All-Purpose Flour vs Cake Flour: Difference and Comparison

All-purpose flour is either made from hard wheat or a blend of hard and soft flour. Cake Flour is made from either soft white wheat or soft red winter wheat.

Key Takeaways

1. All-purpose flour and cake flour are both types of flour used in baking.
2. All-purpose flour is a versatile flour that can be used in a wide range of recipes, from bread to cakes and pastries, while cake flour is a specialized flour explicitly designed for use in cakes and other delicate baked goods.
3. Cake flour is lower in protein than all-purpose flour, which results in a finer, lighter texture in cakes and other baked goods.

All-Purpose Flour vs Cake Flour

All-purpose flour is a versatile flour that contains a moderate amount of protein. It can be used for a wide range of baked goods, including bread, cakes, cookies, and pastries. Cake flour is a low-protein flour. It is designed for delicate baked goods, such as cakes and pastries.

It is used in making noodles, bread, muffins, cakes, and also in thickening gravies and sauces. It is an unbleached wheat flour formed by separating the endosperm from the bran.

Cake Flour is also known as soft wheat flour or chlorinated flour. It is formed from either soft white wheat or soft red winter wheat. It is low in protein.

Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	All-Purpose Flour	Cake Flour
Origin	All-Purpose Flour is also known as plain flour that is made from either hard wheat flour or a blend of hard and soft flour.	Cake Flour is also known as chlorinated flour that is made from either soft red winter wheat or soft white wheat.
Production	Wheat grains are milled to form unbleached all-purpose flour by separating endosperm from the bran.	Soft winter wheat is induced in the bleaching process to form Cake flour that results in low protein.
Composition and Nutrition	All-Purpose Flour has protein 10g, carbohydrate 80g, fiber 3g, calcium 33mg, and sugar 0g.	Cake Flour has fiber 30g, carbohydrate 375g, and fat 300mg.
Functions	All-Purpose Flour helps in whitening the flour, improving the baking process, bleaching, and maturing.	Cake Flour helps in reducing the pH level, whitening, weakened gluten matrix, water absorption capacity, and low protein content.
Applications	All-Purpose Flour is used in making bread, cakes, muffins, cookies, noodles, pancakes, pastries, pizza, and pie.	Cake Flour is used in biscuits, brownies, pie, cookies, delicate pastries, and high-ratio cakes.

What is All-Purpose Flour?

It is formed from either hard wheat or a blend of soft and hard wheat grains. It is milled in the ratio of 80:20.

All-purpose flour is produced when the wheat grains are milled to separate the endosperm from the bran, and the resultant one would be the All-Purpose unbleached flour.

It helps in whitening the flour and improving the baking characteristics. It has 10g of protein, 3.3g of fibre, 33mg of calcium, 133mg of potassium, and 0g of sugar.

It is combined with other flours to make semolina bread, whole wheat bread, and spaghetti. It is rich in vitamins such as thiamine, riboflavin, folic acid, and minerals such as iron and calcium.

What is Cake Flour?

Cake Flour is also known as Chlorinated Flour or Soft Wheat Flour. It is made into a finely milled powder using soft winter wheat, and It is enriched with niacin, riboflavin, thiamine, iron, and folic acid, which are required to be present in cake flour as proposed by the FDA.

Cake Flour is used in physicochemical properties such as whitening, weakening gluten matrix, maintaining pH between 4.4 – 4.8, increasing absorption of starch, water, and sugar, soft texture, moisture, and tenderness is maintained in the final product due to low protein content which is of 8%.

Cake Flour is composed of 72-74% of starch, 14% moisture content, 8% of protein, 1% fat, 0.2% minerals, and 0.1% of cellulose. It is produced when the soft wheat first undergoes a bleaching process, as a result of which there is low protein content.

Cake Flour is used in making cookies, brownies, pie crust, delicate pastries, high-ratio cakes, and biscuits. To prevent the development of gluten matrix, mix the cake flour at the end of the preparation.

Main Differences Between All-Purpose Flour and Cake Flour

1. All-purpose flour is not very soft or tender, whereas Cake Flour is very soft, tender, moist, and high-quality potent.
2. All-purpose flour is used in making muffins, cookies, pastries, bread, noodles, and semilona bread, whereas Cake Flour is used in making high-ratio cakes, brownies, cookies, pies, and pastries.

References

1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002822306026708
2. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10408397809527245