Baking Science: Cake flour

When a recipe calls for cake flour..they mean cake flour.

I made this mistake when I was following a recipe from a Youtube video, and being the super efficient (lazy) person I am, I scrolled down the comments to see if cake flour was the same as standard flour. People commented that it was.

It wasn’t.

I didn’t realise this until I made a batch of cake flour and tested this on the same recipe.

The difference

The protein content is the difference. Standard flour has about 10-11% protein content compared to 8% in cake flour. Less gluten forms when it is mixed into a batter which gives a more soft and tender cake.

The recipe

Luckily for me, the recipe is easy.

1 cup standard flour – 2 Tbsps flour + 2 Tbsps cornstarch = 1 cup cake flour.

Sift the flour with the cornstarch 5 times to make sure it is well incorporated and produces a nice fine crumb.

..and the result

Scroll down for the recipe for the matcha cream cheese cake.

Recipe for mini matcha cake (makes 8 mini cakes)

Adapted from this recipe 

Ingredients
6 egg whites
220g castor sugar
6 egg yolks
200g cake flour
20g matcha powder
100ml milk
60g butter (melted)

1. Whip egg whites until foamy, then add in castor sugar. Continue mixing until stiff glossy peaks form.
2. Mix in the egg yolks but be careful not to overmix the air out of the egg whites.
3. Fold in the cake flour and matcha powder
4. Fold in the butter and milk.
5. Pour batter into a flat pan and bake for 20min

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Ingredients

500g heavy whipping cream
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 ½ cups icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract

1. Whip whipping cream until stiff peaks form.
2. In a separate bowl, cream the cream cheese and icing sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla extract.
3. Fold heavy whipping cream into cream cheese.