My daughter is the baker in the family. She has been wanting to bake a cake from scratch but is really having a hard time picking the right flour. We have tried a few brands and they just do not taste like a cake should taste. Any suggestions on what brand of flour to use?

Eva

Brand of flour shouldn't make too much difference and type of flour (all purpose vs. cake flour) will depend on your recipe. What exactly was wrong with the taste? If you are attempting to replicate box mix, it's not going to happen - scratch cake tastes and feels different. You should try a chiffon method recipe (or modify one to be a chiffon method recipe) - that gives me the best results.

Thank you for your reply
She follows the Wilton White Cake recipe. One time it came out tasting like too much flour the next time it came out too hard. She is trying to get that wedding cake taste. She has not tried the Chiffon do you know of a good recipe she can try.

I prefer bleached AP (all purpose) flour unless the recipe specifically calls for unbleached AP flour - then I like Cerasota.

I've always used Softasilk cake flour (except for the 50# bag of cake flour I got from Gordon Food Service which was also very good).

If a baked cake tastes like flour, then the error is in measuring. If you scoop and drag, then shake to level - you're not measuring properly. (Unless the recipe specificially tells you to use this method.)

The traditionally correct method is to aerate the flour, then use a spoon to gently transfer flour to measuring cup and level by scraping top with knife.

Handy cake troubleshooting charts:

http://tinyurl.com/2p5bdu

http://tinyurl.com/32goqe

http://tinyurl.com/6c745g

http://tinyurl.com/6lpjww

http://tinyurl.com/yay22w

A great website for learning the techniques of baking:

www.joyofbaking.com

HTH

Thank you so much for the great info. I will be sure to pass this information to my daughter.

Eva