What this converts
Three cooking-specific conversion modes.
Volume: for liquid and dry-ingredient recipes that use measuring spoons and cups. Switches between US cups, metric cups, milliliters, liters, teaspoons, tablespoons, fluid ounces, pints, quarts, and gallons. Important: US cups (236.6 ml) and metric cups (250 ml) differ by ~6%. The calculator distinguishes them so a recipe written in one unit converts cleanly to the other.
Weight: for ingredients that should be measured by weight rather than volume. Switches between grams, kilograms, ounces, pounds, milligrams. Bakers know that 1 cup of flour can weigh anywhere from 110g to 150g depending on how packed it is, weight measurements are far more reliable for baking.
Temperature: oven temperatures in Fahrenheit, Celsius, and the British/Australian “gas mark” system. UK ovens often only show gas marks; converting recipes from a Fahrenheit-default cookbook requires this lookup.
Why volume conversions can be wrong
The catch with volume measurements: 1 cup of butter does not weigh the same as 1 cup of flour, and a cup of flour packed tightly weighs more than a cup of fluffed flour. The converter handles unit conversions accurately (1 cup is always 236.6 ml of volume), but cup-to-grams conversions require knowing the ingredient’s density.
For ingredient-specific conversions:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour ≈ 125g
- 1 cup granulated sugar ≈ 200g
- 1 cup brown sugar (packed) ≈ 220g
- 1 cup butter ≈ 227g
- 1 cup honey ≈ 340g (much denser than water!)
- 1 cup water/milk ≈ 240g
The calculator handles unit math; it doesn’t know about ingredient density. For accurate baking, weigh ingredients on a kitchen scale.
Oven temperature reference
| Description | °F | °C | Gas Mark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very low (warm) | 200 | 90 | ¼ |
| Low | 250 | 120 | ½ |
| Cool | 275-300 | 135-150 | 1-2 |
| Warm | 325 | 165 | 3 |
| Moderate | 350 | 175 | 4 |
| Moderately hot | 375 | 190 | 5 |
| Hot | 400 | 200 | 6 |
| Very hot | 425-450 | 220-230 | 7-8 |
| Extremely hot | 475-500 | 245-260 | 9-10 |
Gas mark conversions are slightly less precise, the gas mark scale doesn’t map cleanly to Celsius increments. The calculator uses the standard British conversion table.
Common recipe conversions
A few that come up constantly:
- 1 stick of butter = 8 tablespoons = ½ cup = 113g
- 1 pound (lb) ground beef = 16 oz = 454g
- 8 oz block of cream cheese = 226g
- 1 large egg ≈ 50g
- 1 cup of pasta (uncooked) = ~85-100g for spaghetti, ~110-120g for shaped pasta
For recipes that mix US and metric (very common in modern cookbooks), convert all measurements to one system before starting to avoid errors at decision points.
Frequently asked questions
Why are US and UK cups different? Historical accident. UK measuring cups went through several official sizes; the modern UK metric cup is 250ml, while the US cup remained at 236.59ml (originally derived from 8 fluid ounces). The 6% difference matters for baking precision but rarely for cooking.
Can I convert between cups and grams directly? Not in this calculator without specifying ingredient density. For approximate baking, the references above work. For precision, use a kitchen scale and weight measurements.
What’s a “metric cup”? 250ml. Used in Australia, New Zealand, and many countries that adopted the metric system from scratch. The UK uses both, older cookbooks use British imperial cups (~284ml!) while newer ones use metric.
Should I trust the temperature conversion exactly? Yes for °F↔°C, that math is exact. For gas mark conversions, the table approximations are within 5°C of the standards used in UK cookbooks.