Tis the season to be baking, but if your recipe calls for cake flour and you don’t have any, don’t fret! It’s super simple to make your own cake flour in about two minutes flat. By the way, have you ever wondered what made cake flour so wonderfully light and fluffy?
Make Your Own Cake Flour
Well, it contains a secret ingredient- one that is so simple you won’t believe you’ve been spending extra money on “Cake Flour” this entire time when you could have been making your own at a fraction of the price.
Cake flour is generally used in more delicate baked goods such as cakes and cookies. The flour is finely milled and usually bleached. It creates a very light, fluffy cake which is due to it’s lower protein content. The added starch in the flour helps hold larger amounts of fat and sugar without “collapsing”, giving it a light, fluffy texture, rather than a heavier, condensed brownie-like texture.
When to Use Cake Flour
Cake flour is great in any baking recipe that requires a light, fluffy outcome. It’s perfect for cakes, mug cakes, cupcakes, coffee cakes, crumb cakes, and muffins. Cake flour doesn’t contain any rising agents, such as baking soda or baking powder so it cannot be used as self-rising flour.
How to Make Cake Flour
You’ll Need:
All-Purpose Flour
Cornstarch
For every (1) cup of all-purpose flour (remove 2 Tablespoons of flour) and add 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch in its place to = 1 cup of cake flour.
To ensure the ingredients are completely mixed, combine the flour and cornstarch and run them through a sifter into a container. If you don’t like to use a sifter, you can place the ingredients in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment for 1 minute.
Photo by Erin Waynick
Cake flour should not be used to make bread, as it does not contain enough protein to form proper gluten. Also, keep in mind that flour should ALWAYS be measured by weight, never by “cup”.
Bulk Batch Homemade Cake Flour
You’ll Need:
7 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cornstarch
Sift the flour and cornstarch together to ensure they are completely mixed. Store tightly covered.
Substituting Cake Flour for All-Purpose Flour
If you have already purchased cake flour and need to substitute it for all-purpose flour in on of your recipes, you can use one cup plus two tablespoons of cake flour in place of every one cup of all-purpose flour.
© Can Stock Photo Inc. / chas53
terrific idea. thanks so much!!!
thank you so much. i rarely use cake flour and this is a great alternative to buying a whole box.
wow! thank you so much, i dislike buying cake flour because i use it so infrequently. what a great idea!
cake flour is not simply ap flour & cornstarch. cake flour is ground finer and then bleached to weaken the protein, resulting in a lighter flour with a much lower protein content than ap flour. while this method could pass for a temporary alternative, it most certainly won’t produce the same results as cake flour and it’s irresponsible to try and pass it off as the same thing.
:drama: technically speaking, if you add cornstarch, you’re reducing the protein, aren’t you. the only thing that should be emphasized in the directions above is that this should be run through a sifter 2-4 times to fully incorporate the cornstarch.
wow, stephmc- it looks like you’re a new member, did you join just to berate a recipe?:newmom:
it’s a “substitute recipe” meant to help save money nobody expects it to be the same thing, just like the copycat Hooters Wings, you don’t see all the guys complaining because they aren’t served by cute girls in orange shorts with skin tight tank tops on!
Don’t take life too seriously, nobody gets out Alive.
no one was trying to pass this off as cake flour. they were just trying to help us save some money by not having to buy cake flour. most people already have flour and cornstarch in their homes already.
i love this site. it will save me a lot of money. open your eyes.
looking for an icon that shows “bite my tongue” it’s needed on this one.
so I thought I’d look around and found this guy.. I think he fits
this is a great ideal.:hand-icon:
i love to bake and am reasonably particular about the quality of what i serve my family. if i was making a wedding cake then i would spend the extra money for the real deal. for everyday deserts where i know a horde of hungry kids are going to devour every crumb then this will do nicely.
thanks for making this information available. every penney counts at my house.
not logged in but curious tofind out how to measure weight cake flour weighs 4 oz
AP weighs 5 oz.
I must weigh ingredients for baking I would food processor the flour and corn starch.
will readu later:coffeebath:
will read the reply later.:bee:
thank you so much for the great tip….. i will be trying this today on my homemade chocolate cake.:worthy:
thank you so much for the tip….will make that chocolate cake today!
i have been needing this recipe for awhile. it’s gonna help my budget sooo much!:worthy:
It is great in a pinch or to be frugal. Cake flour, I believe is made from soft spring wheat that has a lower protein than hard winter wheat. Pastry flour is definitely from soft wheat.
Tips like this are great because if you don’t use it often why pay the higher price and have it sitting around?
Just want to Thanks. It worked great for the Chocolate Tea Bread I made. Everyone enjoyed.