Why Bleached Cake Flour Is A Necessity For Delicate Cakes

When it comes to baking a cake from scratch, it's normal to want it to taste and look like the fancy ones at your local bakery. Whether you're a master with fondant, prefer frosting from a can, or have never baked a cake in your life, there's something special about making it homemade for a certain celebration — and you don't need to purchase the entire cake decorating section of your local craft store to do so. That said, there are important steps you'll want to take into account, such as getting the combination of ingredients and ratios just right, and selecting the best ingredients. After all, flavor is what makes guests come back for more.

Whether you prefer sour cream over milk, coconut oil over butter, or melted chocolate over cocoa powder, there's one key swap that promises the most tender cake: Oftentimes, professional bakers prefer (and recipes call for) bleached cake flour over all-purpose.

The reason most professional bakers prefer bleached cake flour over other types is quite simple: It's fine consistency, soft texture, and low levels of protein allow it to more easily absorb the moisture it's presented with, which results in a well-combined, silky smooth batter and a lighter, more tender, delicate crumb when baked.

While one may want to swap out bleached cake flour for something more common, such as all-purpose flour, Miro Uskokovic, the pastry chef at Gramercy Tavern in New York City, told Kitchn that even unbleached cake flour yields a completely different result, making it extra necessary to include the bleached kind when whipping up yellow cakes or chiffon cakes. 

Cake flour has the lowest amount of gluten. And, the more gluten that is present, the chewier your baked good will be. This makes sense seeing that bread flour contains the most gluten, and you use it to make bread. Bread wouldn't be the same without its distinct chewiness. Therefore, cake flour does the opposite, and should be used to make the most tender of cakes.