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My question was:  “Have any of you tried a substitute for Cake Flour?”  The following are the responses and I thank each of you.  I especially apologize for summarizing so late but was out of town frequently.  I hope I didn't miss anyone.  Using all cornstarch did not work for this particular cake.  It called for a lot so maybe that was part of it.  I may try it again on something else or try some of these ideas.  They are worth reading. - Sharon
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I just use my regular GF mix and sift it three times and then take out 2 Tbsp. of the flour to equal the amount of cake flour in the recipe. Works well for me. Good luck, Ann/TX

Sorry I might be too late, but if you would like to have a good light cake recipe and the gluten free flour you might try www.astoriamills.ca 

I have used the rice flour potato starch and tapioca flour in place of cake flour in a recipe for angel food cake from scratch.  Used this for years and it works well in all I have made. Marie in MD 


Using gf flours will give you a heavier product then is you just substitute corn starch for the cake flour. Corn starch works great. Your final product will be lighter, especially if you use just egg whites. Double the number of eggs the recipe calls for and then make them into a meringue. (whip them and add either lemon juice or cream of tartar to it and set aside. Gently fold in the egg whites just before panning your final product. For more moist products, try using applesauce in place of the oil. That will also decrease 
the fat content and increase the nutrient content of the final product.  The cream of tartar or lemon juice will help make the product by increasing its structure so it raises more. By the way, you can use other pureed fruit or vegetables in place of the applesauce. 
  
Angel food cake comes out great gluten free. 
  
I hope that helps. I also will convert recipes for $15.00/recipe. If the recipe is not convertible, there will be no charge. Not all recipes will come out very well gluten free. I will also let you know that. If you have additional allergies/food intolerances please let me know so I can modify the recipe to accommodate that as well. (I have been baking gluten free for over 25 years and most people cannot tell the difference between my gluten free dishes and the regular ones.) - Theresa Cornelius, MS, RD, LDN CLT 
Changing Lifestyles, Certified LEAP Therapist, Licensed Provider for Real Living Nutrition Services 

GF Flour mix: 2 c brown rice flour, 2 c white rice flour, 1 1/2 c sweet rice flour, 1 1/3 c tapioca starch, 2/3 c cornstarch, 1/2 c rice bran and 2 tsp xanthan gum. Sift together several times. I usually 4x this recipe and keep extra in the freezer. Works well in all my old cookie & bar recipes - even rolled out sugar cookies. Sometimes I  add an extra 2-4 tbsp if cookies seem too flat. Jan from ND 701-232-3896  I use this in all cakes except angel food, and then I have a different recipe just for that. I have not used it for bread but muffins work great. It is about half the price of Tom Sawyer mix.

Have you tried sweet rice flour?  (white)  It might not be quite as fine in texture.  Then, go with tapioca flour.  - Betty 

Like you I read about corn starch here and was so happy to find a fairly cheap, easy to find flour that I could use.  

I read about using corn starch on fried chicken or fish but have never tried it as I feel there must be more to it than the corn starch.   I have mixed corn starch with potato chip crumbs as a Shake and Bake substitute and been happy with how it turns out.

I have not done this myself, but I remember reading that chef Julia Child used 
to substitute corn starch for cake flour, and it's used in microwave mixes, too. 
Lisa 

in a pinch a substitute can be made with ¾ cup sifted bleached all purpose flour and two tablespoons of cornstarch

Check the betty crocker GF cake mix to see what’s in there 

Can you substitute the Betty Crocker mix?  Easy to get and they have been better cakes than any of the mixes I used or made up myself in the past.  I made a killer lemon poppy seed, and a pretty good apple cake using the yellow mix.
 
Sherri in Texas

Generally speaking, GLUTEN is the difference between all purpose and cake flour.   All purpose flour has more gluten in it.  Cake flour has less.  
 
Most of your cake recipes come out very well with any of the GF flours because of this, but I wouldn't experiment if I were you and it was an extra special occasion; I'd buy a bag of Pamela's mix and make one of the cake recipes on it, and do whatever else your recipe calls for to it.  Or, the new Betty Crocker GF 
cake mixes also are terrific.  All the guesswork has been researched out of each of these products already for you.  Good luck! 
 
Julia Child, in her mastering the art of French cooking has said that when you run out of cake flour, just sub cup for cup CORNSTARCH...not only that but you can sub cornstarch for reg flour in all of your recipes.  I've been doing it for years.  you get a liasgher product and cornstarch is so very much cheaper than those fake flours and it is not gritty nor does it have an off flavor - Ann  

I use it all of the time. I find old cookbooks at garage sale that are more likely to have recipes  using cake flour than modern cookbooks.
 
If I am making something like banana bread, pumpkin bread or something similar that does not call for cake flour I use corn starch plus two extra tablespoons per cup of regular flour called for. I also bake cookies using corn starch in place of the regular GF flour again adding the 2 extra tablespoons of corn starch when I convert the recipe to GF.
 
I cut the baking time down by a few minutes and the temperature down by ten degrees but I do not know if my oven heats too hot or if it just  works better using corn starch lowering the temperature.

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