HELP - Measuring INSTEAD of Weighing (puds)

Emm-in-a-pickle

Many years ago I used to have a couple of really idiot-proof recipes where the ingredients were measured by volume instead of weight, for sponge cake & sponge pud - both microwave. I remember the cake one used fruit yoghurt and the yogurt tub to measure other ingredients.
I`ve parted company with kitchen scales ages ago, but fancy trying a simple sponge pud again...without weighing.
I`ve got bread recipes that go by volume, and I have an accurate set of `cup` and `spoon` scoop measures, plus measuring jugs.
I`ve tried googling umpteen `conversion` things, and searched the forum here but not found what I`m after.
Can any lovely OSers help please?

Apollonia

All the US recipe sites use cups to measure. They don't seem to weigh any ingredients.

So try allrecipes.com instead of allrecipes.co.uk

http://allrecipes.com/

Emm-in-a-pickle

I was some US ones, but I`m sure I read somewhere that US cups are different from UK ones.

casperlarue

I do remember reading a blog somewhere where the blogger had done an experiment weighing out 4 cups of ingredients and they all came out at different weights. Her point was that she preferred to use a weighed recipe as you used the same amount every time.

I know this doesn't answer your question! But i do know that 1 US cup is 250ml liquid if that's any help!

FairyPrincessk

US and UK cups should be roughly the same (and often measuring cups sold in the UK are actually manufactured for America), but Australian cups are supposed to be a bit bigger. Just find some American recipes where the original recipe is written by volume--it is true, the same volume of different ingredients will be different weights, but if the original recipe is created by volume then this will not be a problem.

As an expat I just keep both measuring devices in my kitchen as this is far far easier than converting. To be honest, I've got about half one one and half the other and I just do it the way its written.

Here is one for a start:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/victoria-sponge-cake/

FairyPrincessk

And this one is for the microwave and also uses volume:

http://earner.hubpages.com/hub/Quick_and_Easy_Microwave_Cake

Emm-in-a-pickle

Thanks ever so much folks! I`ve checked my cup scoops and the cup is 250ml. I`ve been to the links and jotted down both recipes, so am going to try the microwave cake one later today. I so rarely do anything cakey these days, but while DS`s GF is visiting is an ideal time to have a go (my menfolk don`t eat cakes & puds). If the worst comes to the worst I`ll put jelly on it and it`ll be trifle for tomorrow!
Thanks xx

Emm-in-a-pickle

Just a quick feedback - I used the Microwave Cake link above, (many thanks FairyPrincessK) , but I doubled the quantity and put it in a pyrex casserole dish with some lime marmalade (!) spread on the bottom first, so it was halfway between cake & sponge pud. Also had to give it an extra 3 minutes. It was LOVELY!!!

FairyPrincessk

Fab! So glad it worked!

krlyr

I use lots of US recipes so do it in cups and teaspoons/tablespoons. Rarely have any problems doing it this way!
The only measurement I really bother converting to grams is butter as Americans tend to use "sticks". I find the Traditional Oven website has a good set of conversion pages that seems to be pretty accurate.

krlyr

Oh, and I remember seeing a "yoghurt pot cake" being done by Nigella when I caught a bit of her show once. Found the clip online - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00zy7s5