DIY Cake Flour

For any baker, one of the most frustrating things to discover mid-recipe is that you’re out of something. Then begins the process of trying to conjure up a substitute, or googling whether or not you really need that ingredient. Inevitably you make that trek to the grocery store to pick up the one item you need, praying all the while you didn’t forget something else, too. Well, if cake flour is one of those things you never seem to have when you need it, here’s a pretty east solution. If you’ve got regular flour and some cornstarch plus a sifter, you’ve got everything you need to make your own cake flour. Really.

And for those of you wondering “what the hell is cake flour and why do I care?”, cake flour is simply flour that is lower in protein than all-purpose flour. Less protein equals a lighter and more tender crumb. Although honestly, I only ever use it when making white or vanilla cakes and never chocolate. And I use the heck out of it when I make Jacques Torres’ chocolate chip cookies, which I’ll get around to posting someday.

But for now, here’s the scoop:

DIY Cake Flour

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Ingredients

  

• 1 cup all-purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons
• 2 tablespoons corn starch

Instructions

 

• To make one cup of flour, set a large sifter over a large bowl. Measure one cup of all purpose flour, removing two tablespoons. Put the flour into the sifter and add two tablespoons of corn starch. Sift into the bowl. Set out an additional bowl, and sift the four mixture back-and-forth three or four times. Use as needed.