Scratch Baking - Newbie needs help!!!

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Permalink Reply by Karen Marie on July 13, 2010 at 4:55pm

Well to aviod calculating grams/lbs get a scale that changes from oz to gm then you dont have to fuss at all...just push the appropriate button...I got my scale on eBay...it is a postal scale weighs up to 35 lbs and does oz and gms...also zeros out so you can put a bowl on it and then hit the button and it goes to zero...it was about 20 bucks. OK with that said I always measure by weight and I agree with alot of folks here that weight IS the most accurate and gives consistent results. Here are my fav recipes, one for yellow cake and one for chocolate fudge cake. They are from Toba Garrett "Professional Cake Decorating" :

Attachments:

• Chocolate Fudge Cake.docx, 11 KB
• Hi Yield Yellow Cake.docx, 11 KB

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Permalink Reply by Jeanne on July 13, 2010 at 5:13pm

Right, but I did answer your question. 200 grams does not equal .87 cups of flour. It's 1.6 cups of flour. So if you used that conversion you would not have enough flour and your recipe would fail.

By me saying that 1 cup is 130 (or 125) grams you can easily see that 200 grams is MORE than one cup and not less. .87 is less than one so that calculation is telling you that 200 grams of flour is roughly 3/4's of a cup when in reality it is not... it's almost double that amount.


Stampinsher said:

Jeanne,
If you look at the recipe above, it says 200 gr. that is the number I placed into the conversion. I was not asking anything about what 1 cup equals to grams.

So perhaps I was not clear in my typing above but I believe both sites says the same thing for the conversion measurements in the recipe above when using the numbers 200 gr.

I also know that the site that I found says that 1 cup of AP Flour equal 125 gr. which is pretty close to your 130 gr per cup.

You are so right trying to find AP Flour on the site that you recommend is a lot more clicks to find and on the other site that I suggested it is stated on the page with many other common used ingredients just by scrolling down. Really easy to find.

This just shows me how important it is to read everything and to double check measurements.
Thanks for the additional site for a second verification. I will use it both sites for confirmation should I ever have the need to convert

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Permalink Reply by BarbieDarl-SA-PE on August 1, 2010 at 4:53am

Greetings from South Africa! Way to go girl! I have NEVER, EVER considered buying a "box" cake to bake! ONLY EVER BAKED "from scratch". Why on earth would anyone order a "home-baked" cake from you to find out that it was a "winkelkoek" - shop-cake? I love the whole process. It is an artform in itself. I always think that the time I am putting into the cake makes it a blessing and even more special and unique. The love and effort somehow "goes into the cake". I love to watch it rise in the oven. I live on the coast, so my cake recipe is sea-level compliant. Most people in South Africa live at high altitude, so most recipe books contain recipes for that market. If you are going to bake from scratch, check this aspect out. You will have to re-adjust them. SCALES, SCALES, SCALES. I have 4, plus the 2 beautiful antique scales, one of which came down from my husband's family. When in doubt I check on that old scale with its brass and iron weights. My prize possession at the moment is the beautiful electronic scale my daughter (in England) gave me for my birthday. It has grams, oz, ml and fluid oz. Spoil yourself and go that route. The other MAJOR secret it that if you use a hot-milk sponge recipe, you MUST beat the eggs (always jumbo) and the sugar for 10 minutes in your food mixer! After 8 minutes I add the vanilla essence. I ALWAYS line the base of the tins with greaseproof paper. The sides can be lined, but I grease the sides with butter and flour them (vanilla cake) or with a little sifted coca powder for chocolate cake. Let me know when you have been hooked! P.S. I grew up on a sheep farm before the whole of South Africa had been electrified. We had a 2.2 lighting plant that only gave feeble lighting when run at night. If anyone else in the house switched on a light, there would be a loud moan from other family members as all the other lights would dim. The main meal was at midday. All baking was done in the afternoon in an old AGA stove (using anthracite). EVEYTHING had to be done by hand ... and yes, it tasted a thousand times nicer than nowadays. Times have changed and those memories are now all a thing of the past. But I still dream of legs of lamb, slowly roasting in a gentle heat (no temperature gauge). And, before I get lost in a reverie somewhere in time and space ... there are NO lions (or tigers...Paris Hilton) roaming around our streets unless they have escaped from game farms or zoos!

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Permalink Reply by BarbieDarl-SA-PE on August 1, 2010 at 5:04am

Hello again. I forgot to mention this in my last comment. Another huge advantage of an electronic scale is when making moulded figures for toppers, etc. I always "play" with my first figure eg. a teddy bear. I form his body from gumpaste, adding or removing small amounts of paste till satisfied. I weigh the body eg. 15 grams. I do the same for all the other body parts. It really does save you a lot of time and the figures are all the same. Hope this makes sense! Greetings, Barbara

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Permalink Reply by Karen Marie on August 1, 2010 at 6:48am

I have been thinking about this whole dilemma about weight and cups and conversions from metric to imperial...one reason it is difficult to use the conversion calculator is that it is based on liquid and not dry ingredients. When you convert 200 mg to cups, it converts 8 fl oz not volume which is what a dry cup measure is An ounce weighs approximately 28.35 gms so 8 oz by weight is 226.8 gms. 200 gms of flour is about 7 ounces by weight. If you take the 8 fl oz into consideration then 7 oz is .87 of a "liquid cup" which will make your recipe all messed up. Bottom line is you cant convert mg to cups by volume. You can only convert mg to pounds and ounces by weight. So 200 mg is equal to 7.05 ounces by weight or .44 lbs.... just shy of a half pound which is almost 2 "cups" of flour. All professional formulas go by weight. This makes it so much easier to double, triple or half a recipe and still keep the integrity of the finished product. And converting from metric to imperial is a snap...so girls from the UK (who weigh their ingredients) and other places...keep bringing those great recipes on!

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Permalink Reply by Dorit Tabori on August 3, 2010 at 12:28am

If you are serious about baking anything, it is worthwhile to invest in electronical scales, they are not all that expensive and make baking life a lot easier and more successful.
I bake all my breads and cakes from scratch which gives me more flexibility and control over the final product. I prefer weighing all my products. However you can find most conversions, for dry and wet products, in various conversion calculators on the web, e.g. a standard measuring cup of sugar weighs 200 gram, a cup of flour 130-140 gram depending on type and humidity of flour, water is 1 to 1 100 ml of water = 100 gram.
It is important to make sure your recipes are either entirely in cups and spoons or entirely in weights, mixing the two can be confusing.
Wish you much baking success.

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Permalink Reply by suziq auzzi on June 11, 2011 at 6:36am

200 g plain flour = 7 oz all purpose flour = 1 3/4 cups
200 g caster sugar = 7 oz superfine, fine or just granulated sugar = just under 1 cup
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon bicarb of soda = baking soda
200 g unsalted butter (room temp) = 7 oz unsalted butter = 1 3/4 sticks
Put all the above in a bowl and mix till just combined.
In another bowl measure out :-
40 g cocoa powder = just over 1/3 cup
150 mls sour cream* =  5 oz
2 medium eggs
1 vanilla extract
160 deg C Fan forced = 320 deg F
160 deg C Fan forced = 180 deg C [ordinary] = 355 deg F

Notes*:

US sour cream is made on 22% butterfat while AU sour cream is made on 36% butterfat.

Increase butter to 8 oz or 1 cup and use 1/2 cup sour cream

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