How To Make Cake Flour
Written by joythebaker on September 20, 2009 – 12:28 pm -
Cake flour. Let’s face facts: I never have cake flour on hand when I need it. Luckily, there’s a super easy way to turn good old all-purpose flour into cake flour, lightening your cake crumb, making it super soft and delicious. Maybe you already know this trick. It’s a good one.
Here’s a step by step. From me to you!
How to Turn All-Purpose Flour into Cake Flour
Step One: Measure out the all-purpose flour that you’ll need for your recipe.
Step Two: For every cup of flour you use, take out two tablespoons of flour and return it to the flour bin. Throw the cup of flour (minus the two tablespoons) into a sifter set over a bowl.
Step Three: Replace the two tablespoons of flour that your removed with two tablespoons of cornstarch.
Step Four: Sift the flour and cornstarch together. Sift it again, and again and again. The cornstarch and flour need to be well incorporated and the flour aerated. Sift the flour and cornstarch mixture about five times. Look at that! You just made cake flour!
Tags: cake, cake flour, kitchen tips, kitchen tricks
Posted in Cakes, In the Kitchen, Tips and Tricks | 99 Comments »
Cake flour is one of those ingredients that I have always been confused about…therefore I never make anything with it. I forget to buy it at the store and then when I see it in a recipe I agonize about whether or not I could substitute regular flour until I turn the page and decide to just make something else. Now I can go forth and bake all those recipes! Now, if only I hadn’t run out of sugar yesterday….
Wow – Great tip. I wish all conversions were this easy.
I see my country be sold an excellent opportunity for the constructionb:) thanks joy!
I thought it was more complicated, thanks!
Thanks so much…
Oh Thank you so much!! I think I’ll go look for a recipe that asks for cake flour now. Just because I can!
Wow…you made that sound much easier than I would have ever anticipated. I guess the aeration really takes out the usual gluten factor that would be worse during mixing if there was no aeration beforehand?
Love you Joy! I make it even easier by placing the 2 tablespoons of flour directly into the measure cup and than add the flour on top of that…only because i’m lazy!!!
Thank you so much for this helpful tip. What is the difference between cake flour and bread flour?
thanks
Thank you Joy! This is perfect timing, because I was just wondering
BTW, your blog is my new favorite and I’m preparing to make your red velvet cupcakes tonight.
Hi Joy, very good tip! I seldom buy cake flour and I always have all purpose flour and cornstarch. Thanks. My question is, can I make a bulk of this mixture, keep it in an airtight container and whenever I need cake flour I just get what I need from that container?
Thanks for the awesome tip!
Cake flour is expensive and I rarely buy it, I’ll be trying this out for sure!
What an amazing tip! I can’t stand having four different types of flour–what a waste of space. One down…three more to go!
Joy, you’ve caused me to have another one of those moments. You know, the moments when you realize you can actually make stuff. I had one this summer with the vanilla extract (which is currently in my closet), and now you’re telling me I can make cake flour? You rock, Joy. No joke.
Sweet! This is fabulous because I’m pretty sure we can’t get cake flour over here in China. What about bread flour or is that pushy?
wow – didn’t even know it made that big a difference!
This is a great tip when you’re in a pinch, thanks for sharing!
Never head of ‘cake flour’ before. Will definately use this next time to see what difference it makes.
THANK YOU!!! I’m making black and whites this weekend and have been debating whether or not to buy cake flour for them. Now I know I can just make my own!
Thanks for reminding us all of this trick. Has anyone ever read the A Merrier World blog where Kate turns all purpose unbleached flour into the equivalent of bleached cake flour using her microwave? Riveting foodie reading
Here’s a link for you: http://amerrierworld.wordpress.com/kate-flour/
you make my life sooooo much easier!!
thanks a million! i definitely need to link this to my blog:)
Oh my gosh! I have cake flour too! It is like 5 years old because I rarely use it. Now I know I will never have to buy it again. Great post!
Great tip..I like making cakes with cake flour.. Cake flour does provide a softer texture and finer crumb..
joy, are you lightly spooning the flour into the cup, as a recipe often calls for, or are you filling up the cup measure, knowing you will be taking 2T’s out?
Thank you Joy! I hate buying cake flour because it’s so danged expensive for such a small box. (Over $6 here in Alaska, I think). I’ve been too lazy to look up making my own. You’re a lifesaver, as usual!
Thanks, Joy! It never occurred to me that cake flour wasn’t somehow magic and unable to be created at home. You’ve just given me the power to use my favorite flour in all of my recipes!
The pictures on this are awesome – and the “recipe”, too. :>) I linked to this on my weekly link roundup – post is under my name. Thansk!!
What a relief to find this site with a very great tip!! Cake flour is not available here in New Zealand and I was getting very frustrated wondering what I could do with the recipes I have that use it – Thanks, Jo
How easy. I NEVER have cake flour on hand and with this tip, never will. But that won’t stop me from making recipes that call for it. Thanks!
Thanks for the excellent tip! Most cake flour is bleached and heavily processed, so it’s great to know that I can make cake flour at home with good quality flour!
Thanks for the wonderful tip.do u know anything about the self raising flour or is it the same as cake flour?
Thank you so much for posting about this! Cake flour is not available in the UK and I have many american baking books which mostly call for cake flour. The magnolia bakery book being one of many! Now I can bake on thanks to you!
So helpful, thanks! We are in Kenya, where cake flour is not available.
Thanks so much! Who knew it was that easy?!
Thank you so much for the information. I dont know where you live but here in GA cake flour I thought had gold in it. Thats a pretty easy and not a costly receipe, thank you again!!!
Wow! I never knew that. Such a great bit of information to keep on hand!
Now I shall never have to run to the store again to buy cake flour if I happen to be out and only need a few cups!
p.s. I love your blog!!!
Hey thanks,
I am one of those who loves to bake but always skip over recipes that required cake flour….Your tip is awesome and I will let you know how my pineapple cake turns out.
Thanks for the help and great tip.
Is it possible to combine the flour and cornstarch and just run it in the food processor for a while? I loathe sifting
[...] Hope you find this bit of info helpful! If any of you want the inside scoop on how to make your own cake flour at home, check out Joy the Baker’s Blog in my Blog Roll for some simple how-to info, or click here! [...]