It ’s a skillful thing when an appliance or ingredient ’s main use is flop there in the deed of what you ’re buying . Thewaffle branding iron , the eggbeater , gem mix and cake flour . With names like that it ’s hard to screw up .

Now that the cosmos is on a mission to broil as much in the kitchen as humanly potential , ingredients likeall - function flourand cake flour are in the public eye . For the inexpert bakers out there who ca n’t spot flour from baking soda or sugar from salt , here ’s an well-off explainer that tells you everything you need to bang about the difference between cake flour and all - purpose flour .

" patty flour has even less protein content than all - intent , ego - rise or pastry flour , " says bread maker and author of " Breaking Bread : A Baker ’s Journey Home in 75 Recipes , " Martin Philip . " Valued for its tenderness , cake flour make dandy cakes ! " Because of the low protein and high-pitched starch content , bar flour is essentially what reach patty solight and airy .

pretty cake

So , how does it get this way ? bar flour is milled from lenient pale yellow , which has the lowest amount of protein . Your typical batch of cake flour contains around5 to 8percent of protein , compared to all - role flour , which has around 10 to 13 percent . Along with its lowly protein , bar flour also contains very small gluten ; that ’s upright because that means it produces minimum bind , allow the patty tocrumblewith simplicity .

Cake flour also is chlorinated — which has nothing to do with consortium water supply . Instead it ’s a bleaching process that allows the starch to absorb more liquid and sugar , result in amoister patty .

So what if you do n’t have or ca n’t find cake flour ? Is the birthday cake you planned on baking your bestie destine ? Not really . you may make a similar version that works pretty well . Joy the Bakerhas a middling failsafe recipe we ’ve adapted slightly :

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Cake Flour FAQ