Try to use a different cake pan. May be cast iron or clay, or Pyrex.

dcarch

I don't think it's your oven or your pan, I think it's either old baking powder or your technique. Sponge cakes have egg whites beaten and folded in, which adds lightness to the cake. Over stirring those whites into the remainder of the batter will cause a dense cake rather than a light and fluffy one. Additionally, the yolks and sugar should be well beaten before other ingredients are added, that also beats in air which adds to the lightness.

If you cake hasn't risen you can bake it until it's charcoal and it still won't rise. And, sometimes, I have a cake that "falls" and I never do figure out exactly what went wrong.

Good luck on your next try. Make sure your baking powder is fresh, beat the heck out of those yolks and very gently FOLD in the beaten egg whites, don't stir them in. I'm going to bet that the next try will be much better.

As for that cake in the oven, cut off the burned bottom and keep the usable parts and make trifle, because it's going to be overbaked and dry, I'm afraid. Add it to pudding, drizzle it with liquor, mix with layers of fruit/jam and whipped cream or crumble it up and mix it with frosting for cake balls, but it's not going to be very good by itself, probably.

Annie

It's certainly not the sponge cake I know, which has no oil or water. If you want a foolproof recipe (I've given it to people who've told me "I can't make a sponge cake" and they've been pleasantly surprised at their success :-) ) just ask.

You may have put the pan too close to the bottom of the oven, or waited too long after mixing to put it into the oven, or your oven temperature may be not true....
Do you regularly bake cakes? So you aren't doing something like using the mixer after you have added the egg whites?

I can't comment on your technique as I don't know that I've ever made a sponge cake, as such. But I do know I've baked things that burned on the bottom before the top was cooked and it was always because the thermostat in the oven was wonky, causing the oven to cool off too much before it turned back on to heat up. When that happens, the bottom heat source for the oven comes on, but then has to stay on too long to bring the oven up to the correct temp, causing the bottom of my stuff to be seared (burned) by that intense bottom heat for too long.

Usually, the thermostat causes it to reheat after it's lost just a few degrees, so the elements or flame stays on just a short time to heat up the oven again.

As Annie mentioned, make sure the baking powder is fresh. If you're not sure, put 1/2 tsp. in a cup and pour in about 1/4 cup of hot water. It's fresh if it bubbles. A 365 degree oven sounds a bit high to me, too.

It's 15 degrees higher than the norm, I'd burn a cake in 30-35 minutes too, if I baked it at that temperature.

With the higher temp than usual for cakes, if you're using a dark pan you'll be more likely to get a burned bottom.

To check your oven temperature:

1. Fill a small metal container with a cup of oil.

2. Set you oven temperature dial.

3. Wait until the oil has been totally heated up.

4. Measure with a digital candy or BBQ thermometer.

5. You may want to do this a few times in different locations inside your oven, or use several cups of oil, to get an idea your oven's personality.

6. It's not a bad idea to do this even you have a convection oven.

dcarch

The OP didn't just say that the bottom had burned, she said the cake has not risen. Even if the temperature is too high, the cake will still usually rise. Baking it for a longer period will not help it rise. Baking it in a different pan won't help it rise unless the pan is the wrong size. The OP did not say that she's ever had problems with that oven. Although I do think 365F is high, I do have recipes that call for baking at 375F, so I'm not going to discount that. It's not similar to my sponge cake either, but it still should produce a rise with both baking powder AND beaten egg whites for loft.

Annie

I think your biggest problem is the video. This is a hybrid cake in that it has both baking powder and beaten eggwhites. It needs the baking powder because the person in the video under whips the whites and then beats the heck out of them when combining the batter instead of folding them. So Annie may be onto something about the baking powder being discharged.

Another heresy is that she greases the sides of the pan. That just means it'll be hard for the cake to hang on and rise. The baking powder helps, but there's only so much it can do. Additionally, a layer cake pan isn't the best choice. Usually sponge cakes are baked in loaf, ring or tube pans. This gives them more wall to cling to, and more even baking. The opening in the tube or ring pan allows the hot air into the middle to bake that part.

Then there's the temperature. Generally, one doesn't want a sponge cake to brown, so it's done at 325-335 F. Browning happens at 350 F. Some gas ovens are hard to calibrate. Some fancy electric ovens aren't calibrated even if they potentially have a narrower temperature range. You could have your oven inspected and adjusted, or you could just get a $10 oven thermometer so you can see the actual temperature of your oven rather than just trusting the dial. The dial could be right, but that's actually kind of unusual.

The egg whites should be very stiff. Put half a teaspoon of the sugar in and it'll help them stand tall. Go for a stiff peak, so when you pull your beater out, the part that stands up behind just keeps standing and doesn't sink or flop over. The turning the bowl, as in the video doesn't prove that. It only shows if you have unbeaten eggwhites in the bottom. The mass will slide around easily if you do.

When you fold, start with a small amount, well less than a quarter, of the eggwhites to loosen up the heavy ingredients. Reach your scraper down the side of the bowl and across the bottom, then lift and turn it over. Turn the bowl and do the same in the next section, repeating until the whole bowl has been scraped and combined. Add about half of what is left, and doing the same slide, lift and turn motion, get the white fairly well incorporated, so the blobs left are small. look for fat veins of white as you're lifting and lift and turn through them so they'll incorporate. Add the rest of the white, and continue the same way. NEVER MASH OR BEAT, and try to use as few strokes as possible. While you're learning it may take you a few too many strokes to combine, but if you don't smash, it'll still rise. It just might be a little less fluffy, or develop the gluten too much, and have the crumb be a little tough. No one who's likely to be eating it will know, and practice makes perfect.

It's not that you can't bake a cake with this recipe. You can. But it'll be in spite of the directions, because baking is far more forgiving than people give it credit for.

Good luck!

Plllog, British style sponge cakes use both whipped egg whites and baking powder, and grease the tin (which is usually a sandwich tin; ring tins in the angel food cake style are rare). I’ve been making light as a feather sponges for decades.

Annie, she did write the "bottom half is close to burnt" so I assumed it was getting way too dark/burned.

I will also venture to ask has the top element been checked to see if it's working?

Colleen, I wasn't objecting to the baking powder, just saying it's a hybrid to use both BP and eggwhites, and that the BP probably helps when other things go wrong, like the smashing of the eggwhites in the video. Because I've had a lifetime of baking cakes without baking powder for Passover, I have learned a lot about egg rising, and especially sponge cakes. :) I've absolutely no doubts about your cakes or their loft!

A "sandwich" tin is a rectangular bread pan, right? What I called a loaf pan? The angel food type pan is what I called a tube pan (presumably because there's a tube up the center--it's what it's always called around here, other than "angel", "chiffon", or "sponge" cake pan). What I call a "ring" pan is more used for things like coffee cakes but can be used for a sponge cake. It has a 4-6" center opening. People like to put fruit and whipped cream in the middle.

Carol, would you use the top element in baking an eggy cake?

Olychick, she said she'd already baked it for 30-35 minutes as instructed "and bottom half is close to burnt and the cake hasn't been risen. " At 30 or 35 minutes and that temperature I would expect the cake should be done, or overdone, but it should have risen if it were going to. I was concentrating on the "hasn't risen" part, because baking at that temperature and time would definitely produce an overdone result, IMO.

Annie

Plllog, a sandwich tin is a plain round tin used for making two round layers with filling sandwiched between them. I think you might call it a layer cake pan. Ring tins here are never used for sponge cakes.

I agree I was rather alarmed watching that video when the egg whites were bashed in.

The recipe I use has the egg whites beaten to a stiff meringue with the sugar, then the yolks gently stirred in, then the dry ingredients.

Both top and bottom heating elements in my electric oven are on when baking.

Obviously that doesn't apply if it's gas...

Duh - just went back & re-read - it is gas.

Never mind...

Ahah! Yes, Colleen, your sandwich tin is what I would call a "cake pan" or if there's any ambiguity, a "layer cake pan". I would think that the baking powder is necessary in the sandwich tin, which was also what was used in the video. It's interesting that you recombine the eggs first then add the dry. I've done the all sugar in the whites version. I'm pretty sure that's the way I learned as a kid. More recently, I've been aerating the yolks and sugar, with just a bit of sugar in the whites, because why not with a stand mixer. By hand, it's not really worth it. Save the shoulder for the whites. :)

Your recipe is much closer to what the OP was trying to make, I think. There was just so much off in that video, I didn't stop to find out what's normal in an English sponge like the greased tin, and what's just off. Maybe more people should whip eggwhites by hand? Learn their value in sweat? It's been a dozen years since I did a dozen eggwhites for a fundraiser, where we weren't allowed to use outside equipment. The other ladies said it couldn't be done. :) I can't remember if I had a whisk. I think it was a fork. It took a while to get enough air into them to see any foam, but once it got frothy, getting it up to stiff peaks was pretty easy.

I copied tip #5 from The Kitchn's "5 Important Things to Know About Baking in a Gas Oven"

"5. Avoid dark metal cookware.

Because the heat coming from that main burner is so intense, the bottoms of your foods can start to burn long before the middle or top is done. If you can, avoid using dark-colored metal bakeware, as this absorbs more heat and speeds up cooking. Light-colored metal, glass, and silicone are great choices for baking in gas ovens and will reduce the risk that the bottoms burn.

If you only have dark metal pans or if you're still having problems with burnt bottoms, try moving the trays one rack higher in the oven to put a little more distance between the food and the heating element. You can also try reducing the oven temperature by 25°F, particularly during the last half of baking. "

Here's the link to all five tips:

https://www.thekitchn.com/5-important-things-to-know-about-baking-in-a-gas-oven-226270

You are all amazing ... thank you .., I've been talking to my hubby and he knows how important it is for me, he said I'm going to buy you a proper oven, but I said let's not rush we're going to check the real temperature and I'll update you ... I am sorry I don't know how to tag or quote.

FWIW, you can buy an oven thermometer for relatively low dough.

Carol, regarding the heating elements, baking is usually done with bottom heat only, electric or gas, though the top element might go on for the preheat. Top and bottom element together generally give you passive convection (i.e., without a fan). It does help to even out the temperature of the oven, and can therefore give you a more even bake. In generally eggy things don't like convection, though the passive convection might be just fine for almost everything. The other, more important, consideration is top browning. Sometimes the top can get way too toasty while the bottom is trying to rise.

All of that is theory, however, and only matters if you're having trouble with it. So long as it works well, it works however it does it. :)

My Frigidaire oven uses both elements for baking.

carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b thank you, yes I'm going to buy one, was planning today but I don't have time for that one..sorry.... most likely Sunday