Cups ⇄ Grams Converter (by Ingredient)

Because the scoop method changes the weight dramatically. Dipping the cup into the flour bag and sweeping it level packs in roughly 130–145 g; spooning flour into the cup and leveling gives about 120 g. That is a swing of up to 20% — enough to turn a tender cake batter into a dry one. Sugar and liquids are consistent by volume, but flours, cocoa, and powdered sugar compress, which is why professional recipes list grams first.

There is no single exact answer — this tool uses 120 g per US cup of all-purpose flour, the spooned-and-leveled standard used by King Arthur Baking and most modern recipe developers. Other reputable sources use 125 g (USDA) or 130 g (dip-and-sweep). If a cookbook states its own gram weight for a cup, use that number; consistency within one recipe matters more than the standard chosen.

American recipes mean the US customary cup of 236.59 ml (the 'US legal cup' of 240 ml appears only on nutrition labels). Australian, New Zealand, and Indian recipes that say 'cup' usually mean the 250 ml metric cup — about 5.7% larger, which matters over 3–4 cups of flour. Old British cookbooks may mean the 284 ml half-pint cup, almost 20% larger than a US cup. This converter rescales density linearly for whichever standard you pick.

16 tablespoons = 1 US cup, and 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon, so 48 teaspoons per cup. That makes per-spoon weights easy: all-purpose flour ≈ 7.5 g per tbsp, granulated sugar ≈ 12.5 g, butter ≈ 14.2 g, honey ≈ 21.3 g. Note that an Australian tablespoon is 20 ml (4 teaspoons), not 15 ml — a common source of over-salted recipes.

Brown sugar holds air unless compressed, so recipes standardize on 'firmly packed' — pressing it into the cup until it holds its shape, about 220 g per US cup. Loosely scooped brown sugar can weigh as little as 145 g, a 34% shortfall that visibly flattens cookies. Powdered sugar has the opposite trap: sifting before measuring drops a 120 g cup to roughly 100 g.

The 'Other ingredient' option falls back to water density (236.6 g per US cup) and shows a warning, because real densities range from about 85 g per cup for desiccated coconut to 340 g for honey. For anything precise — especially baking — find the ingredient's gram weight on the package nutrition panel (serving size in both grams and cups) or weigh one cup once and note it.