If you've ever weighed a "cup" of flour on a kitchen scale and gotten a different number than a recipe expected, you're not doing anything wrong — cups measure volume, not weight, and different ingredients pack differently into the same volume. This guide gives you exact gram equivalents for the ingredients that trip people up most, and explains why a single "cups to grams" ratio doesn't exist.
Why One Cup Doesn't Equal One Weight
A cup is a unit of volume: 240 millilitres, always. But grams measure mass, and how much mass fits into 240ml depends entirely on how dense the ingredient is and how it's packed. A cup of feathers and a cup of lead take up the same space but weigh wildly different amounts — flour and sugar aren't quite that extreme, but the same principle applies. Flour is light and full of air pockets; granulated sugar is denser and settles tighter; brown sugar is usually packed firmly, which changes its weight again.
The Conversion Table
| Ingredient | 1 cup (grams) | ½ cup (grams) |
|---|---|---|
| All-purpose flour (spooned & leveled) | 120g | 60g |
| Granulated sugar | 200g | 100g |
| Brown sugar (packed) | 220g | 110g |
| Butter | 227g | 113g |
| Rolled oats | 90g | 45g |
| Cocoa powder | 85g | 42g |
| Honey | 340g | 170g |
Why "Spooned and Levelled" Matters
Most of the gram figures above assume you spoon flour into the measuring cup and level it off with a knife, rather than scooping directly from the bag. Scooping compacts the flour and can add up to 20% more than the recipe intended — which, in baking, is often the difference between a cake that rises properly and one that turns out dense. If a recipe was developed by weight in the first place, always prefer the gram figure over the cup figure.
Liquid Ingredients Are the Exception
Water, milk, and most liquids are close enough to 1:1 with volume that cooks often treat 1 cup as roughly 240g for water-based liquids specifically — that's because water's density is almost exactly 1g per millilitre. This shortcut breaks down fast for anything thicker (honey, condensed milk) or lighter (oil), which is why oil and honey get their own line in the table above rather than sharing water's ratio.
A Worked Example
Say a recipe calls for 2¼ cups of all-purpose flour and you want to weigh it instead of scooping. Using the 120g-per-cup figure: 2 cups = 240g, and a quarter cup = 30g, giving you 270g total. Weighing it this way means your flour measurement will be identical every time you bake the recipe, regardless of how it was scooped.
FAQ
Does a "cup" mean the same thing everywhere?
No — a US cup is 240ml, but Australian, Canadian, and UK cups have historically
used slightly different volumes. If a recipe doesn't specify, assume US
unless the source is clearly from another region.
Should I always convert to grams?
For baking, yes where possible — weight is more precise. For quick, forgiving
cooking like soups or sauces, cups are usually fine.
What if my ingredient isn't in the table?
Use the tool on this site's conversion page, which covers
additional ingredients and lets you enter a custom amount.
For oven temperature conversions to go with your newly-weighed ingredients, see our guide on oven temperature conversion, or jump straight to the tool to convert anything on this page instantly.