What is the exact measurement when a recipe says a cup?!


Question: Hi,
Found some great recipes on the internet for me and my kiddies to bake but I am a bit confused.
Some of the recipes say a cup of flour or half a cup of raisins for example. I have a variety of different size cups in my cupboard so which do I use. Is there an exact amount I should use?
Also as an extra what is cake flour....plain or self raising, or is it something else.
Many thanks


Answers: Hi,
Found some great recipes on the internet for me and my kiddies to bake but I am a bit confused.
Some of the recipes say a cup of flour or half a cup of raisins for example. I have a variety of different size cups in my cupboard so which do I use. Is there an exact amount I should use?
Also as an extra what is cake flour....plain or self raising, or is it something else.
Many thanks

A standard measuring cup contains 8 oz.
If you use the metric system then 8 oz = 226.8 grams, dry measure; or 236.6 ml, liquid measure.
Here's an excellent article all about cake flour:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-cake-flo...

A cup is 8 ounces.

And cake flour is a flour with less gluten in it than AP flour.

you need a good measuring cup, which is standard....8 ounces.

They assume you have a proper "measuring cup" not some coffee cup out of the cupboard. You need to buy one. 1 cup is 8 fluid oz. if that helps any. Cake flour is used to bake cakes and is finer than ordinary white flour.

8oz is 1 cupbut be care on flour because sometimes it is a sifted cup

baby girl!!! go buy specially made measures!! a 1 cup liquid measure for liquid ingredients, measured up the side in portions of the cup, in ounces 2 ounces per portion of cup, and in ml.
You need also dry measures. they come in sets of little cups 1 cup, 3/4 cup, 2/3 cup, half cup, 1/3 cup, and quarter cup. If you come across a recipe that asks for eighths of a cup, use a whisky jigger. 1/8 cup is one ounce or 1 jigger.

Also buy yourself a set of measuring spoons!!

to measure with dry measure cups, put the flour for instance in the cup using a spoon, don't pack it, then level it off with a knife. Same with measuring spoons. fill spoon and level with knife. to measure using liquid measure cup, set cup on flat surface and get eye level with your measure then fill to that line.

there are many flours on the market. bread flour is really heavy on gluten what makes breads so good, general purpose flour which is the white enriched flour used for most things, and cake flour which is milled finer than GP flour. You can use GP flour instead of cake flour, but won't have the finer texture of the cake flour. Use 2 tablespoons less GP than cake flour. Self rising flour already has the baking powder in it. Do not use it unless it is called for or you skip the baking powder and baking soda in the recipe.

Good luck on learning to bake!

It depends on your bra. If it's a "C" cup. Ok, I'm just kidding. Actually there are two ways to address this. You can get a measuring cup especially for liquids which has a line indicating the volume (i.e. 1/2 cup, 3/4 cup, 1 cup etc.) It will also have the oz. This way if the recipe calls for ounces instead of cups, you can equate the 2..for example, 1 cup equals 8 ounces.

The other way is with a container already at that size. They come as a set and so the measuring is already done for you. So if you need 1/3 cup for example, just fill that container to the top and you're good to go.

Either system will work, but the second way is better because you don't have to constantly stoop and see if your product lines up with the correct line on the measuring cup. I hope I've explained this well enough. Good luck and have fun baking.

Hi there

yes purchasing a measuring 2 cup container is a great investment.... as when it calls for a cup of butter I put 1 cup of water in the 2 cup measurer and just add the butter til the water is up to 2 cups -- no mess

Good luck with loads of great cooking years ahead!

You need to buy a set of measuring cups. There are cups for dry measure such as for flour and cups for liquids - the ones for liquids will have the "pour spout". They will all have the measurements indicated on them.

Cake flour is difffernt from regular flour and different from self rising flour. It is specially ground and is quite fine, and used only for items such as cakes. You can substitute regular flour for cake flour in most recipes, though you may need to change other ingredients slightly, and you use a little less of the regular flour - probably about 7/8 of a cup instead of a cup.

Here is a link that may be helpful to you.

Try in Captain Cooks for the measuring cups UK, you can also pick up good and more hard to find cookware in TK Maxx.





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