What is the difference between all purpose flour and cake flour? Can I put something in all purpose flour to turn it into cake flour?
Got this from cooking.com: Cake flour, also known as soft-wheat flour, is a very fine-textured bleached flour used for making cakes and other baked goods. It is lower in protein than all-purpose flour, which is not an acceptable substitute.
I haven't tried it yet, but for every cup of cake flour, you can substitute one cup minus 2 Tbsp. of all purpose flour.
I asked my local cake supplier about these flour types and they said cake and pastry flour is best suited for pastry while all-purpose should be used for cakes. Then I asked a dumb question "So why does is the name CAKE & Pastry flour?" They said because they cannot call it Pastry or Pie Crust flour.
To be honest, I tried them both and prefer all-purpose flour for some reason.
Good timing with the question! I've done some research on this so I knew what the books all say, "cake flour will give your cakes a finer lighter texture". But JUST witnessed it first-hand. I was planning on posting a little FYI-type of post about this tonight, but my camera didn't get good pictures.
The substitution that beachcakes posted is a great one. I used it for a while as I didn't totally get what the cake flour thing was all about.
Well, this weekend I made the butter cake recipe from Whimsical Bakehouse twice. First time, I still had cake flour left. Second time, I substituted regular flour for cake flour.
Tonight I was assembling the cake and had the two next to each other, leveled so the tops of each were sliced off to expose the insides.
And this is why I wanted to take a picture. Being able to see the two right next to each other was a great learning experience.
The cake made with the cake flour had a much finer texture (smaller, more even air pockets) and more delicate taste. Kind of melt-in-your mouth flavor.
The cake made with the regular flour had a much "rougher" texture and a definite floury kind of taste, kind of gummy and did not taste quite as nice as the cake made with cake flour.
My advice/preference is to GET THE CAKE FLOUR! (I found better prices at a local bulk food store, better than getting those tiny boxes they sell at the grocery store).
The last post reminded me, the physical difference between the different types of flour is the protein content, which dictates how it interacts with other ingredients used in the recipe.
Protein
8-10% Cake Flour
9-10% Pastry Flour
10-11.5% All-Purpose Flour
11-13% Bread Flour
14% and up High-Gluten Flour
I have used cake flour in yellow cake recipes because it calls for it and it definately makes it more "silky" and "even" if that makes sense. I actually prefer regular flour texture (the element of surprise!), but the yellow cake gets rave reviews. When the cakes are refrigerated, they are both pretty sturdy...the ones made with cake flour seem to be less crumbly so I imagine that you COULD carve them. I haven't dared venture into that arena yet though so I can't say for sure!
I've done some research on this so I knew what the books all say, "cake flour will give your cakes a finer lighter texture". But JUST witnessed it first-hand.
The cake made with the cake flour had a much finer texture (smaller, more even air pockets) and more delicate taste. Kind of melt-in-your mouth flavor.
The cake made with the regular flour had a much "rougher" texture and a definite floury kind of taste, kind of gummy and did not taste quite as nice as the cake made with cake flour.
My advice/preference is to GET THE CAKE FLOUR!
I love science experiments!!!! 
Thanks for the info. I was just checking the forums for this very topic.
Thanks a lot ladies the info was good I am going to try the substitute and see how it works if I sift it a few times. I was asking because I want to make a cake from scratch using organic ingredients and I haven't seen organic cake flour or maybe I haven't looked hard enough.
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