If you have ever wondered why you may need cake flour versus another type of flour, there are a couple of differences to be aware of.
The major difference between cake and bakers flours is in the amount of protein they contain and how they are milled. Bakers flour is most often used when baking bread, muffins, cakes, and is the flour often used in pancake batter. I personally use bakers flour for almost everything. I occasionally have a few other whole grain flours in my pantry for bread baking but generally speaking I don't specifically buy self raising, plain, or cake flour. I just use the bakers flour and then adapt with a recipe such as this to get a finer crumb in the sponge cake or perhaps other cakes.
When to use cake flour? (On this site, whenever the recipe tells you to!) But in general, all light, fluffy cakes call for flour with very little protein. For this desired texture it's recommended to use cake flour. You wouldn't use cake flour for a brownie or mud cake for example.
We have been making a lot of sponge cake recipes for the Insiders Club recently and rather than buy cake flour, we thought we would show you how easy it is to make.
The ratio is all you need to know. If you are not using a Thermomix, the common ratio is 2 tablespoons cornflour or cornstarch to 1 cup of flour. Then sift and sift and sift again so that the cornflour is well mixed throughout before using as recipe directs.
This recipe is our self raising cake flour and we will refer to it frequently throughout this site. There you go! Simple. Less ingredients to maintain in your pantry!
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Need
- 225 Grams bakers or strong flour
- 25 Grams cornflour or cornstarch
- 2 Teaspoons baking powder
- 1 Teaspoon baking soda
Do
- 1
Place all ingredients into the Thermomix bowl and combine 10 sec/speed 10.
- 2
Use as cake flour when required in a recipe. This will give you a fluffier cake, a lighter sponge with a finer crumb because it has less gluten in it.