Whether you're fresh out of all-purpose flour or are simply seeking ways to use up cake flour from your classic cake recipe, you might be wondering, "Can you use cake flour for cookies?" True, few cake flour cookies exist—by that, we mean cookie recipes that already call for cake flour in the ingredients list—but using cake flour for cookies is possible. And we promise it won't ruin your entire batch of cookie dough. (Just be sure to bake 'em first. Here's a quick reminder why you should never eat raw flour.) Learn the science behind cookies made with cake flour, plus score some additional baking inspiration to customize your next cookie jar stars to make your best batch yet.
Can You Use Cake Flour for Cookies?
So you invested in a full bag of cake flour for Classic Shortcakes, Pumpkin Spice Latte Bundt Cake with Whipped Cream, Chiffon Cake, or another of your family's favorite birthday cake recipes. While we'd never say no to another slice of cake, you do have more options for putting that cake flour to delicious use.
When the protein and gluten in any kind of flour are hydrated, they offer the structure required to give baked goods their foundation and crumb. The amount and type of flour in cookies can make them chewy or cakey, crispy or soft.
Cake flour is a lower-protein flour; it has about 7% to 9% protein compared to the 10% to 12% protein in all-purpose flour. If you opt for all cake flour cookies, less gluten is formed when you mix the cookie dough. The resulting cookie consistency post-baking is delicate, softer, fluffier, and, well, more cake-like. The color may end up paler, and the edges might not be as crispy. But the flavor should still deliver. And if you're a fan of soft batch cookies or those remarkably tender frosted sugar cookies, you might even enjoy cake flour cookies more than the original versions.
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Gluten acts like a spring. When mixed with a liquid, it can stretch and expand to add to the structure and shape (for example, making layers in flaky biscuits), trap gasses (like those that give focaccia bread its signature bubbles), and offer chewiness (such as in al dente homemade pasta). The amount of gluten formation varies based on how much you mix and what flour you use. A general gluten rule of thumb: The more protein there is in the flour, the more gluten in the final product, which leads to more chew.
Ranked from highest to lowest protein, here are the most common flours for baking:
Whole Wheat Flour: Since this uses all of the wheat kernel, this flour is heavier and more dense than all-purpose, which has the bran (the exterior of the wheat kernel) and germ (a portion of the internal seed) removed, leaving only the endosperm part of the grain. With about 13.5% protein, whole wheat flour comes in white whole wheat and whole wheat pastry varieties too. It's occasionally called for in waffles and pancake batters, bread dough, and pasta recipes, and is frequently mixed half-and-half with all-purpose.
Bread Flour: Because this has more protein than all-purpose, about 12% to 14%, bread flour yields more gluten—and more chew. It's often called for in yeast breads, pizza dough, and pastries.
All-Purpose Flour: If a recipe calls for "flour," use all-purpose. This is available bleached or unbleached and contains 10% to 12% protein.
Cake Flour: When you're seeking tender, 7%- to 9%-protein cake flour is your baking BFF. It stars in cakes (especially angel food cakes and sponge cakes) and cupcakes as well as some muffins and scones.
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How to Make Cake Flour Cookies
If you're craving soft, cake-like cookies or have cake flour to use up, cookies made with cake flour can be a stellar solution. Feel free to swap in 75% cake flour (with 25% all-purpose) for the all-purpose flour called for in your cookie recipe (so 1½ cups cake flour plus ½ cup all-purpose in a recipe that requires 2 cups flour). You can even substitute 100% of the all-purpose with cake flour—especially if you adore soft cookies and are topping them with a frosting recipe to cover the paler top.
If you want to tinker around with using cake flour for cookies but don't have any in your pantry at the moment, try this homemade cake flour recipe: Accurately measure 1 cup all-purpose flour, remove 2 tablespoons of the flour, then replace those with 2 tablespoons cornstarch. Sift to blend, then use in cake flour cookies.
Admittedly, cookies made with cake flour are different in texture than your classic chewy-on-the-inside, crunchy-on-the-outside homemade chocolate chip cookies. But you won't sacrifice at all on the flavor front if you make cake flour cookies. And if you adore super-soft cookies, you might even enjoy the results more.
Cake flour contains a relatively low amount, which leads to less gluten formation. Cookies made with all cake flour will be very soft, almost mushy, even when you've cooked them to what would normally be a beyond-crisp stage.
Cake flour is a lower-protein flour; it has about 7% to 9% protein compared to the 10% to 12% protein in all-purpose flour. If you opt for all cake flour cookies, less gluten is formed when you mix the cookie dough. The resulting cookie consistency post-baking is delicate, softer, fluffier, and, well, more cake-like.
This balanced protein level makes it versatile enough to produce both soft and chewy cookies as well as slightly crisp ones. If you're looking for a safe bet or are new to cookie baking, all-purpose flour is your go-to option.
Yes, you can. You'll wind up with a similar cake, just with a slight difference in texture and crumb. Both flours perform the same in recipes — they'll mix into identical batters — but the final results will differ to a small degree.
Cake flour is typically milled finer than AP flour, in the name of tenderness. And, while AP and bread flours typically contain a small amount of malted barley or its enzymes, which help produce food for yeast, cake flour does not.
Either cake flour or pastry flour can be used as a 1:1 substitute for all-purpose flour in most baking recipes. Steer away from cake flour for chewy bread baking, though, and opt instead for bread or whole-wheat flour for your no-knead and sourdough loaves.
All-purpose flour is the most common flour called for in recipes, for both cooking and baking. But if you don't have any in the pantry, or can't find any in the store, there are other flours you can use in its place. Bread flour and cake flour—on their own or mixed together—can substitute for all-purpose.
As a bonus, I did a little research to find out just what role each ingredient plays in chocolate chip cookies, so you can adjust your recipe however you feel like experimenting. Flour adds fluff and texture to the cookies. Adding too little flour can cause cookies to be flat, greasy, and crispy.
The type of flour and the percentage of wheat associated with that flour is very important, as hard and soft wheats have different protein percentages that can impact the softness, crispness and chewiness of a recipe.
Also known as 'standard flour' and is perhaps the most widely used. It has no raising agent and is made from milled wheat. It's fine texture enables it to be able to hold more liquid which makes it great for cakes, cookies, and muffins because it creates a finer texture in the baked product.
Refined and whole wheat flours such as all-purpose, bread, and cake flours typically will last about one year. Starch flours such as cornstarch and tapioca will last about the same. (Make sure all of them are in air-tight containers to preserve freshness!)
Because our pastry flour has less protein than all purpose flour, it's ideal for many lighter baking purposes. In addition to making pastry, it can be used in place of cake flour in your favorite cake recipes. It's also a wonderful flour for biscuits, scones, cookies, muffins, pound cake and more.
For starters, cake flour is low-protein (typically 5–8% protein as compared to 10–13% for AP), and that's because it's milled from low-protein (a.k.a. soft) wheat. This means it does not produce as much gluten as regular AP flour and can yield more light, tender results.
Swapping in bread flour for all-purpose flour in cookies won't change the flavor of your cookies at all. Rather, the switch will impact the texture of your final product. The result? Cookies that are chewier than the all-purpose version.
Bread flour is made from hard wheat, cake flour is made from soft wheat. The difference is the gluten content - hard wheat has far more than soft wheat. It's the gluten that makes bread dough elastic, and lets it rise as the yeast produces the carbon dioxide. Bread made with cake flour will not rise properly.
But is sifting flour necessary? That depends. Sifting flour is recommended for some desserts where the goal is light, delicate, and fluffy results (think angel food cakes, sponge cakes, and chiffon cakes). However, sifting flour isn't a must for desserts that are chewy or crisp, like cookies.
If you have a cookie recipe that spreads a lot using all-purpose flour, then it's probably not the best idea to substitute self-rising flour. But any cookie with normal spread – one using at least 1/2 teaspoon baking powder per cup of flour – should be just fine.
Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies. Since baking powder is comprised of a number of ingredients (baking soda, cream of tartar, cornstarch, etc.), using it instead of pure baking soda will affect the taste of your cookies.
When cookies are too cakey, there are two main culprits: too much leavening (baking powder or baking soda) or too much egg. If there is too much baking powder or baking soda in the dough, the cookies will rise too much when baking, creating a cakier structure. Eggs also promote a cakey structure in cookies.
Introduction: My name is Eusebia Nader, I am a encouraging, brainy, lively, nice, famous, healthy, clever person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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