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Cake flour:
grams to cups.
Cake flour weighs just 114 g per cup — lighter than all-purpose flour because it is milled to a finer particle size and bleached to weaken gluten. That lighter weight per cup is part of what makes cakes tender, but it also makes accurate measuring by volume harder.
Cake Flour: grams to cups
Approximate cup fractions for common gram amounts. Based on 114 g per cup.
| Grams | Cups (approx) | Decimal |
|---|---|---|
| 25 g | ¼ | 0.22 |
| 50 g | ½ | 0.44 |
| 100 g | 1 | 0.88 |
| 150 g | 1 ⅓ | 1.32 |
| 200 g | 1 ¾ | 1.75 |
| 250 g | 2 ⅙ | 2.19 |
| 500 g | 4 ½ | 4.39 |
Cake Flour: cups to grams
Based on 114 g per cup.
| Volume | Grams (g) |
|---|---|
| 1 cup | 114 g |
| ¾ cup | 86 g |
| ½ cup | 57 g |
| ⅓ cup | 38 g |
| ¼ cup | 29 g |
| 1 tbsp | 7 g |
| 1 tsp | 2 g |
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Fine milling and why it changes cup weight
Cake flour is ground much finer than all-purpose flour, which means particles pack more loosely in a measuring cup and air fills more of the volume. This is why a cup of cake flour weighs only 114 g versus 120 g for all-purpose flour — even with identical measuring technique. The fine texture also makes cake flour prone to clumping, so recipes often instruct you to sift it before measuring. Sifting after measuring versus sifting before measuring can add yet another variable: sifted flour before measuring packs even less densely, potentially bringing a cup down to 100 g or below. If you are converting a recipe that says "1 cup cake flour, sifted," the weight is likely around 100–105 g; if it says "1 cup sifted cake flour," the intended weight is around 114 g as measured unsifted.
The DIY cake flour substitution and what it tells you about density
A common substitution for cake flour is to replace 2 tablespoons per cup of all-purpose flour with cornstarch. This works because cornstarch dilutes the protein content, mimicking cake flour's lower gluten potential. From a weight perspective, the substitution is: 14 tbsp AP flour (105 g) + 2 tbsp cornstarch (16 g) = about 121 g per cup — nearly identical to a cup of all-purpose flour and heavier than a cup of genuine cake flour. The texture difference in the finished cake is subtle but real. For delicate chiffon cakes or angel food cakes where texture is everything, weighing real cake flour is worth the precision.
Frequently asked questions
- How many grams is 2 cups of cake flour?
- 2 cups of cake flour weigh 228 g (2 × 114 g). The same 2 cups of all-purpose flour would weigh 240 g.
- Can I substitute all-purpose flour for cake flour using the same weight?
- Using the same gram weight is a better starting point than using the same cup volume. 114 g of all-purpose flour will behave similarly in quantity but will produce a slightly less tender result due to higher protein content.
- How many cups is 200 g of cake flour?
- 200 g ÷ 114 g/cup ≈ 1.75 cups, or 1 cup + 12 tablespoons.
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