Cups to Grams Converter
Why Cup Measurements Are Unreliable for Baking A cup of all-purpose flour can weigh anywhere from 100g to 160g depending on how it was measured — spooned lightly, scooped compactly, or measured after sifting. This 60% variation is enough to make cakes dense, cookies flat, or bread not rise properly. Professional bakers use weights for […]
Why Cup Measurements Are Unreliable for Baking
A cup of all-purpose flour can weigh anywhere from 100g to 160g depending on how it was measured — spooned lightly, scooped compactly, or measured after sifting. This 60% variation is enough to make cakes dense, cookies flat, or bread not rise properly. Professional bakers use weights for exactly this reason: grams and ounces are always exact, regardless of how the ingredient settles in a container.
This converter gives you the precise weight for 40+ commonly used baking ingredients. Select your ingredient, enter your amount, and get the exact gram weight every time.
The single best investment you can make in your baking is a kitchen scale. They cost under $15 and eliminate the most common source of baking failures — inaccurate flour measurement.
Cups to Grams Reference for Common Baking Ingredients
Flour
Flour weights vary significantly by type and how finely it is milled. All-purpose flour weighs 125g per cup when properly measured (spooned into cup, levelled). Bread flour is denser at 130g. Cake flour is lighter at 100g. Almond flour is surprisingly light at 96g per cup due to its coarser, airier texture. Never scoop flour directly from the bag — the scooping action compacts it, adding up to 30% more flour than the recipe intends.
Sugar
Granulated white sugar is 200g per cup. Brown sugar packed firmly is about 220g — the packing is what makes the difference. Powdered (icing) sugar is only 120g per cup due to its fine particle size and the air trapped within it. When a recipe says “1 cup powdered sugar, sifted” versus “1 cup sifted powdered sugar,” the order of operations changes the measurement significantly — always weigh for precision.
Butter and Fats
Butter is 227g per cup (2 sticks in the US). This is one of the easier measurements to get right because butter is sold in marked sticks, but for European recipes using grams, the conversion matters. Vegetable oil is 224g per cup. Coconut oil solid is 218g per cup.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many grams is 1 cup of flour?
One cup of all-purpose flour weighs 125g when properly measured (spooned into cup, levelled off). If scooped directly, it can weigh up to 155–165g. Bread flour is 130g per cup. Cake flour is 100g per cup. Always spoon flour into the measuring cup — never scoop directly from the bag.
How many grams is 1 cup of sugar?
One cup of granulated white sugar weighs 200g. Brown sugar packed firmly is 220g. Powdered (icing) sugar is 120g. Caster sugar is 225g. Use the converter above to get exact weights for your specific sugar type.
How many grams is 1 cup of butter?
One cup of butter weighs 227g (8 oz or 2 US sticks). Half a cup is 113.5g (1 US stick). A quarter cup is about 57g. If a recipe calls for a US stick of butter and you are buying European block butter, weigh out 113g.
Why does my baking turn out differently when I use cups vs grams?
Cup measurements introduce human error at every step. Different measuring cup sets have slightly different volumes. The way you fill them (scoop, spoon, pack) changes the weight. A 10–20% error in flour or sugar can significantly affect the outcome of a bake. Grams are always exact regardless of how the ingredient settles or how the scale is used.