Cup

A cup is a unit of volume used mostly in American recipes, and also in Canadian, Australian and New Zealand ones. A US cup holds 236.6 ml, which nutrition labels round to 240 ml. A metric cup, used in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, holds 250 ml. The difference is small enough to ignore in most cooking.

Why it works

A cup measures space, not weight, so the same cup of two ingredients can weigh very different amounts. These weights are for a level US cup:

Ingredient	Weight
All-purpose flour, spooned in	about 120 to 125 g
Granulated sugar	about 200 g
Brown sugar, packed	about 210 to 220 g
Butter	about 225 g
Rolled oats	about 90 g

That is why bakers prefer a kitchen scale. If a recipe gives grams, use them.

How to use it

Use dry measuring cups (a set of nested cups) for flour, sugar and grains, and fill them to the rim. Use a liquid measuring cup (a jug with lines) for water, milk and oil, and read it at eye level.

Cups	Milliliters	Other units
1 cup	240 ml	16 tablespoons, 8 fl oz
¾ cup	180 ml	12 tablespoons
½ cup	120 ml	8 tablespoons
⅓ cup	80 ml	5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon
¼ cup	60 ml	4 tablespoons

In Swedish terms, 1 US cup is about 2.4 deciliters.

Common mistakes

• Scooping flour straight from the bag. It packs down and you can end up with 150 g or more instead of about 125 g. Spoon it into the cup and sweep it level.
• Using a liquid jug for flour. You cannot level it, so the amount drifts.
• Not packing brown sugar when the recipe says packed.
• Using an old British "cup", which was about 284 ml. If a very old British recipe gives cups, compare it against weights where you can.

In recipes

Look for "1 cup flour, spooned and leveled", "½ cup packed brown sugar" and "1 heaping cup". "C." and "c" are short for cup.