If you don’t have cake flour on hand, or live in a country where its banned (like here in New Zealand!), then this cake flour substitute is a great alternative. You can use it for most recipes that call for cake flour, and my cakes always come out softer with a more delicate crumb when I use this substitute 🙂
What is cake flour?
Cake flour is a special type of flour that’s used to make, well, cakes! Its made from a soft wheat and has less protein than regular all-purpose flour. Cake flour has a protein content of around 6-8%, whereas all purpose flour has a protein content of around 10-12%. That makes cake flour perfect for making cakes and pastries that need to be super soft and tender.
Why is cake flour banned in New Zealand?
Cake flour is chlorinated, which basically means that is goes through a bleaching process which weakens the protein in the flour. It’s this bleaching process that makes it an illegal product here in New Zealand – who would have thought cake flour would be banned right?! I know I was first shocked to find this out.
So what is so bad about the bleaching process? Well, it’s the chemicals that are used in the bleaching process which are deemed as harmful, hence it’s ban.
DISCLAIMER: Please do not take this as me telling you not to use cake flour. Honestly, I haven’t done enough research in the area myself and it’s not something I actively avoid when I go overseas, so that’s completely up to you to decide 🙂
What is a cake flour substitute?
Now I am SO DETERMINED to share the softest, fluffiest cakes with you all, so I use a cake flour substitute in many of my cake recipes. This substitute consists of a mix of regular all purpose flour and cornstarch (hence why you’ll see cornstarch in a lot of my recipes, like my very popular vanilla cake and red velvet cake recipes!).
To make this cake flour substitute it’s really easy.
Place a cup of regular all purpose flour into a bowl and remove two tablespoons of it. Replace the two tablespoons with two tablespoons of cornstarch.
Give it a good mix and you have a cake flour substitute! 🙂
Cake Flour Substitute
Print Pin VideoIMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (120 g) flour - regular, all purpose
- 2 tbsp (16 g) cornstarch - also known as cornflour
Instructions
- Place your flour in a bowl and remove 2 tablespoons of it.
- Add in the cornstarch and mix until well combined (see note 1).
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
45 Comments
Can I use whole wheat flour In place of all purpose flour with corn starch
Hi Serina! I’ve never tried that before myself but I imagine it would work fine – just keep in mind wholemeal is heavier than regular flour so will alter the texture of your baked good if the recipe calls for all purpose flour 🙂
😍😍😍😍
Hi Maryam!
The recipe says 120 grams of flour. Is that with or without the two tablespoons you remove to add the cornstarch? Also, does it make a difference if the flour is bleached or unbleached?
Thank you!
Hi Vanessa! Ahh yes I understand how this can be a little confusing. The 120g is without the 2 tablespoons being removed 🙂 and here in New Zealand we don’t get bleached flour, so I can’t say for sure myself, but my understanding is that bleached flour is what is typically used for cake flour, so if you do have access to bleached flour then it would probably be better to use that instead of this cake flour substitute. Hope that made sense 🙂
Hi MK, is the ratio 2 tbsp of cornflour for every cup of flour?
Hi Liz! Yes that’s correct, but you will need to remove 2 tbsp of the regular flour and replace it with the cornflour so you have 1 cup total 🙂
Gosh this is very valuable info. Thank you so much for sharing. Such good tips.
Regards
Gail Amber
No problem Gail! Glad to hear you found the information helpful 🙂
Thank you Maryam for your wonderful recipes. I just chanced upon your blog & now I’m hooked!!! Keep them coming.
Thank you so much Jennifer! Hope you enjoy the recipes 😀
Awesome
Thank you! 🙂
Love it!
Thanks Vickie! 🙂
I really enjoy your content! Thank you for sharing such valuable information and tricks of baking .
Thanks Kimbra! Glad you’re enjoying the content 🙂
You are very right, here in Nigeria also, getting cake flour is not easy at all , so I have been mixing all purpose flour with corn flour to make my cake flour for so many years now and getting a very good result. Thanks for sharing.
I really love your tender teaching attributes, your recipes always comes out nice. I wish to be your mentee if possible.
Thank you so much, I always grab value from all your contents.
Thank you so much Okwor! 🙂 So happy to hear you’re enjoying the recipes. Unfortunately I don’t provide any mentoring at this stage but hope to provide something like this in the future 🙂