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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Thank you so much for this! I live in Buenos Aires and every time I try to find baking ingredients like say cake flour, I cant. This is so helpful! Now its time to make David Leite’s famous chocolate chip cookies….
This was a fantastic find! My sister and I have been craving cinnamon rolls but the recipe we want to use calls for cake flour and, of course, we have none. We shall crave no more! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
I often make cinnamon rolls for my family, but never saw a recipe calling for cake flour in cinnamon rolls. Would you be willing to share your recipe?
Thanks,
Dennis
Did you ever receive the cinnamon roll recipe?
Yes me to would love to have this cinnamon roll recipe please share…..
Thank you Colleen
I have been using Softasilk for many years but it getting so expensive. I sell my cakes so I need this to perform the same. I see there is no baking powder or baking soda so will it rise the same in a heavy cake?
Thanks for the tip. I’m new to baking and the sound of CAKE FLOUR sounds not only expensive but also intimidating. Great I found your site. I’m learning so much from you.
Sharon,
Check the label. I believe Softasilk is just cake flour; it doesn’t have leavenings added, so this recipe should work fine for you. SELF-RISING flour, on the other hand, does have baking soda or baking powder (or both) added.
You can make your own self-rising flour, too. For each cup of all-purpose flour, add 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix or sift to combine well. Sometimes I also blend in a 1/2 tsp. of Cream of Tartar for a lighter texture (especially for cupcakes).
If you use self-rising flour as a substitute for all-purpose flour, remember to omit the extra salt and baking powder called for in the recipe, because it’s already in the flour.
HTH!
Amy! Thanks so much! This is awesome!
Hi Joy. I live in the Netherlands too and can’t find cake flour. This is probably a stupid question, but I want to be sure I’m doing this right. I have a recipe that calls for 2-1/4 cups of cake flour. Just to be sure, I should measure out 2-1/4 cups of all purpose flour, take away 4-1/2 T. flour and replace it with 4-1/2 T. corn starch. Then I sift it 5 times. Now, do I use ALL of this “cake flour” that I’ve just made in my recipe, or do I measure out 2-1/4 cups from it again? Thanks for your advice!
this confused me joy, where the girl was asking about measuring out the amount, then remeasuring the flour after the cake flour was made, can you specify for me? I DIDN’T see your comment back! thank you. I hope this helps, I’ve never baked a cake before, because the cake flour detoured me from trying, but tonight we are broke, and have alot of sweet toothes to satisfy!LOL>
I baked a cake with cake flour I loved it then I baked a cake with just flour it wasn’t as good it was like it was dry.I didn’t know you could make cake flour.I just bought some today & you don’t get much.I went to cooking school lol.
Thank you I love your blog.
this is really great,I love learning how to make things myself.
Wow!!! This just made my day, as I was pouting around about having to buy cake flour from the local grocery store instead of my usual store where it is about $4 more for a smaller bag!! THanks so much!!
Do you have any weighted measurements for this recipe? How many grams of flour would you use and how much cornstarch?
Dear Joy, thanks for the tips! I was wondering if you know how to make pastry flour, both whole-wheat and regular? I live in Norway and we don´t have fancy stuff like cake and pastry flour here….
thanks again!
ahHA! I can now have UNBLEACHED cake flour!
Oh girl,
I needed this, like, a year or so ago. I finally found some at the store. I’ll be bookmarking this little tidbit for when I run out.
Thanks!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! My favorite coffee cake recipe that I make all the time calls for cake flour. Now I no longer need to consider buying stock in Softasilk or Swans Down!
Get out! THIS is good stuff. Sorry Swan’s:(
Thank you!!!
Thanks so much for this great tip. I found a cinnamon roll recipe recently that called for Cake Flour and I went out and bought a bag. At least I know now how to make my own.
Hi! What if you need sifted flour before measuring, do you sift the flour first the minus the 2 TBSP. and then add the 2 TBSP. of cornstarch??? How should I do it???
Hi Joy- could you do this with wholemeal flour in the same proportions?
Joy oh Joy, am here with questions galore!!
Am thrilled to find this post jus the day i was thinking to make my own cake flour!!
Ur the best!!
Now resourcing , can u pleasssseee,pinky promissee please, help me with where online i’ll find the above used cornstarch, ie Kingsfords Cornstarch, aint in the US but i can manage with any source online that might have it!!
Other thing is LOVE ur red measuring cup, is it ceramic?wat brand?
And will i find it online?
love the measuring spoon too and would be so grateful for that info too!!
Thannnksss a ton lods and looking foward to hear from ya!
Happy sunshine day!
Joy, thank you -cake flour has always been a problem for me.
Sooooooooooo easy!….I didn’d beleived that was so easy to do cake flour…I have never look for it here in Mazatlan, but I have a lot of receipes that use it….
I’ll try it.. thanks a lot!!
XOX
Thank you so much for this recipe!
I actually found it in a few other places but wanted to double check a few other sites just to make sure it was right; and let me just say that I love LOVE love the look and welcoming of your website. It’s very cozy and casual and I love the visual tutorial. Thumbs up for your fantastic work.
Thanks Again! Happy Holidays!!
I have the same question as Lizzy regarding re-measuring. I’ve been told to measure SIFTED flour for a cake to keep it from being too heavy.
FROM LIZZY: Hi Joy. I live in the Netherlands … Just to be sure, I should measure out 2-1/4 cups of all purpose flour,….. Then I sift it 5 times. Now, do I use ALL of this “cake flour” that I’ve just made in my recipe, or do I measure out 2-1/4 cups from it again?
We appreciate your advice.
bLENDER: Would you trust using a blender instead of a sifter? I’ve heard of some folks doing that.
Thanks, when I make a cake from scratch just using the sifted flour the texture was never that of the Swans Down cake flour. My cakes were o.k. but never consistency I wanted. The cornstarch is the missing link. I can’t wait to try it. Tips: Did you know there are 15 cups of flour to every five pound bag of flour?
Thanks so much!! I have been buying cake flour for years; so very expensive. Then I had a ah ah moment; why not get the recipe to make cake flour. Thanks so much Joy!!
Thanks SOOO much! I was just in the middle of a baking when I glanced over the recipe and read that I needed CAKE FLOUR. All I had was all purpose flour, and I thought I would have to throw out the batter….But then I looked up your website and WALLA~ now I can complete my yummi red velvet cup cakes!! THANK YOU
Thank you! This is super! I have a hard time finding cake flour in fancy or not so fancy food stores in my neighborhood. It makes me sad when I have to think twice before trying new recipes from my favorite Dorie Greenspan’s Baking book. Thanks again.
just used this lovely little tutorial today.
thank you for making my birthday cake turn out quite amazingly. :)
what a great idea. I spent almost an hour in three different grocery stores looking for cake flour…without any luck. So I called my husband who got on the internet and found your tip about making my own. I’ll be sure to save this for the future. Thanks!
Thankyou …wow……… it’s so simple…thankyou for your fab tip …and all this time I been searching for the ”cake flour”…!
Im new to baking and I have read so many recipies with cake flour…but know I can make my own… :)
Love this, and use it every time one of my recipe’s calls for cake flour. Thank you so much!
Joy, your website is fabulous. Your site has never let me down, and I bake to reduce stress. So you can imagine my monthly baking supplies bill! Thank you!
Joy, My recipe calls for “Cake Flour”. I have all purpose flour…. and NO cornstarch. Any other suggestions? I have tapioca flour….. I don’t suppose that could be used in place of Cornstarch?
Thanks;
T.
Thank you SOO much!!! I’ve had some recipes sitting around neglected because I don’t have cake flour around, but now I can try it without having to buy special flour, AND find a use for that ridiculously large Costco sized tub of cornstarch!! My hero!
I am wondering if these directions call for too much cornstarch per cup of flour. I made a cake from The Cake Bible (“All Occasion Downy Yellow Butter Cake”) for my son’s birthday using the above cake-flour substitution and it turned out poorly. The cake didn’t rise well and has a texture that is somewhat like sawdust. It also parches your mouth. Those are phenomena I associate with cornstarch.
Wow!!! I’ve often been faced with this problem. I only keep ap flour and didn’t know how to ‘make’ cake flour. Thanks so much!!!
Great! Thanks! Using it to make Buttercream Nutella Cupcakes from a recipe a friend on F/B posted!
This is a great substitute for cake flour, but it isn’t cake flour. Cake flour has a lower protein content than all purpose flour and it is made from soft winter wheat. I have used this method when I found it difficult to find real cake flour, and it does work quite well. I’ve also only used 1tbssp corn starch per cup of flour and it works well too.
i need my own little joy the baker in my kitchen whenever i’m cooking! thanks for the instructions!
This was so so helpful. We’ve bookmarked it and refer back to it all the time. Thank you for writing this up and for your lovely pictures!
Soo helpful! Thanks a ton :)
Thank you sooo much for posting this!!!! I have been searching all over my town at every convenience, grocery & department super store for cake flour and can not find any!!!
Thank you. Trying new cake recipe that call for cake flour, which I did not have. Saved me another trip to the store.
I am trying to bake a cake for my niece’s birthday but all the recipes call for cake flour. One recipe has 5 cups cake flour. If I do what they show me about making my own cake flour Do I use 5 cups of the all-purpose flour and cornstarch together? Someone please help me.
Thanks,
Confused in Va
Thank you very much, that helped out a bunch.
Thank you! We don’t have cake flour in UK and now I can make all your wonderful recipes. I used it to make your chocolate orange bundt cake and it was fantastic!
I am living in UK, it is difficult to buy all purpose flour and I don’t think you buy cake flour at all. I can’t find these flours in any supermarkets. Without all purpose flour, I can’t make cake flour? Can I use self-raising flour instead of all purpose flour then use the exact same method with corn flour? Thank you
Thank you. this is so helpful, i couldn’t find any cake flour in the stores at all. ><
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