Matzo cake meal substitutes

Not really a substitute so much as making the ingredient yourself, since cake meal is simply matzo meal taken to a finer grind. Blitz in a food processor, spice grinder or high-powered blender for a minute, then sift and regrind anything left in the sieve. The result is essentially identical.

Best for

Passover sponge cake, Passover brownies and cookies, coating fish and chicken, any recipe calling for cake meal

Do not skip the sifting. Even a small proportion of coarse crumbs will give the cake a sandy mouthfeel that no amount of resting will fix. Whole matzo sheets work too: about three sheets yields a cup of meal, and grinding them straight to a powder skips a step.

The other pillar of Passover baking and Kosher for Passover in its own right. It is much lighter and silkier than cake meal, almost squeaky between the fingers, so a sponge made with it is more delicate and airy but also more fragile and dries out faster. It contributes no wheaty flavour at all.

Best for

Passover sponge cakes and roulades, airy chiffon-style cakes, thickening fillings, gluten-free Passover baking

Many Passover cake recipes already use a blend, so the ideal is half cake meal and half potato starch. If you only have starch, use three quarters of the weight and expect a more tender, more collapse-prone cake, so cool it upside down in the tin like an angel food cake.

Widely used in Passover baking and genuinely excellent for it. Ground almonds or hazelnuts make a moister, richer, browner cake with a shorter crumb, and the nut flavour is pronounced. What they cannot do is hold up a tall airy sponge, since there is no starch network at all.

Best for

Passover flourless-style cakes, tortes and chocolate cakes, macaroon-type cookies, gluten-free baking

Reduce the fat in the recipe by a tablespoon or two per cup, since nuts bring their own oil. Note that some Ashkenazi households do not eat kitniyot at Passover, and while nuts are generally not in that category, customs vary, so check what your household follows.

The best-tasting swap and the one you should use if you are baking a recipe that happens to call for cake meal at any time other than Passover. Wheat flour has live gluten, so the cake rises higher, holds together better and eats lighter and less dense. Cake flour is closer in fineness than plain flour.

Best for

year-round baking from a Passover recipe, layer cakes, sponge cakes, cookies

Be clear about what this is: wheat flour is chametz and is not kosher for Passover under any circumstances. Use it only outside Passover. Reduce liquid slightly too, since flour absorbs less than cake meal does.

The most economical route and useful around Passover when cake meal sells out but plain matzo is everywhere. Break the sheets, blitz in batches to a fine powder, sift and regrind the coarse remainder. It is indistinguishable from the boxed product.

Best for

Passover baking when cake meal is sold out, small quantities, controlling the grind

Use unsalted, unflavoured plain matzo, not egg matzo or onion matzo. A spice grinder or coffee grinder gives a much finer result than a food processor if you only need a cup or two.

Worth listing separately because it is what most good Passover cake recipes do, and it is better than either ingredient alone. The cake meal gives body and a faintly toasted wheat flavour, the starch gives lightness, and together they produce a crumb much closer to an ordinary cake than either can manage on its own.

Best for

Passover sponge cake, layer cakes, cupcakes, sheet cakes

Sift the two together twice so they are properly mixed, since potato starch clumps and will otherwise leave dry pockets. This is the blend to reach for if a recipe calls for cake meal alone and comes out heavy.