What to use instead of 1 cup cake flour
1
1 cup all-purpose flour minus 2 tbsp, plus 2 tbsp cornstarch
Sift together twice to blend evenly.
Best for: Layer cakes, cupcakes, sponge
Chef's tipMake a batch: whisk 5 cups flour with 10 tbsp cornstarch and use it cup for cup.
Substituting in baking
Baking is chemistry, so swaps work best when you change one ingredient at a time and keep everything else exactly as written. Measure the substitute carefully, ideally by weight, and expect small differences in texture or browning. If a bake really matters, such as a birthday cake, try the swap in a half batch first.
Need more or less than 1 cup cake flour? Scale the swap the same way as the original amount, or paste your recipe into the recipe converter to scale everything at once.