Free Cooking & Baking Measurement Converter
Recipe measurements aren't consistent across countries or cookbooks — American recipes use cups and Fahrenheit, British ones use grams and gas mark, and a "cup" of flour weighs nothing like a cup of honey. This tool covers all three problems: real ingredient-aware cup-to-gram conversion, general volume and weight conversion, and oven temperature conversion.
Why Cups Don't Convert to Grams Directly
A cup is a unit of volume, and a gram is a unit of weight — converting between them requires knowing the ingredient's density. A cup of flour (light, airy) weighs about 120g, while a cup of honey (dense, thick) weighs about 340g — nearly three times as much for the same volume. That's why a generic "1 cup = X grams" answer is always wrong unless it names the ingredient.
Common Ingredient Weights (per US cup)
| Ingredient | Grams | Ounces |
|---|
| All-purpose flour | 120g | 4.2 oz |
| Granulated sugar | 200g | 7.1 oz |
| Brown sugar (packed) | 213g | 7.5 oz |
| Butter | 227g | 8.0 oz |
| Milk | 245g | 8.6 oz |
| Honey | 340g | 12.0 oz |
| Rolled oats | 85g | 3.0 oz |
| Cocoa powder | 84g | 3.0 oz |
US Cup vs. Metric/UK Cup
This tool uses the US cup (236.6ml). A metric cup (used in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand) is 250ml — about 6% larger. For most home baking the difference is small enough to ignore, but it compounds in larger batches or precise baking recipes.
Scoop-and-Level vs. Spooned: Why Technique Changes the Weight
The 120g figure for a cup of flour assumes the flour was spooned loosely into the cup and levelled off with a knife. Dipping the cup straight into the bag compacts the flour, and a "scooped" cup routinely weighs 140 to 150g, a 20 to 25% difference that is enough to turn a soft cookie into a dry one. Sifted flour goes the other way, at roughly 100 to 110g per cup. Brown sugar is the opposite case: recipes assume it is packed firmly, so a loosely filled cup comes up short. When a recipe gives both cups and grams, trust the grams. When it only gives cups, follow the method the recipe writer used, or weigh once and note the number for next time.
Cup and Spoon Sizes Around the World
A "cup" is not one size. This converter uses the US customary cup of 236.6ml, but you may meet several others:
- US customary cup: 236.6ml, used in American cookbooks and recipe sites
- US legal cup: 240ml, used on US nutrition labels
- Metric cup: 250ml, used in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and modern UK recipes
- Imperial cup: about 284ml (half an imperial pint), found in older British cookbooks
- Japanese cup: 200ml, used in Japanese recipes and rice cookers
Spoons vary too. A US tablespoon is 14.8ml and a metric tablespoon is 15ml, close enough to ignore, but an Australian tablespoon is 20ml, a third larger. Teaspoons are 5ml almost everywhere. If an Australian recipe calls for two tablespoons of baking powder and you measure with US spoons, you will be short by a third, which matters for leavening.
Converting a Whole Recipe
Converting every ingredient in a recipe from cups to grams works best if you follow a few rules. Convert each ingredient with its own density rather than a single "cups to grams" factor. Round to practical precision: nobody weighs 113.4g of butter, so 115g is fine, and most kitchen scales only resolve to 1 or 2g anyway. Leave eggs as whole eggs unless the recipe is precise enough to specify a weight (a large US egg is about 50g without the shell). For liquids, remember that millilitres and grams are only equal for water. Milk is about 3% heavier, oil is about 8% lighter, and honey is roughly 1.4 times as heavy, which is why the ingredient list includes them separately. If you are scaling the recipe up or down at the same time, do the scaling in grams after converting, not in cups before.
Oven Temperatures, Gas Marks and Fan Ovens
Gas marks run from 1 to 9 in 25°F steps starting at 275°F, which is the scale the temperature tab uses. The common reference points, with Celsius rounded to the nearest degree, are:
| Gas mark | °F | °C | Typical use |
|---|
| 1 | 275 | 135 | Very slow: meringues, drying fruit |
| 2 | 300 | 149 | Slow: rich fruit cakes |
| 3 | 325 | 163 | Moderately slow: custards, cheesecake |
| 4 | 350 | 177 | Moderate: most cakes and cookies |
| 5 | 375 | 191 | Moderately hot: muffins, roast vegetables |
| 6 | 400 | 204 | Hot: bread, roast chicken |
| 7 | 425 | 218 | Hot: puff pastry, Yorkshire puddings |
| 8 | 450 | 232 | Very hot: pizza, searing |
| 9 | 475 | 246 | Very hot: flatbreads, finishing |
Fan (convection) ovens circulate hot air and cook faster than conventional ovens at the same setting. The usual adjustment is to reduce the temperature by about 20°C (or 25°F), or keep the temperature and shorten the cooking time by roughly 10 to 15%. British recipes often print both figures; American recipes usually assume a conventional oven unless they say "convection".
Frequently Asked Questions
How many grams are in a cup of flour? About 120g for all-purpose flour, spooned and levelled (not packed or scooped, which can add 20-30% more).
What's gas mark 4 in Fahrenheit? 350°F (177°C) — a very common baking temperature. Each gas mark step is roughly 25°F.
Why is my converted weight slightly different from a recipe's? Ingredient density varies by brand, freshness, and technique (packed vs. loose, sifted vs. not) — treat these as reliable estimates, not lab-precise figures.
Can I convert tablespoons to grams? Yes — pick "Cups ↔ Grams" mode, choose your ingredient, and set "From" to Tablespoon.
How much does a cup of water weigh? 236g for a US cup, so millilitres and grams are interchangeable for water. Milk (245g) and oil (218g) differ because their densities are not 1.
How many tablespoons are in a cup? 16 US tablespoons, or 48 teaspoons. A metric cup (250ml) is 16⅔ metric tablespoons, so the "16 per cup" rule of thumb only holds within one system.
Should I lower the temperature for a fan oven? Yes, by about 20°C or 25°F, unless the recipe already states a fan setting. Alternatively keep the temperature and check for doneness 10 to 15% earlier.