When baking desserts, we often come across recipes that require cake flour. It can be tempting to assume that cake flour is not that important and that it can just be replaced by all-purpose flour, but that’s not exactly right. While all-purpose flour is great for some baked goods, it’s less than perfect for cakes and similar desserts, and if a recipe requires cake flour you should absolutely use cake flour.
What’s the Big Difference?
Cake flour is made from low-protein wheat and contains less protein than regular flour. It’s a great choice for tender cakes and can help elevate them to another level. Cake flour tolerates adding more water and more sugar, which will make your cakes look and taste wonderful.
Finely ground cake flour can be bought in stores, but if you can’t get it for some reason and you need it for the recipe, you can make a replacement with all-purpose flour and cornstarch. There are many recipes for this if you want to try it, and we found one here.
The replacement is not as good as the real thing, but it will get the job done. It’s better to make it than to simply use all-purpose flour because you’ll be disappointed with the result.
