Cake Flour

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Ingredients

  • For 1 cup Cake Flour:
  • 1 cup Minus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose
  • OR- make your own-for 1 cup cake flour:
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Preparation

Step 1

Flour Power
Cake flour is soft wheat flour with low protein content. What does this mean to a novice baker? It's more forgiving than all-purpose flour. If you accidentally overmix the batter, the cake's texture won't be tough after baking. Less gluten is developed, and for cakes this is a critical factor—it means a soft, tender crumb. Cake flour also is bleached, which explains its very bright, white appearance.
If you use all-purpose flour instead of cake flour, reduce the amount of flour called for by 2 Tbsp. per cup. Or make your own version of cake flour by whisking together 3/4 cup all-purpose flour plus 2 Tbsp cornstarch for each cup of cake flour.