Cake Flour Substitute
What is cake flour? The other day I ran out of cake flour and needed a substitute, after searching and experimenting I came up with this replacement for cake flour that seems to work quite well.
Yield
2 servingsPrep
5 minCook
0 minReady
0 minIngredients
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ¾ | cups |
all-purpose flour
sifted, or even better use soft pastry flour |
|
| ¼ | cup |
cornstarch
sifted |
|
Ingredients
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| 414 | ml |
all-purpose flour
sifted, or even better use soft pastry flour |
|
| 59 | ml |
cornstarch
sifted |
|
Directions
Sift the cornstarch and all-purpose flour together. Mix well. Sift again to ensure it is evenly combined.
If you only need one cup of cake flour, place 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into a one cup measure. Fill the remaining space with regular flour. Sift to ensure it is well combined.
Use to replace cake flour in your recipe.
What is cake flour?
Cake flour has a very low protein content. Protein aids in the production of gluten. To achieve a very tender crumb some recipe will call for cake flour which is very finely milled to keep baked goods from getting heavy. Too much gluten can make baked products heavy.
Cake flour is more starchy with helps to hold larger amounts for sugar and fat without collapsing.
Cake flour is make from the endosperm part of wheat kernels. As cake flour is milled it is bleached which breaks down excess protein in the flour. On average cake flour is about 7 percent protein, which is much lower than other flours. For example "bread" flour contains about 14 percent protein to aid in the development of gluten to help the bread rise.
To accomplish this cake flour is heavily milled to achieve a very fine grain. The very fine grain helps to absorb butter and other fats along with higher quantities of sugar. With it's higher amount of starch it is better suited for certain baking tasks. Cake flour is much lighter than other types of flour therefore if substituting cake flour for regular flour use 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons.
Do not use cake flour to make breads as the lower gluten content will inhibited proper rising of yeast based baked goods.
