Cake Flour Substitute

All You Need Is Two Ingredients

Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 0 mins
Total: 5 mins
Servings: 4 servings
Yield: 1 cup

If you, like most home cooks, are just a casual baker, it's likely that the only flour in your pantry is all-purpose. And most of the time, that's all you will need—recipes for cookies, muffins, and other baked goods don't typically call for anything beyond AP flour.

Every now and then, there might be a baking project that requires a specialized flour. You may want to finally dabble in sourdough (which requires bread flour) or attempt a show-stopping layered cake (which means you'll need cake flour). If you're making the latter, there's no need to run out and buy a bag of cake flour since it's extremely easy to create a suitable substitute at home—all you need is all-purpose flour and cornstarch. 

What Is Cake Flour?

Cake flour, as the name suggests, is often called for in cakes. It's a soft wheat, low-protein flour with a fine texture, milled from the endosperm of the wheat kernel. It is lighter and has very little gluten, making for tender and less dense baked items. All-purpose flour generally has​ a protein content of 10 to 13 percent, while cake flour has eight to nine percent protein.

Can I Use All-Purpose Flour Instead of Cake Flour?

While you can certainly go ahead and use all-purpose flour instead of cake flour, there'll be a noticeable difference in the texture and crumb. Because cake flour is lower in protein and gluten, it yields a far more tender, moist cake.

Cake Flour Can Go Beyond Cakes

Cake flour isn't just for cakes. It is a good alternative for light, fluffy biscuits or scones, or use it in place of all-purpose to make pancakes, waffles, muffins, and quick breads. Because of the low-gluten content, it isn't a good choice for pie crust, yeast breads and rolls, cookies, or pizza crust

If your cake or pastry recipe calls for all-purpose flour and you feel cake flour would produce better results, you can substitute cake flour or the homemade cake flour blend for the all-purpose flour. Just use 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of cake flour (or the homemade blend above) for each cup of all-purpose flour in the recipe.

What To Make With Your Homemade Cake Flour

Now that you know how easy it is to make a substitute, there are plenty of tasty cakes waiting for you to bake up. Use the formula and instructions below to make as much cake flour as you need for the recipe.

Cake flour substitute

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"I have several types of flour in my pantry, but cake flour never seems to be one of them. Now that I know this simple, two-ingredient swap, I can make a substitute anytime I need to bake a cake, I used the substitute to make this lemon layer cake and it came out beautifully. The two layers baked up even with a soft and tender crumb."—Patty Lee

Cake Flour Substitute Tester Photo
A Note From Our Recipe Tester

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch

  • 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (about 3.75 ounces)

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Cake flour substitute ingredients
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  2. Spoon 2 level tablespoons of cornstarch into a 1-cup measuring cup.

    Tablespoons of cornstarch
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  3. Spoon all-purpose flour into the cup until it is almost overflowing.

    Flour
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  4. Using the flat side of a butter knife, sweep the knife over the top of the cup to level it.

    Sweep the knife over cup
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  5. Sift the flour and cornstarch mixture into a bowl. 

    Sift flour
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  6. Repeat to make as many cups as is needed for the recipe. When you have all of the flour and cornstarch you need in the bowl, blend it thoroughly with a whisk or spoon and then sift it.

    Repeat
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  7. Measure the fine, sifted cake flour, leveling each cup off. Each cup of cake flour will weigh about 4 ounces (all-purpose weighs in at about 4 1/2 ounces).

    Measure cake flour
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  8. Use in your favorite cupcake, cake, or pastry recipe and enjoy.

Recipe Variations

  • Self-Rising Cake Flour: You might occasionally come across a recipe for self-rising cake flour. Add 1 3/4 teaspoons of baking powder to each cup of cake flour or cake flour substitute and mix well. Sift and measure.
  • Pastry Flour: Combine 3 parts all-purpose flour with 1 part cake flour.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
115 Calories
0g Fat
25g Carbs
3g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories 115
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g 0%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 1mg 0%
Total Carbohydrate 25g 9%
Dietary Fiber 1g 3%
Total Sugars 0g
Protein 3g
Vitamin C 0mg 0%
Calcium 4mg 0%
Iron 1mg 7%
Potassium 30mg 1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)