Baking Conversion Calculator

Baking ingredient conversions matter more than cooking conversions. Cooking is forgiving; baking is chemistry. The ratios of flour, sugar, fat, and leavening determine whether your cake rises or your bread is dense. Volume measurements are imprecise. Weight measurements are exact.

This calculator shows your amount in all five units at once so you can pick whichever your recipe asks for.

Why Density Matters

A cup of flour and a cup of butter weigh totally different things. Conversion factors vary by ingredient because density does:

• All-purpose flour: 120 g per cup (spooned and leveled, the standard professional measure)
• Granulated white sugar: 200 g per cup (denser than flour)
• Brown sugar (packed): 220 g per cup
• Powdered (icing) sugar: 120 g per cup
• Butter: 227 g per cup (2 sticks)
• Cocoa powder: 85 g per cup (light and airy)
• Honey: 340 g per cup (very dense)
• Whole milk: 240 g per cup (close to water by weight)
• Rolled oats: 90 g per cup

Volume Reference

The volume side is the same regardless of ingredient:

• 1 cup = 16 tablespoons = 48 teaspoons = 240 ml (US standard) or 250 ml (metric cup)
• 1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons = 15 ml
• 1 teaspoon = 5 ml

This calculator uses the US standard cup (240 ml).

Worked Example

Recipe calls for 2.5 cups of all-purpose flour:

• 2.5 cups
• 40 tablespoons
• 120 teaspoons
• 600 ml
• 300 g (this is what professional bakers use)

The calculator shows all five at once.

A note on the flour figure, because you will see other numbers elsewhere. This page uses 120 g per cup, which is what most US recipe sites mean by “spooned and leveled”. Some references use 125 g and a few older ones use 140 g, which is closer to what you get if you scoop straight from the bag. Those are not conversion errors, they are different assumptions about how the cup was filled. Weigh your flour once against your own cup and you will know which camp your kitchen is in.

The #1 Baking Mistake

The biggest source of baking failure is over-measuring flour. Scooping a cup directly from the bag packs in 20 to 30% extra flour. That’s why a recipe that worked for the original baker yields a dry, tough result for someone else.

The professional fix: spoon flour into the measuring cup and level with a straight edge. Better still, use a kitchen scale and weigh in grams. A $15 scale eliminates the variable.

US vs Metric Cups

US recipes use a 240 ml cup. Australia and most metric countries use a 250 ml cup. The difference is small but real, about 4%. If you’re following a recipe from a different country, weighing in grams is the safe play.