Help - Help - Help - Deadline Is Tomorrow...
Decorating By mandifrye Updated 9 May 2009 , 10:35am by umgrzfn
I am feeling pretty under the weather, but I have a cake due tomorrow, so I decided to start baking it. It is supposed to be pretty simple, but I think I screwed up the receipe...Just this morning (after batter is already made and most cakes are baked...) I realized that I used all purpose flour instead of cake flour which the receipe called for... 
!
I normally pay better attention, but is it going to be terrible? I might have enough for a small taste after I bake the last layer, but geez. I would hate to start all over. The cake seems heavy (the cooled layers at least...). Is there any fix or do I dump it and try again?
Please help...Thanks in advance...
Mandi
Hi I'm not a professional but there are a few things that I have learned during my baking experiences. For cakes you always want to use cake flour as it contains less gluten. Too much gluten can cause the cake to be tough. It is for this reason that is important not to overmix a cake as too much mixing causes the gluten to develop.
Also what cake recipe did you use. Some cakes are meant to be dense. I hope that helps.
It might be a little heavier, because the AP flour has more protein than the cake flour, so it does develop more gluten, but it should be all right. You might want to do a soaking syrup (I use 1 part sugar, 2 parts water- some people do 1 part each- boil it then brush it on the cake)
You can substitute AP flour for cake flour in recipes by using a couple Tbsp less AP flour than the amount of cake flour called for, so you probably haven't ruined the cakes. Maybe you could torte them, and take a look at what they're like when you cut them in half?
I always use AP flour rather than cake flour. Normally you just use a tiny bit (like a tablespoon or so) less AP flour when it calls for cake flour. I would have to look at my conversions. It isn't going to hurt anything though.
I agree with previous comments. No DUMPING and starting over!!! I as well use AP versus cake flour. The ONLY time I use cake flour is for white cake and that's just cause mine turns out icky if I don't. Not sure what else I do different, but I just don't have good luck with the plain jane white cake. I think yours will be just fine! 
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