Maida, Atta or Gluten-Free: Which Flour for Your Cake?

Most cakes on our menu ask you a question before they go in your cart: Maida, Atta or Glutenfree? It looks like a small choice. It changes the taste, the texture and the price, so here's what you're actually choosing between.

Maida

Maida is refined wheat flour. The bran and germ have been milled away, leaving a fine, white, very soft flour.

• Taste: neutral. It lets the vanilla, the fruit or the chocolate do the talking.
• Texture: the lightest, most open crumb of the three. This is the classic birthday-cake sponge most of us grew up with.
• Strength: good structure, so it's the easiest flour for tall cakes, layered cakes and detailed designs.
• Price: it's the base price on our menu.

Maida is the right choice when the cake is mostly about the cream, the fruit and the look.

Atta

Atta is whole wheat flour, the same flour in your rotis. It keeps the bran and germ, so it carries more fibre and more flavour.

• Taste: nutty and a little earthy. You'll taste it in a plain vanilla sponge. In chocolate, coffee, banana or carrot, it blends in and often improves things.
• Texture: slightly denser and more moist, with a darker crumb.
• Structure: it still contains gluten, so it holds together well. It is not a gluten-free option.
• Price: usually a little more. On our classic cakes, atta adds ₹100. On teacakes it ranges from nothing extra (Banana Walnut and Carrot Walnut) to ₹50 (Oreo) and ₹100 (the other teacakes that offer it). On a custom cake, whole wheat adds ₹200 per kg.

Gluten-free

A gluten-free cake uses flours with no wheat in them at all.

• Taste: close to a maida cake in rich flavours. In a very plain sponge, some people notice a difference.
• Texture: gluten-free sponges tend to be tender and a little more crumbly, since there's no gluten holding the crumb together.
• Structure: fine for a regular cake. For something tall, carved or stacked, talk to your baker first.
• Price: the most expensive of the three. It adds ₹250 on our classic cakes, ₹200 on teacakes, and ₹250 per 500g on a custom cake.

One important note: our kitchen isn't gluten-free. We bake gluten-free cakes alongside regular ones. If you have coeliac disease or a serious allergy, call or WhatsApp us before ordering.

The difference in rupees

Here's what the choice looks like on a few real items from our menu.

• Belgian Chocolate Truffle Cake, 500g: ₹1,000 with maida, ₹1,100 with atta, ₹1,250 gluten-free. See the product page.
• Vanilla Teacake: ₹350 with maida, ₹450 with atta, ₹550 gluten-free.
• Banana Walnut Teacake: ₹450 with maida or atta, ₹650 gluten-free. See the product page.

Prices can change, so the product page is always the final word. It shows the total before you order.

What we'd pick

These are our own leanings, not rules.

• A birthday cake with whipped cream and a design on top: maida. It gives the lightest sponge and the most reliable structure for decorating.
• A tea-time loaf for the house: atta, especially in banana walnut, chocolate or coffee. On the Banana Walnut it doesn't even cost extra.
• A chocolate cake for someone cutting back on refined flour: atta. Chocolate and whole wheat get on well.
• A table where one person can't eat gluten: gluten-free for the whole cake, so everyone eats the same thing. Choose something rich, like the chocolate truffle or mocha.
• A tall, tiered or carved design: talk to us through the custom cake form. Maida is usually the most forgiving, but we'll tell you honestly what works with the flour you need.

A word on "healthier"

Atta brings more fibre, and gluten-free flour is essential for some people. Neither turns a cake into health food. Both still come with sugar, butter or oil, and cream. Choose atta because you like the flavour or want whole grains, and gluten-free because someone needs it. Then enjoy the cake.

If you want to see everything we make with whole wheat, including breads, cookies and pizza bases, it's on our whole wheat bakes page.