Tag Archives: does cup size really matter

Does cup size really matter? It does when it’s brown sugar

Regretfully, it does and I don’t mean the difference between A, B, C or heaven help us, DD.

They say that we are two countries divided by the same language and this piece is all about giving you the information you need to use American recipes and get them right! It sounds so blinking sensible doesn’t it? Just use 1 cup of  flour and 1 cup of sugar, but if you don’t live in the USA and you don’t have access to cup measures, just how big can cup size be?

Has it occurred to you that in fact 1 cup of caster sugar is not actually the same weight as 1 cup of soft brown sugar? No, it didn’t occur to me either which is probably why I have had some spectacular disasters using American cookbooks. Also, what on earth is a stick of butter? More and more confusing..

So here is my handy guide for conversion…

American  Imperial  Metric 
1 cup flour
1 cup caster/ granulated sugar
1 cup soft brown sugar
1 cup butter/margarine/lard
1 cup sultanas/raisins
1 cup currants
1 cup ground almonds
1 cup golden syrup
1 cup uncooked rice
1 cup grated cheese
1 stick butter		 5oz
8oz
6oz
8oz
7oz
5oz
4oz
12oz
7oz
4oz
4oz		 150g
225g
175g
225g
200g
150g
110g
350g
200g
110g
110g

I really hope this helps, just to really confuse you, don’t forget a pint isn’t always a pint! In British, Australian and often Canadian recipes you’ll see an imperial pint listed as 20 fluid ounces. American and some Canadian recipes use the the American pint measurement, which is 16 fluid ounces.

Oh dear, you say tomato and I say…tomato??

does cupcake size really matter?

No English picnic would be complete without the humble cupcake despite its american origins…come to think of it, why didn’t we stick with Fairy Cakes for heaven’s sake?

But does size matter?  In this case, absolutely!

As some of you know I have been experimenting and designing cupcake recipes for the last year or so and the one thing I have learned is that your cupcake size must match your event. So, for  some, tiny bite-sized cakes are the key, no mess, fewer calories and easily transportable. Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and place for big, fat luscious ones, but this isn’t one of them.

The recipe I’m using can be used for any size, you just need to adjust the cooking time, but for lemon cocktail cupcakes you will need the following:

  •  180g of self raising flour, caster sugar and unsalted butter, 2 eggs, 5 tablespoons milk, zest of 1 lemon.
  • Preheat oven to gas mark 6, 180 degrees or 160 if fan
  • Throw all the ingredients in a food processor and whizz together.
  • Using sweet-sized cake cases, add 1 teaspoon to each and place in oven for approx 12 to 15 minutes
  • In the meantime, in a saucepan add 75g caster sugar to the juice of the lemon and stir over a low heat until all the sugar is absorbed and the syrup is clear.
  • When the cakes come out of the oven, prick with a fork and drizzle the lemon syrup over the top
  • Allow to cool and ice with either buttercream or fondant icing

You will end up with tiny, delicious, moist lemon cakes. If I want to be really wicked I drizzle them with limoncello instead of the lemon syrup. Either way, they are heavenly.