Cake Flour vs. All Purpose Flour - Sprinkles For Breakfast (2024)

FAQs

Cake Flour vs. All Purpose Flour - Sprinkles For Breakfast? ›

You CAN use all purpose flour as a substitute with a little doctoring. It will not give you the exact same results as pure cake flour, but it will give you a much lighter textured final product than solely using all purpose flour would.

Can I substitute all-purpose flour for cake flour? Yes, you can. You'll wind up with a similar cake, just with a slight difference in texture and crumb. Both flours perform the same in recipes — they'll mix into identical batters — but the final results will differ to a small degree.

If you opt for all cake flour cookies, less gluten is formed when you mix the cookie dough. The resulting cookie consistency post-baking is delicate, softer, fluffier, and, well, more cake-like. The color may end up paler, and the edges might not be as crispy. But the flavor should still deliver.

Cake flour is ground extra-fine, which results in a lighter, loosely-structured crumb and fluffy texture. Cake flour is ideal for baked goods with a tender texture due its low gluten content, which makes it easier to achieve lighter, tender textures when baking delicate sponges, cupcakes, muffins, and pastries.

Substitute Pastry Flour with All-Purpose Flour and Corn Starch. If you don't have cake flour, you can substitute 1 cup of pastry flour for 1 scant (slightly underfilled) cup of all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons of corn starch.

If you're looking for a safe bet or are new to cookie baking, all-purpose flour is your go-to option.

Cake Flour: Cake flour is very finely milled and has the lowest protein content (5%-8%), ideal for delicate cakes and tender baked goods, like muffins. Most cake flour is bleached, which provides a lighter appearance and mellow taste.

Add an extra 2 tablespoons per cup of cake flour to equal the quantity in 1 cup of AP flour. If you're substituting all-purpose flour for cake flour, you'll want to reverse these ratios: Use 2 tablespoons less AP flour per cup of cake flour, and add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch per cup.

Pastry flour is the middle ground between cake flour and all-purpose flour. Professional bakers love that it's finely milled with a protein content that hovers around eight to nine percent, striking the perfect balance between flakiness and tenderness while maintaining structure.

You can use either all-purpose flour or pastry flour; all-purpose flour gives you a sturdier muffin while a pastry flour muffin will be lighter and more delicate.

Can you make pastries with all-purpose flour? ›

This is why it's especially important to not overwork your dough—too much mixing will lead to a tough, chewy dough. However, pastry flour is not ideal for all pastries: cinnamon buns, for example, generally have a soft but dense dough, which is best achieved by using all-purpose flour.

I recommend cake flour for best results. However, you may substitute all-purpose flour (cookies will be less tender).

The difference between all-purpose flour and cake flour actually comes down to protein content. All-purpose flour has a higher protein content than cake flour: It's about 10 to 12 percent in all-purpose flour versus 7 to 9 percent in cake flour, depending on the manufacturer.

Making a cake flour substitute is easy with the following two ingredients: all-purpose flour and either cornstarch or arrowroot powder. Start with one level cup of AP flour, remove two tablespoons of the flour, and add two tablespoons of cornstarch or arrowroot powder back in.

Usually you can tell from the recipe - if the recipe states just "cake flour" and it includes raising agents such as baking powder and/or bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) then flour will be the "plain" (or "all-purpose") type.

All-purpose flour is versatile, as it contains an average amount of protein. The more protein in the wheat, the more gluten is formed. Gluten provides elasticity to the dough, helping it stretch and trap the gases formed by leavening agents like yeast and baking powder.

All-purpose flour is one of the best flours for pizza. It is commonly used to create thin New York style crusts, Neopolitan-style pizzas, and deep-dish pizza crusts. Freshly milled from certified organic, hard red wheat, this premium organic all-purpose baking flour is perfect for baking delicious pizza crusts.