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Pick a unit on each side. Weight converts to weight and volume converts to volume.
Enter an amount to convert.
Weight converts to weight and volume converts to volume. They are not interchangeable: a cup of flour and a cup of sugar weigh very different amounts, so use the table below for ingredients rather than converting between the two.
| Gas mark | Conventional | Fan | Fahrenheit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 140°C | 120°C | 275°F |
| 2 | 150°C | 130°C | 300°F |
| 3 | 160°C | 140°C | 325°F |
| 4 | 180°C | 160°C | 350°F |
| 5 | 190°C | 170°C | 375°F |
| 6 | 200°C | 180°C | 400°F |
| 7 | 220°C | 200°C | 425°F |
| 8 | 230°C | 210°C | 450°F |
| 9 | 240°C | 220°C | 475°F |
Why cups and grams are not interchangeable
A cup is a measure of volume and a gram is a measure of weight, and converting between them requires knowing the density of the specific ingredient. Flour, sugar, rice, butter and cocoa all have different densities, so one cup of each weighs a different amount.
Worse, flour's density depends on how it was put in the cup. A cup scooped straight from the bag is compacted and can hold twenty per cent more than a cup that was spooned in and levelled — which is enough to change a cake noticeably.
This is the single strongest argument for weighing. A recipe in grams is unambiguous; a recipe in cups depends on how the last person filled theirs. If you bake at all often, a set of digital scales is the cheapest improvement available.
The traps worth knowing
- US and UK cups are different. A US cup is about 240 ml and a UK one about 250 ml. A US pint is about 473 ml and a UK pint about 568 ml — a difference of twenty per cent.
- US and UK fluid ounces are also different, and in the opposite direction to the pints. Convert through millilitres.
- Australian tablespoons are 20 ml, not 15 ml. That is a third more, which matters for anything strongly flavoured.
- A fan oven runs hotter than its dial suggests relative to a conventional one. The usual rule is to set it around 20°C lower, which is what the table above does.
- Most domestic ovens are out by 10 to 20°C anyway. An oven thermometer is the only way to know, and it explains a great deal of past disappointment.
- A "stick" of butter is a US measure of about 113 g, or half a cup.
Reading an oven temperature chart
Gas mark, conventional electric and fan are three different ways of describing the same oven, and the numbers do not line up in an obvious pattern — gas mark 4 is 180°C and gas mark 6 is 200°C, so the steps are not even.
The fan column is the one worth understanding. A fan oven moves air across the food, which strips away the still, humid layer sitting against its surface and transfers heat considerably faster. The usual correction is to set a fan oven around 20°C below a conventional recipe, and that is what the table above does.
It is only a convention, and it assumes your oven is accurate. Most domestic ovens are out by ten to twenty degrees in one direction or the other, and they are frequently hotter at the back and cooler near the door. An oven thermometer left on the middle shelf is the only way to find out, and it usually explains more past disappointment than any recipe ever did.
Common questions
Why does the converter not do cups of flour to grams?
Because it would have to guess which flour, and how you filled the cup. Weighing removes the guess, and a converter that pretended otherwise would be confidently wrong.
Is a teaspoon really 5 ml?
By convention, yes, and an actual teaspoon from a drawer is not a measuring spoon. Buy a set; they cost almost nothing.
Should I use the fan setting?
For roasting and anything you want browned, yes — moving air removes surface moisture. For delicate cakes, conventional is often gentler.
Does this send my numbers anywhere?
No. The arithmetic runs in your browser and nothing about it leaves the page.
Try this next
- Plain flour why weighing matters most here
- Kitchen thermometer and checking what your oven really does
- Recipe scaler for changing the quantities