American cup measurements?

kent_77

Yes it's true you can easily buy something in the UK labelled as cup measures, but in my experience they are inaccurate and do not correspond to US customary cup volumes! (Whether this actually matters in the grand scheme of things or ruins your recipe is of course another point. That said I did once buy some teaspoon measures in the UK that all contained exactly double what they said they did -- my scones tasted rather strange til I figured this out!)

Anyway, the original poster asked how much 1 cup measures, and the correct answer for a US cup (and hence any American recipe) is 237 ml, not 250 ml. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_%28unit%29 for further refinements and details of how Canadian cups and US cups are different.

Tindella_2

I have a plastic measuring jug - I think it was from Tesco - must have been cheap as I wouldn't have bought it It has all the different weighing systems round the rim, and covers dry and wet ingredients. Seems to cover everything!

purplecatlover

i keep finding recipes i want to try, but they are all in cups rather than weights. so how do i measure cups without actually owning american measuring cups? or is there a converter somewhere online? (delia's list doesn't have for example porridge oats )

i tried using a teacup, figuring that as long as the same amount it would work, but it didnt i ended up with too many dry ingredients and not enough wet.

last week i tried converting to grams, but i didn't allow for different things weighing different amounts and again had too many dry and not enough wet.

tomorrow i want to make carrot cake but again the recipe is in cups (and its the only one i can find that doesn't specify wholemeal or sr flour, i do not want ot buy anything else and only have plain flour).

thriftlady_2

If you have a measuring jug then it is easy. A cup = 8 fl oz, so just fill up to that mark. Half a cup is 4 fl oz and so on. You may find that a mug holds 8 fl oz.

You could make your own set of cups using yogurt pots. You'll need a large pot for the 1 cup measure. Fill with 8 fl oz of water, mark the level with a pen and cut round the mark. Do the same for half cup/quarter cup and third cups.

As for the flour just use plain flour. your cake will be less 'wholesome' but will work fine.

Swan_2

do you have a measuring jug with Imperial measures on it? if you do, an American cup is equal to 8 fluid ounces

there was a thread about this quite recently with more information, I'll see if I can find it & post the link (if no-one beats me to it, slow typer )

Swan_2

well I found the THREAD but I'm not sure you'll want to read it* as it gets into Canadian & Australian measurements too :eek:

although I found it very interesting, but then I'm a bit nerdy about anything to do with cooking



EDIT ... * I meant from a confusion point of view, no detriment to our Canadian & Aussie MSE-ers

purplecatlover

one of my jugs does indeed have fluid ounces. thank you.

thriftlady_2

Swan wrote: »

although I found it very interesting, but then I'm a bit nerdy about anything to do with cooking

Well, you can't be any more nerdy than me

Swan_2

thriftlady wrote: »

Well, you can't be any more nerdy than me

OH yes I can! (looks for the panto smiley) <---- nearest thing

squeaky

Yes, definitely go for the options mentioned above.

Americans measure their ingredients by volume and not by weight.

For sure you should avoid trying any weight conversions because different ingredients weigh different amounts.

If you don't believe me just pick any cup or mug you like - fill it with sugar and weigh the sugar. (Put it back in your sugar bowl). Now fill the same cup with flour and weigh it...

Cup sets are readily available in the kitchen section of most supermarkets these days and can be found for as little as £2.00