I have a recipe that specifically asked for non-self raising cake flour. I have looked in all the supermarkets near me (Sainsburys, Tesco, etc. I live in the UK) and they all only sell self-raising cake flour (Why is that?!?). The original recipe calls for:

1 cup (225 grams) granulated sugar

1 vanilla bean

1 3/4 cups (175 grams) cake flour, not self-rising

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/3 cup (75 grams) full-fat sour cream

1/4 cup canola oil or vegetable oil (60 ml)

1 tablespoon pure (not imitation) vanilla extract

2/3 cup (160 ml) whole milk

Can anyone tell me how to modify the amounts of the above ingredients so that I can use self raising cake flour instead? I listed down all the ingredients wet and dry in case they are all relevant and need changing too. Your help would be much appreciated! 

x Jean

AYou can make non-self-rising cake flour with non-self-rising AP flour and corn starch: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Cake-Flour

Alternatively, 1 cup of flour can be made self-rising by adding 1.5 tsp baking powder and .5 tsp salt. If you use 1.75 cups of self-rising cake flour you would need to remove 2 5/8 tsp of baking powder and 7/8 tsp of salt, so be sure to have negative baking powder and negative salt on hand.

yes that is true but i finally did it once and my cake tasted like corn--and i know acquiring the different flours overseas (i'm in the u.s.) can be a hassle

if it was me and i couldn't find it--i'd use the self raising and eliminate the baking powder--i think i'd add all the baking soda and salt-

the self rising in the u.s. also has salt in it but i don't think uk self raising has the salt added--

Sim108, I think the author of the recipe meant do not use self-rising cake flour, since there are both regular cake flour and self-rising cake flour. The only cake flour (called sponge flour here to add to the confusion) that is stocked in the supermarkets are all self-rising cake/sponge flour. They have a rising agent mixed into it, presumably baking powder though I didn't read the ingredients list properly. Thanks very much for posting the link. They charge rather a lot for postage (£6.95 for up to 28k) so I think I'll give the self rising cake flour a go first and see how I get on. 

K8Memphis, I'll give the self-rising cake flour a go and eliminate/reduce the baking powder.

Jason-kraft, since the recipe only has 1.5 tsp of baking powder and .5 tsp of salt, does that mean I eliminate them completely? I hope I'm not stating the obvious, but I'm terrible at maths. 

A

The recipe calls for less baking powder and salt than is included in self-rising cake flour, so I don't believe you would be able to successfully modify it. Your best bet is probably to make your own non-self-rising cake flour.

The best thing to do would be to just use non-rising AP flour, but remove about 1 Tbsp of AP flour per cup. You do NOT need to add corn starch to AP flour to do substitute for cake flour, just take some of the AP flour out.

A

I believe you take out 2 tbsp of AP flour per cup, adding 2 tbsp of corn starch per cup back in ensures the same volume of dry ingredients while lowering the gluten content of the mix.

I'll have to think whether this recipe is worth trying right now! Thanks everyone though for all the help. Shame we dont have ingredients readily available here in the UK, ie in the supermarkets, like you do in the US. I'm jealous... 

it's actually an ancient substitute and my vanilla pound cake alarmingly tasted like corn--i know i said that already and i know this cornstarch thing is plastered all over the internet and in cookbooks across the land but this is not a viable substitute--and it would be unfortunate to discover it like I did, after i made something with it--just saying--and you can find these testimonials too --that it is successful texture wise but it sucks taste wise

so i wonder if subbing tapioca starch for the cornstarch would work...

like probably op would have more luck finding cake flour than tapioca starch but anyhow--

You really, really, really don't need to add anything in, just take the flour out. It isn't about maintaining a certain volume of dry ingredients, it's about lowering the amount of gluten in the batter. AP flour is about 11% protein and cake flour is only 6%. You just want to take the protein content down by removing some of the higher-protein content flour, and that will lower the gluten and make your cake softer.

however upon further reflection this particular recipe that i got from my friend and i actually posted it here a few years ago--

http://cakecentral.com/t/701214/pound-cake-recipe-please

(this recipe) is the one i mentioned up thread-- it's mild flavor revealed the corny-ness--jchanlette--the one who gave me the recipe wrote that she uses ap minus the 2 T and i did that for a while successfully and then i realized my emulsions started sucking* so i upped it to the 3 full cups of ap as i state in the bottom of the recipe post in that link--and it was a wonderful cake again--

 so i have no doubt that you make that 7/8 cup work for your recipes, cc-- and it worked for my friend jchanlette and for a while for me--but it did not stay working for me - i needed that 3/8c of powder--weird huh--

* and this could be because of the water content in the butter--imeo retail butter has more water than commercially packaged butter--and commercial has more now than it did before--

interesting that i remembered this transition in baking this recipe--

so i just use cake flour when i need it--like never these days but--

I've not contributed to the last few replies to my post because the cake science is beyond me! 

I decided to try another recipe, which I had major problems with (I got it from cakeartisan.com). I wonder if I could get your thoughts on it:

9 oz cake flour

9 oz sugar

1 Tbsp 1 tsp baking powder

¾ tsp salt

9 oz whole milk

3 large eggs

2 oz vege oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

6 oz unsalted butter (soft)

I weighed the self raising cake flour in a measuring jug and that amount of flour (9oz) equated to a cup and a half of cake flour. I then deducted 2 tsps plus 1/4 tsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt from the amounts stated in the recipe above. I didnt have whole milk so used semi skimmed.

The batter was very runny and from the video instructions it was meant to be thick but fluffy. I didnt think it would turn out ok but I baked one cupcake anyway just to see and lo and behold, it sank when it cooled down... A LOT. I googled the problem and some suggested adding all purpose flour to the mixture until the batter thickens up sufficiently. I ended up adding 1/4 cup of AP flour, plus a couple more Tbsps. I cooked several cupcakes and although it rose quite well this time and kept more of its shape, the middle top part of the cupcake (photo below) sank and when the inside looks very dense in the upper part of the cake, though it tastes and feels ok.

Any thoughts on the results? should I have added more AP flour? Should I have used whole milk? Should I give up on recipes that call for (non-raising) cake flour?!?

I will try the woodland bakery vanilla cake next soon as it calls for AP flour, and keep experimenting with the cake flour.

AIf you have a recipe that calls for cake flour and you only have AP and self-rising, always use the AP and take out the 2Tbsp. You want to be able to control the leaveners and there's no way to do that with self-rising flour. That recipe also looks a little heavy on the fats and light on the flour at first glance, so you might want to try it without the oil and increasing the butter a little and see what happens. I didn't really examine it, though, so it could just be the flour.

ACostumeczar, I actually used self raising cake flour (not self raising flour) and reduced the baking powder and salt as recommended (1.5 tsp BP and 1/2 tsp salt per cup of cake flour).

The cake actually turned out lovely- texture and taste were great but the dense bits in the cake are mystifying me especially since it doesn't seem to affect the cake in any way except aesthetics (photo below).

Maybe I'm obsessing now. Its just that if people are paying me to bake a cake- I feel its got to be perfect in every way.

AForgot photo. ..

[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3170382/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

A

[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3170382/width/200/height/400[/IMG][/quote]

I've had that happen too, I don't remember what I did to make that result though...I think it might have something to do with the butter being too cold and not creamed correctly??

I found a few lists of baking faults and this one was the most comprehensive, but there's nothing on there for dense spots. The closest description I could find was "too dense" but that doesn't exactly describe it. http://*********.com/learn/baked-goods/cakes/problems-and-solutions/butter-cakes

Uh oh, the website is baking 911 without the space, I don't know why that was blocked out. It isn't a porno site.

Thanks alot for the recipe :)