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Hello,

I got some replies about the Corn Starch vs. Cake Flour. Each paragraph
below is from a different person...

I heard from 7 people total...as you can tell below 4 gave me their
input and 3 others wanted to know the outcome...

Hope this helps..

Sue


You follow exactly the same procedure, the same amounts.  The consistency
is the same, the only difference is it become stale faster.  The solution
is to cut in portions and freeze it and defrost what you need.
-- If you try cornstarch, try it out in a small amount first.  I made a
yellow cake recently using cornstarch using a recipe I have successfully
used for years with gluten flour using a one to one substitution of
cornstarch for cake flour.  Now I will admit that I'm not the greatest
cake maker, but this is the first time I made a cake that even the dogs
wouldn't eat.  It was actually boiling around the edge when I removed it
from the oven.  The resulting product was tough, flat, 1/2" thick, with a
nasty texture.  Even though I had doubled the vanilla, it tasted like
cornstarch.  No I didn't leave out anything.  And yes I check if my
baking powder is still good.  It is.

Julia Child recommended this a long time ago.  Use cornstarch in place
of cake flour [and ap flour in cakes] cup for cup.  No other changes are
needed.

Got questions from several new people about using cornstarch in place of
cake flour.  Julis Child, in one of her first books, recommends this.
Use it one to one.  A cup of cake flour - a cup of cornstarch.  No
changes need be made to recipe.  It acts and tastes the same.  One
slight difference is that the cornstarch gives a more delicate crumb, so
wait until cake is totally cooled before cutting.  It has a tendecy to
dry out more  quickly [if it lasts that long], so keep it well wrapped.
I had asked a professional baker about this substition, did he know
about it, did it work, etc?  He said it worked just fine.  Another pt he
made was that as far as cakes were concerned, cake flour and ap flour
are interchangeable.  There fore, in cakes at least [and bar cookies
such as brownies], you can use cornstarch, measure for measure for all
purpose flour.

I prefer the cornstarch over the other alternative flours because it is
light, does not have that grittiness and if virtually indistinguishable
from wheat flour in these recipes.  My daughter and her frieds did a
side by side taste test for me with my usual brownie recipe and not only
could they not tell the difference, they preferred the brownies made
with cornstarch!