Baking Weight Converter: Cups to Grams for 40+ Ingredients

Why weight beats volume in baking

Volume is imprecise. How tightly you pack flour into a cup can vary by 30% depending on whether you scoop directly from the bag, spoon it in and level off, or sift it first. That 30% swing in flour weight can mean the difference between a perfect loaf and a dense brick.

Weight removes that variable entirely. 120 grams of flour is always 120 grams of flour, regardless of who measured it, where, or when. Professional bakers always use weight. Home bakers increasingly do too, and a digital kitchen scale (accurate to 1g) is one of the most useful tools you can own.

This converter works in both directions. Converting a volume recipe to grams is the most common use case, especially for older recipes or American recipes shared in UK baking communities. The reverse (grams to cups) is useful when you need to check whether your bowl has enough room or when communicating a recipe to someone without a scale.

Flour conversions

The most searched conversion in baking, by a large margin, is cups of flour to grams. Here are the standard values used by this calculator:

All-purpose flour: 120g per cup (spoon and level). This is the King Arthur Baking standard and what most modern American recipes assume. If a recipe was written by someone who scoops directly from the bag, their cup is closer to 150g, a meaningful discrepancy.

Bread flour: 127g per cup. Slightly denser than AP flour due to higher protein content.

Whole wheat flour: 130g per cup. Heavier than white flour because the bran particles are denser.

Cake flour: 100g per cup. Very fine grind, very light. Using AP flour as a 1:1 swap by volume significantly changes the recipe.

Almond flour: 96g per cup. Considerably lighter than wheat flour: almond flour is ground nuts, not grain, and traps more air.

Sugar conversions

Granulated white sugar: 200g per cup. A consistent, easy-to-measure ingredient: granules are uniform and don't compact significantly.

Powdered (icing) sugar: 120g per cup, unsifted. But powdered sugar is extremely light and compacts easily. A packed cup can weigh 150g+. Always spoon it in, level off, and sift after measuring if the recipe calls for sifted.

Brown sugar: 220–239g per cup, packed. Brown sugar is always measured packed. Press it firmly into the cup. Light brown has less molasses than dark and is slightly less dense.

Honey and maple syrup: 315–340g per cup. These liquid sweeteners are significantly denser than water. When substituting honey for sugar in a recipe, remember to reduce other liquids by about 20% to compensate.

Butter and fats

Butter is one of the simpler conversions: 1 US cup = 2 sticks = 227g = 8 oz. This is true whether the butter is melted or softened (softened butter compresses slightly, but the accepted standard is still 227g/cup).

Oils (vegetable, olive, coconut) are around 215–220g per cup: slightly less than water because fats are less dense. Coconut oil is solid below 24°C (76°F); always measure it melted for accuracy.

Shortening is about 190g per cup: considerably lighter than butter. If you substitute shortening for butter at equal volume, you're using less fat by weight. Many recipes specify butter for this reason: the quantities are calibrated to weight, not volume.

Common measurement mistakes

Scooping flour directly from the bag. The single most common reason home baker loaves are too dense. Scooping compresses the flour and can add 20–40% more than intended. Always spoon flour into the measuring cup and level with a straight edge.

Using volume for liquids when weight is specified. Milk, buttermilk, and cream are close enough to water that the error is small. But honey (339g/cup) and maple syrup (315g/cup) are much denser: using a cup measure when the recipe intends grams will give you too much sweetener.

Packing powdered sugar without sifting. If a recipe says “1 cup sifted powdered sugar,” sift first then measure. If it says “1 cup powdered sugar, sifted,” measure first then sift. A meaningful weight difference.

Assuming cups are universal. A US cup (236.6 mL) differs from a metric cup (250 mL), an Australian cup (250 mL), and a UK cup (284 mL). This calculator uses US cups throughout. If you're following a recipe from a different country, check which cup standard it uses.

How ingredient densities are determined

The densities come from USDA FoodData Central, King Arthur Baking's weight charts, and manufacturers like Bob's Red Mill. Where sources disagreed, we used the most widely cited professional baking standard.

All flour densities use the "spoon and level" method. Flour is spooned into the cup with a scoop, then leveled with a straight edge. Packed and sifted measurements are noted where the difference is significant (more than about 15%).

Liquid densities are derived from specific gravity. Water is 237g per US cup (not 236.6g—a rounding adopted across the baking industry). All other liquids are calibrated relative to water.

If you find an error or your scales give different results, the likely cause is a different measuring method. Packed versus spooned flour is the usual issue. Switch to grams and the variation disappears.

Quick reference: cups to grams

The 40 most-used baking ingredients with gram equivalents for common volume measures. All flour values use the spoon-and-level method.

Frequently asked questions

Why do different flours have different gram weights per cup?

Each flour has a different particle size, density, and tendency to compact. All-purpose flour is 120g per cup (spoon and level). Bread flour is 127g because its higher protein content makes it denser. Cake flour is 100g because it's milled much more finely and traps more air. Almond flour is 96g because ground nuts are lighter than grain flour. Using a single conversion for all flours introduces errors of 15–30%.

How many grams is a cup of all-purpose flour?

One cup of all-purpose flour is 120 grams using the spoon-and-level method (spoon flour into the cup, then level with a straight edge). If you scoop directly from the bag, you can pack in 140–155g. This calculator uses the 120g standard, which matches King Arthur Baking's ingredient weight chart and what most modern baking recipes assume.

What is the difference between US cups and metric cups?

A US cup is 236.6 mL. A metric or Australian cup is 250 mL (about 5.6% larger). A UK cup is 284 mL. This calculator uses US cups. If you're following a recipe from Australia or the UK, the volume amounts are different and your gram weights will be slightly off. When in doubt, convert the recipe to grams at the outset to eliminate any ambiguity.

How do I convert tablespoons of butter to grams?

One US tablespoon of butter is 14.2 grams. One US cup of butter (2 sticks) is 227 grams. Select butter in this converter and enter tablespoons or cups for an exact figure. Note that softened and melted butter both weigh the same per cup: the standard is 227g regardless of state.

Can I use this converter for liquid ingredients?

Yes. Liquids like water, milk, cream, honey, maple syrup, and oil are included. Water is roughly 237g per cup. But denser liquids vary significantly: honey is about 339g per cup and maple syrup about 315g, both much heavier than water. Using a generic 'water equals everything' assumption for these ingredients introduces large errors. This converter uses the correct density for each liquid.