Why use cake flour?

Question

Hi every1! i'm doing a science fair project and i needed to know why cake flour is used? does it help the cake rise? some links would be helpful 2. thankz

Thanx 4 all d great answer guys... i'm gonna use all of them, but my science teachers said she would count them if the person makes cake for a living... so if this counts 4 u, u don't have to give ur name just the place u work and if u don't i'll still take the answers!!!!!!

Answer 1

The density of the cake flour definitly make whatever you are producing to rise and more "cake" like. Its much softer then pastry and high gluten flour, which causes it to stick together better.

Edit: Check out this link, it gives good info on flour types (including cake flour)

http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=64

Answer 2

There are five basic kinds of wheat flour used in baking
High gluten 14-18 %
Bread 12-14 %
All Purpose 10-12%
Pastry 8-10 %
Cake 6-8%
I intentionally gave them to you in descending order of protein content.
In baking protein always is synonym for structure.
The higher the protein content a baked product has the greater the potential it has to develop a structure.
Strucure has two basic functions
The desired chewineness of a product: a lot or a little and The ability of a product to physically remain intact during the baking process.
A classic example would be cream puffs which are made using bread flour
Cream puffs are leavened using steam only. When water changes to steam it rapidly expands in volume 1200x. If the protein structure is in adequte for the task it will burst.
So when we choose a flour and a method to use the first question becomes how much structure do we or do we not want ?
Gluten is one is of the most mis- understood concepts in baking. When you read some other answers you will agree with that statement.
All wheat protein is made up of two different proteins; glutenin and gliadin.
When water is added to flour AND the flour is kneaded gluten forms.
How much gluten will form is a factor of :
How much protein was there to begin with ?aka what flour was used
How long the product was kneaded
The classic opposites are pizza dough which is kneaded for a long time and biscuits which are kneaded just long enough to form a dough.
Lastly, what ingredients were used to make the dough.
Shortening literally does what it's name would imply. By covering the the developing gluten strands with fat it literally shortens their length and prevents long chewy rubber band type structures from forming. The end result is a soft tender product. There are other things that contributes to tenderness including eggs and sugar[s] Cake flour is also chlorinated which helps reduce gluten development and tends to have a high starch content which encourages liquid absorbtion.
So back to your cake
What are the quality standards of you cake?
You want it to have just enough structure to physically hold its shape and withstand the leavening process- bakiing powder usually.
You want it to be tender
You want it to be moist
You want it to have a soft mouth- feel
So what flour should you use.
Btw the recipebazaar site is wrong .
When I was in school as part an exam for yeast breads we had to be able to identify the types of flour based on visual cues and finger feel.
The Socratic Method
Monday:
Professional Baking by Wayne Gisslen is a textbook that many culinary schools use.
The book contains very detailed explainations of the entire baking process.
You do not need to use the latest edition but earlier editions can be hard to find because culinary students tend to keep them for their own libraries.

Answer 3

There's a great book called "The Cake Bible", which goes through the science of baking great cakes. She talks about why/how cake flour is different than all purpose flour. You could cite her as a reference. I think her name is Rose Levy Berenbaum.

Answer 4

Cake flour is a finely milled flour made from soft wheat. It has very low gluten content, making it suitable for soft-textured cakes and cookies. The higher gluten content of other flours would make the cakes tough.

Answer 5

I just watch one of the food network special on chocolate cake with no flour, and the cake in my opinion, just looking at it looked good, but came out flat, like someone just jumped on the floor causing the cake to fall. Don't know how it tastes though.

Answer 6

because of the gluten content. cake flour has almost no gluten.
gluten is formed when flour is kneaded. making bread, you want to form gluten. making a cake or scones, you don't which is why it's to use pastry flour and mix your dough as little as possible. you don't want to use cake flour when making pie crust, because you need to form some gluten, just not as much as when making bread. hope this helps.

Answer 7

cake flour is a softer consistency than AP flour. It also has levening agents in it. ie. baking soda, baking powder

Answer 8

Mr Danger answered your question best. I had a bakery for over 15 years. He is correct.

Answer 9

Geez that sure is a hard Q, Here are sum links

http://www.joyofbaking.com/flour.html

http://www.bakingandbakingscience.com/Cakes.htm

http://www.ochef.com/85.htm

Answer 10

http://www.joyofbaking.com/flour.html