[nutellawunder]

Hello,

I just brought over an neat cookbook for cupcakes from the US. Martha Steward does cupcakes - all fanzy and colored and cute.

I did figure out that you can substitute cup cake flower with flower mixed with some maizena but where I failed entirely is the "cups" she uses for EVERYTHING.

For flower, for milk, everthing is measured in cups. and the internet gives indications from 120 to 220 and above ml/g... Now my first try was very jummy but increadibly dense (not the fluffy texture I was looking for).

Rather than baking 600 cupcakes to find an estimation of what the cup measure could be - does anyone have a better idea than my current research?

Nutellawunder

[clotilde]

Perhaps you'll find this page of conversions and equivalents useful?

[KYHeirloomer]

There are a couple of problems with conversions, nutellawunder.

In America, volume measurements have always been more the norm. But even using them you may not be measuring what you think.

Let's take the "cup" that's driving you batty, for instance. An American cup is 8 ounces. That sounds simple enough. But you have to understand that it refers to 8 fluid (i.e., water) ounces in that volume.

So it's not a simple matter of converting from volume to weight. You also have to know the comparative weights of the ingredients involved. For example, a cup of flour is considered to be 4.5 ounces by most bakers.

If you're going to do a lot of baking using American cookbooks, I would recommend that you take the time to establish your own table of weights and measures. This will be a real PITA, for sure. But once you have it, you'll be able to refer to it forever.

To help get you started:

Flour: 1 cup=4.5 oz=126g
Granulated sugar: 1 cup=slightly less than 8 oz=220g
Butter: 1 stick=8 tablespoons=1/4 lb=114g
Liquids: 1 cup=8 fluid ounces=228g

If I can help with other measurements just let me know.

[dory]

Hi NUtella,

Are you in the EU? If you are, you can probably order easily from the UK. I found measuring spoons and cups that may help you here.

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/F/C/preparing-food/C/preparing-food-weights-measures

They have teaspoons tablespoons etc. that I am hoping are the same as the U.S., and also measuring cups and carafes that are graduated in fluid ounces. Again I am hoping that UK fluid oz. are the same as in the U.S. because they are what we use to measure for volume-- almost entirely. A cup is 8 fluid ounces and you can divide from there. If I were to make a lot of U.S. recipes I would try just to buy some measuring spoons and a measuring cup on the internet, as they are not expensive. In contrast, European recipes are easy for us, because all of our scales for weighing food have both ounces and grams. I know what you might be thinking. It just isn't logical. However, I can promise that once you start using a cup to measure it is pretty easy, even if it is out of step with the rest of the world, and illogical.

If the website I mentioned does not work, I would recommend going to some site like Amazon that is huge and probably ships internationally (I know there is a different Amazon in each country, but you could try the U.S. site, or else google buying U.S. measuring cups in Europe. MY guess is for less than 10 Euros you can have the basic measuring devices you need, and will be free of the nightmare of conversion. Good baking!

Dory

[dory]

This website may also be useful. I found it explained things in a way I can understand.

http://www.practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/pages/measuringcups