Flour

It is important to use low-protein/low-gluten flour for cake baking or you get a very heavy cake. I learned this to my cost when baking in a New York hotel and using all-purpose flour for the cakes. I thought I would lighten the result by using extra baking powder to make the cakes rise. This, of course, did not work and a dozen sponge cakes went into the bin. What I should have done was reduce the protein/gluten content of the flour, which is what I now do. If the flour is high in protein/gluten, more than 9–10%, mix the flour with cornflour (corn starch,not cornmeal) in proportion 4:1, i.e. 200 g/7 oz/1¾ cups strong plain flour plus 50 g/2 oz/6 tablespoons cornflour equals 250 g/9 oz/generous 2 ¼ cups cake flour.