The lower protein content in cake flour means it has less gluten-forming potential, making it better suited to cakes.
You can go either way for cakes. For a lighter and airier type sponge cake, use cake flour. But if you don't have cake flour, don't worry because all purpose will do just the same thing. All purpose is going to create a denser cake, so it's all about preference.
You can use straight-up all-purpose flour instead of cake flour, but the texture of your baked goods won't be the same—they won't turn out nearly as tender and delicate.
Do You Have to Use Cake Flour in Recipes? No, you absolutely do not. If you are using low-protein flour, such as White Lily, then these flours are considered great for baking. The low protein content of the flour makes the a great general-use flour, but also a perfect flour for baking.
If you're substituting all-purpose flour for cake flour, you'll want to reverse these ratios: Use 2 tablespoons less AP flour per cup of cake flour, and add 2 tablespoons of corn starch per cup.
Cake flour is also sold in Australia as biscuit flour or pastry flour. It is made from softer wheat, which enables it to absorb more moisture and sugar. It has a lower protein level of around 6-9%, producing a softer texture in cakes, a flakier and moist pastry and a perfect crumb in cookies and biscuits.
Unless you're an avid baker, plain flour is usually your best option because its average protein content makes it highly flexible for baking purposes.
Cake flour is ground extra-fine, which results in a lighter, loosely-structured crumb and fluffy texture. Cake flour is ideal for baked goods with a tender texture due its low gluten content, which makes it easier to achieve lighter, tender textures when baking delicate sponges, cupcakes, muffins, and pastries.
Cake flour is a low protein flour that's milled into a fine consistency. It contains about 7-9% protein, while all-purpose flour, a harder flour, has anywhere between 10-12%.
"Cake flour provides structure to baked goods, just like regular all-purpose flour," says Mayfair. "However, because it is milled from soft wheat, cake flour has a lower protein content and a finer consistency, giving baked goods a lighter and more tender texture."
Making your own cake flour substitute is incredibly easy. Just take out two Tablespoons of flour from one cup of all purpose flour and add in two tablespoons of cornstarch or arrowroot powder to get one cup of cake flour.
All-purpose flour is versatile, as it contains an average amount of protein. The more protein in the wheat, the more gluten is formed. Gluten provides elasticity to the dough, helping it stretch and trap the gases formed by leavening agents like yeast and baking powder.
Because all-purpose flour is designed to work for every type of bake, its gluten content is moderate, at around 10 to 13%. Cake flour, however, has one of the lowest gluten contents, at around 7 to 9%, which makes a much softer, lighter crumb. Another important difference is grain size.
Cake flour doesn't contain any raising agents. So when using it, you will need to use baking baking powder or baking soda into your cake. When making your own homemade cake flour just note that cornstarch is not a raising agent.
Cake flour is much finer than all-purpose and easily clumps up while in its bag and even when transferred to a flour cannister at home. Because of this, we always recommend sifting cake flour before using it.
It should come as no surprise that the best flour for baking cakes is, well, cake flour. Cake flour contains the perfect amount of protein to give your cake structure and create the texture you're after. It's often found in a box – not a bag – and feels silky-smooth to the touch.
The culprit behind what makes a cake tough could be overmixing your flour. Flour is the foundation of baked recipes because it provides structure. When combined with liquid and after mixing, flour's protein (gluten) begins to develop.
For a light, fluffy dessert, turn to tender and delicate cake flour or pastry flour. These flours are finely milled and have a low protein content—around eight percent in cake flour and slightly lower for pastry flour—which is perfect for making light, tender cakes.
As I said before, you can use self rising flour for any desserts – be it cakes, cupcakes, breads, pancakes etc. Even if a recipe doesn't call for self rising flour but calls for all-purpose flour and baking powder, you can check the proportions and use self rising flour to get a beautiful texture in your desserts.
What Is the Benefit of Self Rising Flour? If you use self rising flour in your baked goods recipes that call for this product, you will see that your cakes and breads always rise perfectly, and more importantly, that you get a consistent rise every time.
Yes, you can use self-rising flour instead of cake flour but you have to make some adjustments due to the difference in the additional ingredients. You can turn the self-rising flour's protein content more similar to cake flour by removing 2 tbsp of self-rising flour and replacing it with 2 tbsp of cornstarch.
How does it compare to Plain Flour? The most obvious difference between cake flour and all-purpose (plain) flour is the protein content (which becomes gluten). The protein content of cake flour is about 6-7%, while the protein content of plain flour is slightly higher (around 9-12%).
A jack of all trades, hence the name. All-purpose flour, known as plain flour in Australia and “AP flour” among some bakers globally, is a general use white flour commonly used in making pasta, bread, pizza dough, pastries and other baked goods.
Self raising flour is most commonly used in the UK, New Zealand and Australia. This flour is made from plain all purpose flour and baking powder. It is used to make baked goods such as cakes, cupcakes, cookies and pancakes.