Learn how to to make homemade cake flour with 2 simple ingredients. This is a quick and easy substitute with just all purpose flour and cornstarch!
You can go to the store and search for special flour (and spend more money), or just use what you likely already have around your house. It's also a great recipe to have in a pinch as a substitute when you didn't realize you ran out of your favorite flour! For more helpful baking tips, check out How to Blind Bake Pie crust and How To Make Brown Sugar.
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What is Cake Flour?
It's a low protein flour that's typically used in baking, especially cakes, in order to give them a wonderfully firm but soft texture. This is typically the flour that is used in fancy bakeries to create high quality desserts.
How to make DIY cake flour substitute recipe from scratch?
- Measure out- 1 cup of all purpose flour.
- Remove- 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour from your cup and dump it back into your flour bag.
- Add in- 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into your cup of all purpose flour.
- Sift- Five separate times!
See what I mean-You only need 2 ingredients to make this!
Cake Flour vs All-Purpose Flour vs. Pastry flour (Is it the same as plain flour?)
The main difference is the protein content. Cake flour has a lower protein content at 7%-8% than compared to a harder all-purpose flour with 10%-12% protein. This lower protein count implies that less gluten is formed as the batter is mixed, which results in a light, airy, tender and fluffy cake textures. It's also excellent to use for cupcakes. Pastry flour is also considered to be a high quality fine textured flour with about 9 percent protein.
I have used this flour in this Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cake and this Funfetti Cake (Confetti Cake) and these Yellow Cupcakes as well as these Red Velvet Cupcakes and of course these Chocolate Chip Cupcakes. In all of these recipes, I needed the main component of the dessert to be light because the frosting would be heavy. Using this type of flour helps to create balance between the light and heavy components.
In general, this flour is preferred for cakes, cupcakes and small tea cakes, which typically are fluffier than other desserts. It is typically NOT used to bake breads, cookies or muffins, which are denser.
Can I use all-purpose flour to replace cake flour?
No, these two flours cannot be used interchangeably. All-purpose flour would make your desserts more dense and heavy unlike the other one, which makes it light and tender.
Tips and techniques for homemade cake flour
The key is sifting- You need to sift these 2 ingredients multiple times because it allows the cornstarch and flour to mix together thoroughly.
Make more- You can easily double or triple this recipe and because it has a long shelf life.
Don't forget to remove some flour- You need to remove and replace 2 Tbs of flour with 2 Tbs cornstarch. If you forget to omit the flour, this recipe won't work at all.
Store in tightly sealed container- Because this will ensure humidity and other unwanted things stay out of the flour and keeps it fresh longer.
Where to buy this flour? If you are purchasing this rather than making at home, you can find it in the baking aisle of almost all the grocery stores. You can also order online. The two popular brands that I have used before are Swans Down and King Arthur.
Storage
Room Temperature- Store this in a sealed container away from humidity for up to 4-6 months. Beware of climate and humidity affecting shelf life.
Fridge- Store in a sealed container away from possible liquid spills for up to 1 year.
More Baking Tips
- How to Frost a Cake Smoothly
- How to Color Fondant
- How to Make Homemade Sprinkles
- How to Soften Brown Sugar
- How to Frost a Cake Smoothly
Recipe
Homemade Cake Flour Substitute
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Ingredients
- 1 cup All-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoon Cornstarch
Instructions
- Measure out 1 cup of all purpose flour.
- Remove 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour from your cup and dump it back into your flour bag.
- Now, add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into your cup of all purpose flour.
- Sift once.
- Sift twice.
- Sift thrice.
- Sift again.
- And sift one last time!
Notes
- Don't skip the sifting!
- Store this in a sealed container away from humidity at room temperature.
- Recipe can easily be doubled or tripled.
Nutrition
An automated tool is used to calculate the nutritional information. As such, I cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information provided for any recipe on this site.
Ella
That's good to know.. didn't know that cake flour is a mix of all purpose with cornstarch
Abeer Rizvi
I was a little doubtful too until I did my experiment with homemade and store bought cake flour and the cakes turned out exactly the same! No difference whatsoever. However, i did some research online and some bakers still say this homemade cake flour is not authentic... not sure why, considering it gives the same results...lol
rashmi anand
Nice tip...want to know if corn starch and corn flour is the same or is there any difference
Abeer Rizvi
I am not 100% sure but I have heard that they are the same thing. In the States, we call it corn starch and in England/Australia, it's called corn flour.
Jean
AND that is a gorgeous cake (under How to Frost a Cake Smoothly)! I took cake decorating classes years ago, but I rarely decorate any more--just on reallyreallyreally special occasions.
Barbara
You can make it kosher by adding potato starch to replace the cornstarch
Abeer Rizvi
oh that's awesome! I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing!
Jealith
Good to know, thanks!
Abeer Rizvi
Hope it helps
Julie
Is it possible to use your stand mixer to whip the flour and starch together instead of sifting 5 times? I have used this method for sifting in the past and it has worked well.
Thanks!
Abeer Rizvi
I have never tried that but that's a great idea and it would save so much time too! Thanks for sharing
Bec
We only have plain and self raising flour here, oh, and bread flour. When I sa American recipes calling for cake flour I always just used self raising.
Will try this. Though we do add cornflour, either corn or the wheaten, to some recipes
Abeer Rizvi
That's good to know! It's always nice to see how ingredients and recipes vary in different parts of the world.
Cheryl
I use half cake flour and all purpose flour in my cookies makes them even lighter.....
Abeer Rizvi
I have also started playing around with substituting some all purpose flour for cake flour in a few of my recipes and the difference is incredible! I will try your suggestion with my favorite cookie recipe next time
Shea
Hi,
This is a great substitute, but not the same thing. Cake flour is actually ground finer by 20 to 30 times which allows the cake to rise higher. Your experiment showed the same results because chocolate cakes mask flour differences a lot more than vanilla cakes. Try the experiment again with say a traditional 1-2-3-4 cake and you'll see the difference. Hope that helps!
Abeer Rizvi
Thanks for sharing that info, Shea. It's good to know! I will try out this substitute in a vanilla cake too and keep everyone updated
Elaine Smith
I have always made my own cake flour... Instead of taking out the 2 tablespoons for flour i just put 2 tablespoons for cornstarch in my 1cup measure and then fill up with flour and level it off and always sift it together...
Abeer Rizvi
Oh that's a great idea! I will give that a shot next time
T Claessens
I am gonna give it a try, but did you that if you sift the store bought that many times the cake will be more fluffy too.
however this is cheaper and I will know what is in it.
Abeer Rizvi
Yes, sifting makes the cakes fluffier and gives them a more tender texture. That's why many professional high-end bakeries use cake flour.
Camille
My granddaughter and I love to bake. She loves cakes. And decorating. Swill be using this cake flour many times. She will carry it through her life. Thank you.
Abeer Rizvi
Thanks Camille. It's so sweet that you and your granddaughter bake together...my fondest memories are baking with my Mom and Grandma
Carol
How about sifting it together in your food processor?Cae
Rol
Abeer Rizvi
I haven't tried that Carol but I did try sifting everything together in my KitchenAid mixer and that worked great!
SkyPriestess
I just dry-whisk it together in a bowl till it's light and fluffy. I also use non-GMO arrowroot starch instead of cornstarch. Potato starch is also tenderizing, probably more so than the arrowroot.
Abeer Rizvi
Oh that's good to know! I know some people have asked for cornstarch replacements. This would be helpful. Thanks!
Sherry Hill
I'm so glad you tried the arrowroot because my friend can't have corn and I can't have gluten and I want to try it with all purpose gluten free flour.
Abeer Rizvi
Hope this works out for you!
Sandy
It didn't pack like normal flour (I'm sure due to the corn starch) would it be OK to tap it so it will packed down. I noticed after sifting it five times it increased in value. I making this with gluten-free flour so I will see if it works
Abeer Rizvi
That's just air incorporated into the flour. You can just tap it down. It shouldn't be a problem.
Christine
I never knew this!!!!! I've always used cake flour for my cakes because to me it just makes such a difference in the lightness of the cake, does not make it dense, I do agree that it does cost much more than all purpose flour. I want to try this but very skeptical because the ingredients to bake a cake are not cheap, but the only way to know is to try it.....thanks
Abeer Rizvi
A lot of my cake recipes luckily don't require cake flour. So, I don't have it in my pantry often. But, in my experiment...the cake that I made with homemade cake flour and the cake that I made with store bought cake flour did not taste or feel any different. I would love to know how your cakes turn out...