An Easy Recipe for Cake Flour

By
Carroll Pellegrinelli
Carroll Pellegrinelli
Expert baker and published author, Carroll Pellegrinelli shares her knowledge of bread baking and desserts.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Updated on 02/10/23
Cake Flour recipe

 The Spruce

Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 0 mins
Total: 10 mins
Servings: 8 servings
Yield: 1 cup

Most flours are made from wheat. But all flours are not the same. If a recipe, such as soft layered cakes, calls for cake flour instead of the all-purpose flour you have in your pantry, follow this easy recipe. You can whip up a batch of this light, airy flour in no time. The addition of cornstarch to a scant cup of all-purpose flour will mimic the result of cake flour; it won't be exactly the same, but it will yield a softer, more delicate crumb.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch

  • 14 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Cake Flour recipe ingredients
     The Spruce

  2. In a dry measuring cup, place 2 level tablespoons of cornstarch.

    cornstarch in a measuring cup
     The Spruce

  3. Fill the rest of the cup with all-purpose flour using the proper method of measuring flour.

    Fill the rest of the cup with all-purpose flour
     The Spruce

  4. Make sure you sift the flour to distribute the cornstarch evenly before using it to bake a cake. When added to all-purpose flour, cornstarch prevents gluten from forming.

    sift the flour for the Cake Flour recipe
     The Spruce

  5. This recipe will replace one cup of cake flour.

Tip

  • Once the cake flour is added to the dry ingredients from the recipe with which you'd like to use it, mix well with a wire whisk.
  • Have cake flour, but no all-purpose flour? You'll need 1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons of cake flour to replace 1 cup of all-purpose flour in a recipe.

What's the difference between cake and all-purpose flours?

The major difference between cake and all-purpose flours is in the amount of protein they contain and how they are milled. All-purpose flour is most often used when baking bread, muffins, cakes, and is the flour often used in pancake batter.

When to use cake flour?

Light, fluffy cakes call for flour with very little protein. For this desired texture it's recommended to use cake flour. But if you desire to make bread, you'll need to opt for a flour with a lot of protein, and all-purpose flour works best.

What type of flour has less gluten?

Protein and gluten are directly related. Gluten in flour helps form texture in your baked items. Flours that contain less protein will also have lower gluten content. Similarly, flours with high protein will create more gluten. Hence, a cake flour contains less gluten than all-purpose flour.


All-purpose flour generally has​ a protein content of 10 to 13 percent. Cake flour has 8 to 9 percent protein.

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Nutrition Facts (per serving)
57 Calories
0g Fat
12g Carbs
1g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 8
Amount per serving
Calories 57
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g 0%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 0mg 0%
Total Carbohydrate 12g 4%
Dietary Fiber 0g 1%
Total Sugars 0g
Protein 1g
Vitamin C 0mg 0%
Calcium 2mg 0%
Iron 1mg 4%
Potassium 15mg 0%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)