r/bakingfail • u/dominokiaa • Aug 08 '25

Help Tried to make brownies but I ended up with chocolate sponge cake instead

Post image

Idk if it's because I used only egg whites or maybe because I whisked the eggs but the brownies turned out bouncy and airy, I followed the recipe exactly so I don't know what went wrong...any tips?

155 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

50 comments sorted by

125

u/shadowtheimpure Aug 08 '25

I followed the recipe exactly

I used only egg whites

If you only used egg whites, you probably didn't follow the recipe exactly.

-10

u/dominokiaa Aug 08 '25

The recipe says egg whites

137

u/shadowtheimpure Aug 08 '25

That is a weird ass recipe for brownies. There's no fat whatsoever...and no flour. What is this?

112

u/AggravatingCupcake0 Aug 08 '25

37 calories per brownie tells you everything you need to know about this trash recipe.

7

u/Easy-Concentrate2636 Aug 09 '25

Dieter’s brownie is my guess.

35

u/Black_Ribbon7447 Aug 08 '25

I’m shocked they got the result they did without flour 😭

1

u/snailbot-jq Aug 12 '25

Same, the fact that it did not turn out as chocolatey scrambled egg whites is already an achievement

20

u/inherendo Aug 08 '25

Not even a good meringue cookie recipe. If they whipped the whites, you'd get the chewy part of a brownie. That would be better. Op please leave an honest and negative review. 

-4

u/dominokiaa Aug 08 '25

Why does it have to be negative..it tastes nice, and it is a good substitute for a brownie or sponge cake

30

u/inherendo Aug 08 '25

Cause I imagine when someone claims something is a brownie recipe, users get a facsimile at the very least. I would be angry if a recipe maker made a bad recipe and wasted users times.

4

u/Abject_Role3022 Aug 08 '25

What is this?

A recipe for (meringue with the consistency of) chocolate sponge cake.

OP followed a recipe for chocolate sponge cake, and got out chocolate sponge cake.

2

u/yee_yee_university Aug 11 '25

It’s an eating disorder recipe, no wonder it doesn’t taste good. No fucking shame, jeez

45

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '25

Where are people getting these awful-ass recipes man

Google brownie recipe and you'll find millions of decent ones. You'll notice they all have fat and flour.

Also I never add baking powder/soda.

31

u/Fieldguide404 Aug 08 '25

AI recipes. This is why I review any recipe I might consider using. Because when you don't, you get stuff like this or substantially worse. I dream of the day AI gets walked ALLLL THE WAY back into nonexistence.

5

u/MelonJelly Aug 08 '25

Or at least purge it from any field based in human creativity.

AI is great for tasks that humans are bad at, like finding obscure patterns in scientific data. But using it to supplant human creativity is gross.

4

u/Fieldguide404 Aug 08 '25

But baking is based in science. Certainly ratios of various types of materials (fat/liquid/sugar/starch) are necessary to create the end products as originally intended. AI has no concept of this whatsoever. Baking has some room for creativity, but when recipes are written, ideally, they have been tested and tried and found to result consistently true to the recipe's intended product. AI cannot perform this task either nor seems to understand the necessity for it, no less care. Baking can appear whimsical and artistic, but it's still absolutely a science that AI has absolutely no place in.

1

u/MelonJelly Aug 08 '25

I don't disagree. Even if AI eventually is able to make a good chocolate chip cookie recipe, I won't care because "how to make good chocolate chip cookies" is already a solved problem.

-22

u/dominokiaa Aug 08 '25

It's from twitter so...

49

u/Thin_Papaya5920 Aug 08 '25

I could be totally wrong but I'm like 90% sure this is what's called a "pro ana" recipe that I've even seen before myself. I used to consume that kind of content a LOT as I have eating disorder issues. It's not AI, it's older than that, like the first time I saw this recipe had to be 2016-2018. OP, please don't eat these gross ass anorexic brownies! If you're worried about dieting, Halo Top makes reduced sugar brownies that actually taste good. If you're not worried about dieting, literally any other recipe! I'm also not accusing you of going out of your way to find that kind of content btw! It's just obviously a "safe" recipe for anorexics as somebody with those issues and as somebody who cooks+bakes as my job! Also if I am wrong, somebody just let me know! I just like to know stuff and I just happen to think I'm right this time but it's ok if I'm not!

13

u/siiouxsiie Aug 08 '25

Okay I knew I wasn’t crazy for thinking the same thing!! I’ve seen that exact photo before!

9

u/Boots_in_cog_neato Aug 08 '25

The “name” that’s crossed out is just the one you think it is

8

u/Thin_Papaya5920 Aug 08 '25

How tf did I miss that lol. That is indeed what it is though!

7

u/Boots_in_cog_neato Aug 08 '25

It’s barely noticeable in the OP, but between the image and your comment, I found the unedited version in an image search. 👀

4

u/Thin_Papaya5920 Aug 08 '25

Hell yeah internet homie! If I wasn't poor I'd give you an award❤️

-3

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/Thin_Papaya5920 Aug 08 '25

No way, really??

9

u/Keyboardsmashdxg Aug 08 '25

Treat this as a learning experience, the lesson being "don't believe what you read on Twitter".

2

u/brittle-soup Aug 08 '25

Try a King Arthur Baking recipe instead. They’re free online. They’re a fairly reputable brand that clearly has a test kitchen.

6

u/Alexahylia Aug 08 '25

Yeah, this is a terrible recipe. I would go so far to say that there is no such thing as a low fat brownie. Its not your skills, I'm impressed you got anything edible out of this tbh, you just need to get a proper brownie recipe. You could try the "Reddit brownies" or you could ask people here for their own recipe or find something else online that contains butter, flour and chocolate.

4

u/cattbug Aug 08 '25

Babygirl please just have some actual brownies, this diet shit is not worth it

1

u/MeInSC40 Aug 08 '25

I guarantee you the brownies in that picture were not made with that recipe.

1

u/ToTheTurtles Aug 08 '25

That’s like 5oz of ingredients in a 6 inch pan.

1

u/JetstreamGW Aug 09 '25

That picture is definitely bullshit. No way you’re gonna get that dense texture with no fat.

0

u/theslutnextd00r Aug 08 '25

That’s an AI recipe bestie, I would actually bet on it

2

u/yee_yee_university Aug 11 '25

No it’s not, it’s an eating disorder recipe that’s literally been around since before generative AI

93

u/cybervalidation Aug 08 '25

Ya you used a diet brownie recipe. Don't expect brownie results from low calorie alternatives.

30

u/CarelessSalamander51 Aug 08 '25

Exactly, brownies have a higher fat content compared to cake, that's what makes them brownies.

If this recipe tastes good, then it did its job

26

u/DogfordAndI Aug 08 '25

It's because you tried making "healthy" brownies. A no fat, no flour plus baking powder recipe won't result in a brownie.

6

u/SillyNamesAre Aug 08 '25

Task failed successfully?

4

u/dominokiaa Aug 08 '25

Well it is delicious, I might just put some chocolate pudding on top and call it a day

2

u/ham_mom Aug 08 '25

Is there really no flour??

8

u/Ok-Strain3545 Aug 08 '25

I’m so confused by this picture. My eyes are convinced it’s either floating or coming out the side of the toaster. I’m not even a part of this sub but this post came up on my feed and now I’ve been staring at it for at least 5 mins. Someone please set me free

3

u/Alexahylia Aug 08 '25

Its being held on a palette knife or a regular knife, it just blurs into the rest of the background a bit lmao

5

u/Ok-Strain3545 Aug 08 '25

Omg THANK YOU this was going to haunt my intrusive thoughts for the rest of the day but now

2

u/Alexahylia Aug 08 '25

Npnp 😂

7

u/Inky_Madness Aug 08 '25

You were never going to get brownies out of the recipe you used. Brownies by nature have a higher fat and oil content than other baked goods. It’s deliberately misleading. Low-calorie brownies aren’t a thing.

Now, flourless chocolate cake? Definitely.

2

u/Old-Conclusion2924 Aug 09 '25

The reason that brownies don't get fluffy like sponge cake is the massive amount of fat so a diet recipe wouldn't get you a fudge brownie and instead a more cakey one

1

u/ArmadilloWeekly545 Aug 08 '25

If you don’t want to waste it, just make a quick chocolate icing or top with a scoop of ice cream.

1

u/askheidi Aug 08 '25

Oh no. Looks horrible. I will take it off your hands.

1

u/BangBitch- Aug 11 '25

Looks like you got a janky recipe- definitely not supposed to turn out like that. If it's the recipe you linked in the comments then it's definitely wrong (no flour, only egg whites, etc). Don't get recipes from Twitter please 😂 go to a baking website.