Cake flour?
By foxyfire33
@foxyfire33 (10005)
United States
March 4, 2008 12:22pm CST
Ok, I'm really hungry for cake...just a plain yellow/white cake. I don't have any box mix so I looked up some recipes to make one from scratch. They all called for cake flour. All I have is all purpose flour. What's the difference? Can I use all purpose? Is there anything I need to add instead?
I'm not dragging everybody out in the rain for cake flour...and if I did go to the store I'd just get a box mix anyway lol...so I'm asking for some advice/help here. Tell me how I can make a cake please!
3 people like this
6 responses
@girlgonefishing (2174)
• United States
4 Mar 08
Hey there foxyfire. Cake flour is pre-sifted. That is the only difference I know of. I have used regular all purpose flour lots of times for cakes and pies. If you are really worried about it you can always just sift your all purpose flour if you have a sifter. If you don't, trust me, your cake will turn out just fine.
@foxyfire33 (10005)
• United States
4 Mar 08
I couldn't find a sifter but it turned out pretty good. I put it in too big of a pan (the recipe called for 2-8" pans and I only had one bundt cake pan) so it fell but still tastes the same!
1 person likes this
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
4 Mar 08
Here is a site that tells you what cake flour is and how to substitute ingredients for cake flour.
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/equivalents_substitutions.asp?index=C&tid=591
1 person likes this
@foxyfire33 (10005)
• United States
4 Mar 08
Thanks! I already made the cake by the time I saw this response but I book marked the link for future reference!
1 person likes this
@foxyfire33 (10005)
• United States
5 Mar 08
It tastes pretty good...a little heavy and it fell near the end of baking (the recipe I had said 2-8 inch pans which I didn't have so I used a bundt pan, I think it was too big) but appearnace didn't matter to me on this one! I said all in all it turned out well for a first try!
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
4 Mar 08
Oh? Did it turn out? Is it good? I still haven't made the perfect homemade cake, but still working on it..:)
@moondancer (7431)
• United States
4 Mar 08
you can use all purpose flour, but you'll need to add a bit of salt and some baking powder. Not backing soda, backing powder. So it will rise. Otherwise you'll have a flat cake and it will taste funny.
Try this recipe. 3 cups flour,
1 1/2 cups of sugar
3 eggs
2 tbl spoons flavoring any kind vanilla, nuts, whatever you like.
1 cup of cooking oil.
Mix it all together put in a cooking pan that you butter and sprinkle flour on. Put butter on the bottom and sides.
cook in a preheated oven on 400 degrees for 30- 40 minutes. poke it in the middle and make sure it is done.
Some extra things you can do,
You can drizzle icing on the top.
Put pineapple in the pan before you add the mix.
Add nuts in the mix.
I love this and it's good for a snack or with coffee.
1 person likes this
@foxyfire33 (10005)
• United States
4 Mar 08
Thanks! I'll keep that recipe in mind for next time1 I should have remembered to flour the pan instead of just greasing it because my cake stuck a littke but it tasted good anyway.
@tinamwhite (3252)
• United States
4 Mar 08
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.).
Hope that this is helpful, my friend..
Tina
@foxyfire33 (10005)
• United States
4 Mar 08
Thanks Tina! My cake turned out pretty good. It's really moist although probably a bit too crumbly and heavy. I just cared about the taste anyway so that's no big deal. Now I just have to eat the majority of it before the in laws come home LOL
@guss2000 (2232)
• United States
22 Mar 08
THis is probably not even an issue at this point anymore... but I'll respond anyway
I remember as a kid seeing my grandmom make cakes from scratch-- and I could have swore that she just used plan old flour-- however I do remember sifting it for her.
I really think that she didn't have "cake" flour but the regular all purpose flour.
@megumiart (3771)
• United States
4 Mar 08
I'm pretty sure all purpose will be fine. Cake flour is just presifted, and sometimes has cornstarch in it, to make cakes fluffier. :]
@foxyfire33 (10005)
• United States
5 Mar 08
Cornstarch? I hadn't heard that, maybe I'll look into it and see how much I should add for next time!
