Used to be a cake flour believer for everything, lol. Had a chocolate cake completely sink in the middle last month with it. Grabbed all-purpose for a quick redo and it came out perfect, no sinking at all. The crumb was still soft but actually held together.
Totally get this. Watched my lemon blueberry cake completely fall apart with cake flour last summer, it was a sad pile of crumbs. Switched to regular all-purpose for the next try and it was a total game changer. The structure was just so much better, held all the fruit and the layers stacked perfectly. Now I only reach for the all-purpose, it’s my go for anything that needs to stand up.
Man, my friend had this whole fancy layer cake fail with cake flour, it just would not hold up. She grabbed the all-purpose in a panic for the redo, and it came out perfect, no crumbling at all. Sometimes the simple stuff just works better.