Subbing all purpose flour for cake flour May 1
A question I get asked on a regular basis is “Can I substitute all purpose flour for cake flour?” It is far less common to hear the reverse (although I have actually done so in recipes when I was out of flour and couldn’t be bothered to go to the store), since if you have one kind of flour at home, it will generally be all purpose.
The answer to the question is yes, but the substitution is not one-to-one. The general rule of substitution is 1 cup of all purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons (1c - 2tbsp) is equivalent to 1 cup of cake flour. If you want to substitute cake flour for all purpose, use 2 cups of cake flour plus 2 tablespoons (2 cups + 2 tbsp). If you do decide to use this sub, treat the all purpose flour just as you would cake flour (sifting before measuring, etc.).
Now, that said,I would highly recommend that you stick with whatever type of flour your recipe calls for, even when it means going out to the store to buy a box. The substitution is fairly reliable, but this is definitely a “substitute at your own risk” sort of thing. Different flours have different protein (gluten) contents and different weights, and different flours can result in dramatically different results in different recipes. All purpose flour has about 11% protein content, while cake flour has 6-8%. Some recipes need that low protein content to remain tender and light (like Angel Food Cake) and others are flexible enough (like some cakes or loaves) to use the substitution, but knowing that all purpose flour is so much “stronger” than cake flour should help you decide when you can substitute and when you may not want to.
Note: Some advocate using 1 cup of all purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons plus 2 tbsp cornstarch as a substitute for cake flour. This should work just as well, perhaps better, as the gluten-free cornstarch can cut down on the protein content of the all purpose flour. It still won’t produce results quite as good as cake flour and involves an extra step from the one I mentioned above, so I personally prefer the simpler sub. But going out and buying cake flour (or all purpose) is always going to be your best bet.
Karen May 2
What about Wondra flour. I scored a great deal on a box of it but can’t see myself making a whole lot of gravy or popovers with it.
Nicole May 7
Wondra flour is its very own entity. It is very low protein also called “instant flour” because it can be almost instantly incorporated into sauces, etc, without the clumping associated with regular flour. You can sub wondra flour with cake or all purpose in a gravy, but I wouldn’t substitute cake or all purpose with wondra in a baked recipe.
Fortunately, there are some recipes out there that call for it, so just keep an eye out for those.
vp5 Nov 21
I have a baking question. I decided to substitute a portion of the AP flour for cake flour in my chocolate chip cookie recipe, in hopes of a puffier cookie…they went FLAT! I thought for sure this would be the answer but I am so puzzled. Any suggestions?
vp5
Corgan Aug 27
im a kid making cookeis by myself and was wondering about a flour substitute?? i cant go buy anything. im broke
Sakura Sep 1
Well,
To reply to vp5’s question,
Did the original recipe use baking powder? If you want the cookies to be “puffier” adding more baking powder is the best bet.
Thank you for the flour subsitution. I was about to make sponge cake but I ran out of cake flour and I only got all purpose at home and stores close at labor day.
emily Dec 12
Can you use pastry four in any way as a substitute for cake flour? I really want to make an angel food cake but I can only find pastry flour not cake flour in the local supermarkets that I can use! It sounds like pastry flour is closer to cake flour than all-purpose is, so would it be better to sub. pastry flour for the cake flour then all-purpose?
Betsy Scotto Jun 10
I have a wonderful recipe for pound cake which calls for SELF-RISING CAKE FLOUR. The only brand I know of is PRESTO, which is only available in certain markets. How can I make regular cake flour into self-rising cake flour?
MichaellaS Jul 20
tks for the effort you put in here I appreciate it!
Anonymous Aug 2
so jampong!
ursula Aug 29
i am having a hard time finding cake flour help
ursula Aug 29
i am having a hard time finding cake flour help
Anonymous Sep 20
Thank you for the tip! Used the minus / plus c.s. version for an apple pie crust. Worked out GREAT! Many thanks, again.
BeachBum Sep 24
I have been making a fantastic chocolate cake (very-very moist) for years, pasted down from grandmother to grandmother. In my experience most chocolate cakes are real chokers. So… after all these years of making the perfect chocolate cake, my light-bulb went off to wonder why I wasn’t using Cake Flour for my wonderful cake.
The short of it is Cake Flour makes my wonderful cake very dry (as in not just a little dry, but VERY DRY). As it really is not possible to make my wonderfully moist cake any better, I believe the experiment is over, and I will continue to use Gold Medal All Purpose Flour to make cakes more moist than they would be using Cake Flour.
The best advise here is… stick with whatever type of flour your recipe calls for. If you are really considering trying to substitute one flour for another in your recipe, you really should reconsider if at all possible.