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!
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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!
:) Thanks again.
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 :)
Have you heard of the new inventions called VIDEO? Why take so many unnecessary individual pictures to help all us dummies when you can show us every single part of the process? You can show us how to hold the measuring spoon and how to open the package of flour without spilling it.
Why do you think you have to include useless pictures? Just because you have a digital camera and you can? We are NOT STUPID!
Whoa, Jojo, buddy- chill! Nobody thinks you’re stupid- I enjoyed the pictures myself. Perhaps she doesn’t have a video camera? Bake some cupcakes and relax.
whoa Jojo… is this really about the cake flour pictures or are you mad about something else.
i wasn’t trying to offend…. i was just trying to have this humble food blog. not a big deal. just cakes and cookies. nothing to yell about.
this is absolutley rediculous. all purpose flour is made of 25% cake flour and 75% bread flour. therefore you cannont make cake flour simply by adding cornstarch.
if you’re going to insult me Paul, at least spell ridiculous correctly. please and thank you.
If I’m extra lazy, can I throw it in the mixer and just sift it once or twice?
I love your pictures and I always refer to this post now and then when I need a cake flour substitution. And it !does! make great cakes. Keep on doing what you are doing, there are people out there who really enjoy it!
good 4 u,u should tell them off.u don’t owe them anything
Thanks so much for this great tip and the photos really helped with the step by step procedure which made everything really easy to follow. I will try to bake my white cake today using this method for the cake flour as we don’t have cake flours in New Zealand. Thank you-Thank you for the time and effort you put into this. It helps a lot. Happy New Year!
Hi, i just made a cake and put it in the oven, then took a second look at the recipe and saw that it said “cake flour”…uh oh.. Id never heard of it before, hopefully my (red velvet) cake turns out ok… =)
Thank you for a very detailed explanation. I was so stressed today as My family were invited to a dinner and I was supposed to bring a dessert, so I chose Julia Child famouse chocolate almond cake wich calls for cake flour but I could not even find it in a stoore. So now at least I have something to substitute it with =) For which I am grateful.
hi
i come from South Africa where cake flour is easily available and baking was truly a pleasure. i now live in the netherlands where cake flour seems to be non-existent so i was very relieved to find your substitution.
i bake a lot (have 2 growing boys!!) and i was wondering if it was possible to make a large amount of substitute cake flour and store it for future use. thank you. maimi
I would think this would be fine to store, and then just sift again before using.
Brilliant, just the other day I ran out of cake flour, and I was like, darn, I need to use cake flour to make this recipe…I actually called up the supermarket whether they are still open at 9.58pm! yes so late at night. In the end, I had to make do with what I’ve got left and cut down the other ingredients too. Still turned our fine :)
I was glad to find this. I promised my grandson I would help him to make a cake for school. It needs cake flour whick I do not keep in the house. So now we can make his cake and I do not have to go to the store. My grandson thinks I the smartest grandma to no this but I did have to tell him I found it on the internet. Thank you
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