Baking can sometimes feel overwhelming, especially when the recipe you’re using calls for a complicated ingredient. And even though it’s one of the most essential elements out there, even flour can be confusing. There are quite a few different types, and some have very specific purposes. This is especially true with cake flour, which was created to make ultra light baked goods with a lot of rise, like fluffy angel food cake and classic vanilla cupcakes. If you’re wondering whether this means it contains baking powder, the answer is no. Cake flour doesn’t typically contain any leavening agent, so you still need to add baking powder or baking soda to your recipe to ensure that your cake rises.
The only flour that contains baking powder is self-raising flour, which also has a little salt added in the U.S. Self-raising flour is essentially just all-purpose flour with the leavening agent already added –- it’s used in heavier baked goods that need an even crumb, like scones, and is particularly popular in the U.K. You can buy self-raising cake flour, but make sure you don’t add any extra baking powder to your batter if you do.
How to make self-raising cake flour
You can make self-raising cake flour if you’d like — just sift together two tablespoons of baking powder and a cup of all-purpose flour for every cup of cake flour you need. Again, don’t add any extra baking powder to your batter if you opt for this. If you’re wondering exactly what cake flour is, it’s very finely milled flour made from soft wheat. It has one of the lowest protein contents of any flour, about 5%-8%, which is almost half that of all purpose flour. This causes less gluten development, which leads to a lighter crumb. In comparison, bread flour, which is best for bagels, has a protein content of about 12%-13%. Cake flour also absorbs more water, which can create a better rise, and it’s bleached, which helps fats bind together and prevents lumps.
Bleached flour is banned in Europe, so cake flour is mostly found in American recipes. It can be easily swapped for all purpose flour — all you need to do is replace a few tablespoons of the all purpose flour with some cornstarch. However, if the recipe doesn’t call for cake flour, don’t use it, because there won’t be enough support. No matter what, just don’t forget the baking powder if your flour isn’t self-raising, because no fancy ingredient can fix that problem.
