I’ve shared my love of decorating cakes over the past year and a half, and with that hobby comes a lot of baking!

I’ve made a variety of cakes, and some use cake mix, some use all-purpose flour, and occasionally, they call for cake flour. You’d think that with how much I love baking cakes, I would have a supply of cake flour on hand- but I don’t! My local grocery store doesn’t carry any, and I just never think about it when I’m farther out of town.

Luckily, you can make your own substitute at home! But before we get into that, what exactly is the difference between cake flour and regular, all-purpose flour? Why not just sub cake flour for the regular stuff?

The first thing you’ll notice is that cake flour and all-purpose flour definitely look different. Cake flour is bleached, so it looks much whiter than unbleached all-purpose flour. It’s also been more finely milled, so it’s a much lighter, softer-looking flour.

The biggest difference however, is in the science of the flour. Cake flour has a lower protein content, which means it produces less gluten. The more gluten a flour has, the more density and volume you’ll end up with. While we’re trying to get a dense, chewy texture when baking bread, we’re going for light and fluffy with cakes, and less gluten is the way to do that! When using cake flour, your product will be fluffy and moist and tall- the perfect cake. Cake flour is also great for pastries and biscuits- anything where the goal is light and fluffy compared to dense and chewy.

Now if you’re in a time crunch and really have no other options, all-purpose flour will still work in recipes that call for cake flour. But just know that you’ll be sacrificing some of the quality of the texture and taste! It just won’t be the same.

If you’re wanting to get as close to cake flour as possible, but can’t find it or can’t get to the store, there is a way to make your own at home! It won’t quite be the same, but it will be a step up from just using regular all-purpose flour!

Basically, you’ll measure out one cup of all-purpose flour, and then remove 2 tablespoons. You’ll then replace those 2 tablespoons with cornstarch. It will help lessen the protein content, helping to give more of that lighter texture we’re going for. I’ve included a basic recipe that you can import into Cook’n to make things easy!



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Do you like baking with cake flour? Is it a staple in your pantry, or something you only use occasionally? Do you use it solely for cakes, or do you like to use it in other recipes? I’d love to hear your experiences! Share with us in the comments below!