Cake Flour Substitute

By
Diana Rattray
Diana Rattray
Diana Rattray
Southern-cuisine expert and cookbook author Diana Rattray has created more than 5,000 recipes and articles in her 20 years as a food writer.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Updated on 01/18/23
Cake flour substitute

The Spruce

Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 0 mins
Total: 5 mins
Servings: 4 servings
Yield: 1 cup
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
115 Calories
0g Fat
25g Carbs
3g Protein
Show Full Nutrition Label Hide Full Nutrition Label
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories 115
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g 0%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 1mg 0%
Total Carbohydrate 25g 9%
Dietary Fiber 1g 3%
Total Sugars 0g
Protein 3g
Vitamin C 0mg 0%
Calcium 4mg 0%
Iron 1mg 7%
Potassium 30mg 1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Cake flour, as the name suggests, is often called for in cakes, cupcakes, and some pastry recipes. Cake flour is a soft wheat, low-protein flour with a fine texture, milled from the endosperm of the wheat kernel. It is lighter and has very little gluten, making for tender and less dense baked items.

Cake flour isn't just for cakes. It is a good alternative for light, fluffy biscuits or scones, or use it in place of all-purpose to make pancakes, waffles, muffins, and quick breads. Because of the low-gluten content, it isn't a good choice for pie crust, yeast breads and rolls, cookies, or pizza crust. 

If you do a good deal of baking, cake flour is probably on your pantry shelf. But, if you don't bake often, a box or bag of cake flour might turn rancid before you use it all. If you don't have store-bought cake flour, it's extremely easy to make a suitable substitute at home with a combination of all-purpose flour and cornstarch. 

Use the formula and instructions below to make as much cake flour as you need for your recipe.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch

  • 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (about 3.75 ounces)

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Cake flour substitute ingredients
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  2. Spoon 2 level tablespoons of cornstarch into a 1-cup measuring cup.

    Tablespoons of cornstarch
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  3. Spoon all-purpose flour into the cup until it is almost overflowing.

    Flour
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  4. Using the flat side of a butter knife, sweep the knife over the top of the cup to level it.

    Sweep the knife over cup
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  5. Sift the flour and cornstarch mixture into a bowl. 

    Sift flour
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  6. Repeat to make as many cups as is needed for the recipe. When you have all of the flour and cornstarch you need in the bowl, blend it thoroughly with a whisk or spoon and then sift it.

    Repeat
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  7. Measure the fine, sifted cake flour, leveling each cup off. Each cup of cake flour will weigh about 4 ounces (all-purpose weighs in at about 4 1/2 ounces).

    Measure cake flour
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  8. Use in your favorite cupcake, cake, or pastry recipe and enjoy.

Tips

  • If your cake or pastry recipe calls for all-purpose flour and you feel cake flour would produce better results, you can substitute cake flour or the homemade cake flour blend for the all-purpose flour. Just use 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of cake flour (or the homemade blend above) for each cup of all-purpose flour in the recipe.
  • For a brief description of different types of wheat flour, see Types of Wheat Flour.

Recipe Variations

  • Self-Rising Cake Flour: You might occasionally come across a recipe for self-rising cake flour. Add 1 3/4 teaspoons of baking powder to each cup of cake flour or cake flour substitute and mix well. Sift and measure.
  • Pastry Flour: Combine 3 parts all-purpose flour with 1 part cake flour.
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