I feel like making cupcakes, to try out my new silicone bakeware. Im looking at Nigella's recipe and it says "cake flour"! what on earth is that!
bambi58,
Aug 13, 7:28am
Ordinary flour! I always just use High Grade flour for everything. Works!
nanasee1,
Aug 13, 7:29am
I use plain flour
pom4,
Aug 13, 7:30am
I have high grade flour in the cupboard but dont know what it is for lol. I either buy plain flour or SR flour. So should I use my self raising flour!
bunny51,
Aug 13, 7:57am
Just use your plain flour. (OR you can use your high grade flour if you want)
whitehead.,
Aug 13, 9:03am
high grade flour is for bread making but you can use it for anything its just that yeast works better with high grade
sarahb5,
Aug 14, 1:37am
I don't think the version of Nigella's cup cake recipe that I use says cake flour but the recipe on her own website says self raising.I only buy high grade though so I would use that and some baking powder.
Apparently - cake flour lightens your cake crumb, making it super soft and delicious.
How to Turn All-Purpose (plain) Flour into Cake Flour. For every cup of flour you use, replace two tablespoons of flour with two tablespoons of cornflour. The cornstarch and flour need to be well incorporated and the flour well aerated so sift the flour and cornflour mixture about five times; or blitz it through the food processor to mix well.
sarahb5,
Nov 21, 9:03am
Given that Nigella is English and lives/cooks in England I think she means self raising - there's no such thing as cake flour in England, I believe it's an American "thing"
gardie,
Nov 21, 5:19pm
But do not use self raising flour in place of any flour (cake or otherwise) if there are already other raising agents (baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar) in the recipe.
davidt4,
Nov 21, 8:30pm
Nigella's recipes are edited for the American editions of her books, so it is likely that the recipe queried by original poster is American and that cake flour is what is intended.I would use standard flour with a small quantity of cornflour included, say 1 tab per cup.
sarahb5,
Nov 21, 8:58pm
I wouldn't - I'd use the cup cake recipe from her English website (and her book) which I have posted the link to above - it uses self raising flour and is the easiest and best cup cake recipe I have ever come across.The cup cakes made with this recipe are light and fluffy every time - delicious!I try to avoid using American recipes because of the difference in ingredients and their availability in this country.
kiwitrish,
Nov 21, 8:59pm
Here is Nigellas cup cake recipe that I use.Always turns out really good. Dead easy and fast.
125g butter, softened 125g sugar 125g plain flour 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2-3 tablespoons of milk
Preheat oven to 200C, or 180C if using fan-forced.
Place all the ingredients except the milk into a food processor. Blitz in short bursts until the mixture is well combined and smooth.
Whilst pulsing the mixture, gradually pour in the two tablespoons of milk through the food processor funnel. Blitz until the milk has been incoporated. The mixture should look smooth. Add another tablespoon of milk if necessary.
Divide the mixture across a patty-lined 12-muffin tin. A generous tablespoon should be sufficient, as the mixture should triple in size when baked.
Bake for 15-20min or until well-risen and the tops are a pale gold in colour. Ice when cool.
Variations: Lemon cupcakes: Add two teaspoons of finely grated lemon rind. Chocolate cupcakes: Add two tablespoons of cocoa.
Buttercream icing: Beat 125g softened unsalted butter with 250g pure icing sugar using an electric mixer. Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla essence and 2 teaspoons of milk. Beat until smooth (a wooden spoon can be easier at this point), adding either more milk or icing sugar if necessary. Use a piping bag to decorate swirls onto cooled cupcakes.
Chocolate icing: Melt 90g of dark chocolate (broken in pieces) and 30g butter in a bowl sitting over a pot of gently simmering water. Stir until melted, then add 1 cup icing sugar and about 2 tablespoons of hot water. Mix well and add either more hot water or icing sugar until you reach your desired consistency. Using a spatula to slather generously over cooled cupcakes or pipe on
sarahb5,
Nov 21, 11:11pm
kiwitrish - your recipe is exactly the same as the one in my link above except that yours uses plain flour and bicarb and mine uses self raising flour .
bill241,
Nov 21, 11:30pm
The difference between plain and high grade flour is the gluten. You want more gluten for bread and less for cakes and biscuits, so for cupcakes you'd use plain flour rather than high grade. Well I would anyway. I have no idea what cake flour is though.
davidt4,
Nov 22, 12:38am
Cake flour is low-gluten.That's why the most common way of imitating it is to replace a small proportion of plain flour with cornflour, which does not contain gluten.As I suggested above, 1 tab of cornflour per cup will do it.
sarahb5,
Nov 22, 2:42am
I use high grade for everything but when a recipe calls for self raising (as my copy of Nigella's cup cakes does) I simply add baking powder.
bill241,
Nov 22, 11:31am
Yeah, I add baking powder instead of having self raising flour sitting around. But I think I'll stick to using lower gluten flour for cakes etc.
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