The failure behavior and stress distribution of a novel ceramic sandwich system was investigated. A highly porous, open-cell A12O3 was used as the core material with relative densities ranging from 9% to 20%. The faceplates were dense A12O3 of varying thickness. The composites were tested in flexure and failure loads of the cellular core were shown to compare favorably to those predicted by theory when Weibull statistics were incorporated. Stresses in the tensile faceplates were also measured. For composites with relatively thick faces and low modulus cores, the stress distribution was significantly altered by a local bending effect. These stresses were predicted using a refined model.