may not know the term :). Amazing recipe otherwise!

Excellant result. In the past, with other recipes, I've had issues with collapse during cool down. This recipe the cakes maintained good height. Texture was great, nice and light, highly recommend this.

A wonderful cake. My daghter loved making this cake. It is so easy that she did it all by her self.

Can you put the whole mixture in since I've only got 1 baking tin?
Chelsea Sugar:
For best results please follow the advice in the recipe. We have other cake recipes that are better suited for one baking tin.

Light but very dry - where did I go wrong?

Perfect for lamingtons (made them in muffin tins)

Awesome

Does it work with a cup of flour instead of any cornflour.
CHELSEA: we wouldn't recommend it.

It didn’t work dropped on bench like written and watched it go flat!!!

Hi, how long will the sponge keep when cooked?
CHELSEA: Hi there, it will stay fresh for about 3 days in an airtight container (without the cream and jam).

Looks great, but no mention of tin size!
CHELSEA: Hi there, sorry about that! We have updated the recipe.

very good never failed

Q? How long can you leave your sponge batter. Going on I only have 1 baking tin.
CHELSEA: Hi there, unfortunately the batter for sponge cakes can't be left while the other half bakes. We recommend baking it immediately, otherwise the mixture is likely to deflate and the second layer will be much denser than the first.

Thank you Chelsea. The cake was perfect, light and fluffy. I topped with more cream and fresh fruit... Delicious!

Great recipe, turned out perfect

how much flour do you need?
CHELSEA: Hi there, the recipe states 1 Tbsp flour. Add this to a cup and fill the rest of the cup up with cornflour.

Is cornflour and cornstarch the same thing?
CHELSEA: Yes it is in NZ :-)

This recipe worked perfectly, was incredibly light and fluffy. only downside is it had a very strong egg scent and taste to it, (and yes I did add vanilla essence to try and avoid this!)

My sponge failed

Can i make this and add cocoa for chocolate if so how much

CHELSEA: yes, you could make this into a chocolate sponge. Try replacing 1/4 cup of the cornflour with cocoa powder.

omg its so light and fluffy and hasn't dropped one single bit! And so easy.

Super easy-dont know why i havent made a sponge before this!

It's so easy and simple. I even used regular gluten free mix and couldn't believe how spongy it was and also raised about 3 times the mix. Well done Chelsea

great recipe easy to make

good

perfect....Ty!
Follow the recipe and it's awesome.

Deffinately fail sponge. I had brown sugar and no whisk. Disaster

Load More

Products used in this recipe

Sign in