Here’s my philosophy on measurements in baking in two sentences: Use a scale. It’ll make your life so much easier.
In the US, most cooking measurements are still done in volume: measuring cups and spoons for dry ingredients, liquid measures for liquids. However, for baking, where precision is key to the success of many a recipe, once you measure in weight, you’ll realize the imprecision of using volume.
I use measuring flour as the best example. Use a measuring cup to scoop out a cup of flour from a bag and weigh it on a kitchen scale. Now scoop out a second cup and weigh it. What’s the difference in weight? Whether you packed in the flour tightly, levelled off the top of the measuring cup, shook the cup as you were filling it – all these variables will affect how much flour actually goes in your recipe – and it can vary every time. On the other hand, if you weigh out 5 ounces or 140 grams of flour on a scale, you’ll get the same amount every time.
That’s why I consider my kitchen scale to be one of the most indispensable tools in my kitchen. By using it, I eliminate one of the biggest factors that can influence the outcome of baked goods: imprecise measurement.
That said, many of my recipes on this site are still in US standard measurements (cups, pints, teaspoons, etc.) because I adapted them from recipes that used these measurements, and I wasn’t diligent enough at the time to convert everything to metric as well.
I am in the process of converting all the recipes on my website to have both standard and metric measurements (and to have them printable as well), but in the meantime I’m also putting up this page of conversions that I’ve accumulated over the years. If you come across one of my recipes and it isn’t converted, go ahead and use the conversions below. Note that this information is based on baking references I’ve consulted and my own personal experience. Please use caution when applying them to your own recipes – a little tweaking may be required as the translation between volume and weight is always a tricky thing. If you have any questions or any conversions you’d like to see, please e-mail me!
Flours/Other Dry Ingredients
All Purpose Flour (unsifted): 1 cup = 4 1/3 ounces = 125 grams
Cake Flour (unsifted): 1 cup = 4 ounces = 110 grams
Cornstarch: 1 cup = 4 ounces = 110 grams
Cocoa Powder: 1 cup = 3 1/4 ounces = 91 grams
Sugars
Granulated White Sugar: 1 cup = 7 ounces = 200 grams
Brown Sugar (Light or Dark): 1 cup = 7 ounces = 200 grams
Confectioners’ (Powdered/Icing) Sugar: 1 cup = 4 ounces = 110 grams
Dairy
Milk (All Kinds), Cream: 1 cup (liquid measure) = 8.2 ounces = 230 grams
Butter: 1 cup (2 sticks) = 8 ounces = 220 grams
Other Liquids
Water: 1 cup (liquid measure) = 8.2 ounces = 230 grams
Corn Syrup: 1 cup (liquid measure) = 10.9 ounces = 310 grams
Molasses: 1 cup (liquid measure) = 9 ounces = 260 grams
Honey: 1 cup (liquid measure) = 10.9 ounces = 310 grams
Vegetable Oil: 1 cup (liquid measure) = 7 ounces = 200 grams
Common Units of Dry Measurements
3 teaspoons = 1 Tablespoon = 1/2 ounce = 14 grams
4 tablespoons = 2 ounces = 1/4 cup = 56 grams
32 tablespoons = 2 cups = 16 ounces = 1 pounds
Other Common Conversions
1 ounce = 28 grams
1 fluid ounce = 30 milliliters
1 gallon = 4 quarts = 8 pints = 128 ounces = 3.8 liters (liquid)
Thanks so much for posting this! I have been looking for a conversion chart, to hopefully help with avoiding my usual Xmas cookie disasters this year!!
Donna
Yay! There are so many variables out there on converson charts & found the one I’ve been using for flour has been wrong (no wonder why…). I even upgraded from a manual scale to a digital one thinking that was the problem. Anyhow, your conversion chart is great find and will be frequently utilized. A baking blessing will be sent your way each time I use it.
Thank you!
Hi Dessert First Girl! We’re Las Munchies, two girls from the US living in Medellin, Colombia who recently started a cookie business after reading your inspiring blogs. Thanks. We have a question- how long do fresh baked chocolate chip cookies last before you think they are not sellable anymore? Thanks so much, Jess and Bethany a.k.a Las Munchies
Hi Jess and Bethany,
Sorry for not getting to your question sooner! It depends on your recipe, if you keep your cookies sealed in container they’ll probably last a couple days. I would taste test them every day to make sure they haven’t gotten stale before you try to sell them. Thanks and good luck with your business!
Hi Anita, Love your blog! Do you have a metric conversion for a cup of packed brown sugar, or is it the same as what you have posted already? Some recipes specify “packed” and others don’t, so there must be a reason…
Thanks so much! Kari
Hi Kari,
Most sites I find give the equivalent of 1 cup packed brown sugar as around 200 g, so my conversion would be comparable to 1 cup of packed brown sugar. If your recipe doesn’t call for packed, you’ll have to exercise best judgment – obviously as you can tell part of the confusion with imperial measurements is there is no agreement on ho packed “packed” is! But I think that most modern day cookbooks will assume that brown sugar will be packed in the measuring cup, whether the ingredients say “packed” or not, so I think it should be safe to use 1 cup = 200 g for MOST recipes. Good luck!
Morphy Richards Breadmaker | London Unattached - London Restaurants, London Lifestyle, London Events // Oct 29, 2012 at 1:18 am #7
[...] in the US, food writers are moving toward weight measures rather than away from them! check out this post for [...]
Thank you for the help on converions. I can now proceed on making Irish cookies, recipe from Dublin Ireland using Kerry Gold pure grass fed cows butter!! What a difference in using pure butter rather than USA product filled with water and other useless ingredients!!
Need help with a recipe , how to convert gm, ml into ccups and tbs. here we go 100 gm butter,350 gm cake flour,60 gm white sugar, 10gm baking powder ,600ml milk. Help please. Thank you!!!
Hi Linda,
I’m afraid I don’t have the space to do conversions for all ingredients to all possible measurements on this pages. If you find yourself needing to do this on a regular basis, there are many kitchen conversion calculators online. Here is one that is quite complete and should let you convert most of your ingredients:
http://www.onlineconversion.com/weight_volume_cooking.htm
Good luck!
San Francisco Blogger Bake Sale This Saturday! // Feb 28, 2013 at 10:05 am #11
[...] Conversions [...]
how to convert 3 ounces all purpose flour in tablespoons and in cups ?
waiting for answer
As it says on the page, for all-purpose flour 1 cup = 5 oz. Under “Common Units of Dry Measurements”, it gives 1/2 oz = 3 tablespoons. That should give you all the information you need to do the math. Thanks!
in a golden fruit cake recipe how many tbsp is 115g of Lyles golden syrup.difficult to weigh 115g of golden syrup. hoping you can help me.
Hi Bryan,
That’s a hard conversion because tablespoons are a unit of measurement for dry ingredients, and golden syrup is a liquid. I also don’t have any golden syrup in my pantry right now so I can’t measure it out. 1 tablespoon of corn syrup is about 21 g, it might be similar in weight to golden syrup so you could try that. good luck!
Thank u for this measuring chart i am very happy about it when i found it.i am from Nigeria.