There's no single conversion factor — each ingredient has a different density. The process: find the weight for each ingredient's volume, write it down once, and you never convert again. Here's the list that covers 90% of baking.
The common density table
Per US cup, rounded to 5g:
- All-purpose flour — 120g
- Bread flour — 125g
- Whole wheat flour — 120g
- Cake flour — 115g
- Granulated sugar — 200g
- Brown sugar (packed) — 220g
- Powdered sugar — 120g
- Butter — 227g (equivalent: 2 sticks)
- Vegetable oil — 218g
- Milk — 240g
- Heavy cream — 238g
- Honey — 340g
- Maple syrup — 322g
- Cocoa powder — 85g
- Rolled oats — 90g
- Almonds (whole) — 140g
- Chocolate chips — 170g
- Peanut butter — 260g
Teaspoons and tablespoons
For small measurements, these approximate values cover most cases:
- Salt — 1 tsp = 6g, 1 tbsp = 18g.
- Baking powder / soda — 1 tsp = 4–5g.
- Vanilla extract — 1 tsp = 4g, 1 tbsp = 13g.
- Yeast (active dry) — 1 tsp = 3g, 1 tbsp = 9g.
The process
- 1. Go through your recipe ingredient by ingredient.
- 2. For each, look up the grams-per-cup value. Multiply by the recipe amount.
- 3. Write the gram weight next to (or instead of) the cup measurement.
- 4. Next time you bake this recipe, use the scale, not the cups.
The Cups → Grams tool does steps 1–2 automatically for 20 common ingredients, with real density data from King Arthur and USDA references.
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Pick an ingredient, enter volume, get grams. 300+ combinations of ingredient × amount × unit.
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