Among atta and maida, maida is the one that corresponds to plain flour. Cake flour is a finely milled flour with a lower protein content than all-purpose flour. It is typically made from soft wheat varieties, which have less gluten-forming proteins compared to the hard wheat used for making atta.
In the context of cake baking, if a recipe calls for cake flour, you can approximate it by mixing all-purpose flour with cornstarch. The general substitution ratio is:
1 cup of cake flour = 1 cup of all-purpose flour - 2 tablespoons + 2 tablespoons of cornstarch
To clarify, if your recipe requires cake flour, and you don't have it, you can use maida (all-purpose flour) and cornstarch to create a similar texture and structure in your cake. Atta, on the other hand, is a whole wheat flour and has a higher protein content, making it less suitable for achieving the delicate texture desired in cakes.