One thing to know before you start: cups and spoons measure volume, the space an ingredient takes up, while grams and ounces measure weight. A cup of water and a cup of flour fill the same cup, but the flour weighs about half as much. That's why one of the tables below gives the weight of one cup of common ingredients.
Why grams first
The Thermomix® TM7™ has a built in scale, so you add each ingredient straight into the mixing bowl and watch the grams on the screen. There are no cups to wash, and the amount comes out the same every time.
Weighing is also more exact, and in baking that matters. A cup of flour scooped straight from the bag can weigh 150 g or more, while the same cup spooned in and leveled weighs about 125 g. That difference is enough to turn a soft cake dry and heavy. Cooking is forgiving; baking, much less: for cakes, breads and cookies, weigh whenever you can.
For small amounts, like salt, spices, baking powder and vanilla, use measuring spoons. That's why the recipes here give them in teaspoons and tablespoons.
Ready to bake? Start with Pastry basics: the cake bases and frostings there are weighed to the gram.
How to measure with cups and spoons
No scale? Cups and spoons work well if you measure the same way every time.
- Flour: stir it in the bag to loosen it, spoon it into a dry measuring cup until it mounds over the top, then sweep the back of a knife across the rim to level it. Don't press it down or tap the cup.
- Never scoop the cup straight into the flour: it packs it down, and you end up with too much.
- Sugar, rice and oats: fill the cup and level it with a knife.
- Brown sugar: press it firmly into the cup, so it holds the shape of the cup when you turn it out.
- Liquids: set a clear measuring cup on the counter, pour, and read the line at eye level.
- Spoons: fill them and level them with a knife, unless the recipe says heaping.
Measure over a separate bowl, not over the mixing bowl or the batter, so a spill doesn't end up in the recipe.
Volume: spoons and cups
A US cup is really 237 ml, but recipes round it to 240 ml, and that's close enough for cooking and baking.
| US measure | Metric |
|---|---|
| 1/4 tsp | about 1 ml |
| 1/2 tsp | 2.5 ml |
| 1 tsp | 5 ml |
| 1 tbsp = 3 tsp | 15 ml |
| 2 tbsp = 1 fl oz | 30 ml |
| 1/4 cup = 4 tbsp | 60 ml |
| 1/3 cup = 5 tbsp + 1 tsp | 80 ml |
| 1/2 cup = 8 tbsp | 120 ml |
| 2/3 cup | 160 ml |
| 3/4 cup = 12 tbsp | 180 ml |
| 1 cup = 16 tbsp = 8 fl oz | 240 ml |
| 1 pint = 2 cups | 475 ml |
| 1 quart = 4 cups | 950 ml, almost 1 liter |
| 1 gallon = 4 quarts | 3.8 liters |
tsp = teaspoon, tbsp = tablespoon, fl oz = fluid ounce. A fluid ounce measures volume and an ounce measures weight; they are about the same only for water and thin liquids like milk.
Weight: ounces and pounds
Supermarket packages in the US are labeled in ounces and pounds, and many show grams too. To go from one to the other, remember that 1 oz is about 28 g and 1 lb is about 454 g.
| US weight | Metric |
|---|---|
| 1 oz | 28 g |
| 2 oz | 57 g |
| 4 oz = 1/4 lb | 113 g |
| 8 oz = 1/2 lb | 227 g |
| 12 oz = 3/4 lb | 340 g |
| 16 oz = 1 lb | 454 g |
| 2 lb | 907 g |
| 2.2 lb | 1 kg (1000 g) |
| about 3.5 oz | 100 g |
oz = ounce, lb = pound. A stick of butter is 4 oz, 113 g, and a 1 lb package of ground beef is 454 g.
One cup in grams
Use this table to turn a recipe in cups into grams for the TM7 scale, or the other way around. Where it says about, the weight can change a little with the brand and with how you fill the cup.
| 1 cup of | Weighs |
|---|---|
| All-purpose flour, spooned and leveled | 125 g |
| Granulated sugar | 200 g |
| Brown sugar, packed | 220 g |
| Powdered sugar | about 120 g |
| Butter (2 sticks) | 227 g |
| Milk or water | 240 g |
| Vegetable oil | about 220 g |
| Long grain rice, uncooked | about 190 g |
| Rolled oats | about 90 g |
| Unsweetened cocoa powder | about 85 g |
| Honey | about 340 g |
Butter: 1 stick = 1/2 cup = 8 tbsp = 113 g, so 1 tbsp of butter weighs about 14 g. 1 tbsp of water or milk weighs 15 g.
Lengths and pan sizes
Pan size matters in baking: in a bigger pan a cake comes out thinner and is done sooner, and in a smaller one it can overflow. The recipes here give both measures.
| US | Metric |
|---|---|
| 1/2 in | about 1.3 cm |
| 1 in | 2.5 cm |
| 8 in round pan | 20 cm |
| 9 in round pan | 23 cm |
| 9 x 13 in baking dish | 23 x 33 cm |
| 10 in skillet | 25 cm |
| 12 in skillet | 30 cm |
Which cups, spoons and pans to have: Basic kitchen equipment.