Question of baking powder and "flavors"!!

[DianaP81]

I like the soft cake and fragrant, but also very swollen!!
what is the best baking powder to make cakes very high and swollen?
Furthermore, I was wondering what is meant by "cup" ...
how many grams are one cup?
...and, What does the word "flavors" that we find on the labels of American!

 

[taxlady]

I guess you have an American cake recipe.

Cups are volume measure. I cup is about 237 ml. How much that would be in grams depends on what you are measuring. If it's water, then 237 grams. If it is flour or sugar, it will be different.

I know, measuring flour or sugar by weigh is more accurate and easier.

Just to add to the confusion, there is a difference in size between "weight measure" and "dry measure". You don't measure flour in the same size cup as you measure liquids. Yes, they are almost the same size, but not quite.

Here's a link to a chart to help with converting recipes: Cooking Equivalent Measurements, U.S. vs. Metric vs. Imperial (U.K.) Measures, Substituting Cooking Measurements, Dry Measurements, Liquid Measurements

 

[DianaP81]

thank you very much...the chart will be very useful to translate your recipes!!!

 

[dcSaute]

TaxLady -

that website has some pretty severe issues.

starting right off the top with
Dry/Weight Measurements

as you pointed out, a cup of what weighs 8 ounces?
and 8 ounces by weight is closer to 227 grams
16 tablespoons
1 cup
8 ounces
.500 pound or 1/2 pound
225 grams

There’s fluid ounces and there’s avoirdupois ounces and that site does not distinguish.
And 8 fluid ounces is a (US) cup, of anything.

1 cup all-purpose flour
5 ounces
142 grams
1 cup whole wheat flour
8 1/2 ounces
156 grams

8.5 ounces by weight = 241 grams

It’s not a good site for metric oriented types.

 

[Oldvine]

I'm not sure you can simply pump up a cake to make it more soft and swollen by adding more leavening agents. Different recipes create different results. A sponge cake would be fluffier than a pound cake or carrot cake. I don't do many fluffy/swollen cakes so can't offer a good suggestion. I'm sure some one will be able to help you here.
Also, a liquid measure cup is different from a dry measure cup and is some recipes, the difference might be critical.

 

[DianaP81]

Here, we write all solids in grams and liquids in litres.. it is more simple!
But, I will learn...I can do it...!!!

 

[taxlady]

TaxLady -

that website has some pretty severe issues.

starting right off the top with
Dry/Weight Measurements

as you pointed out, a cup of what weighs 8 ounces?
and 8 ounces by weight is closer to 227 grams
16 tablespoons
1 cup
8 ounces
.500 pound or 1/2 pound
225 grams

There’s fluid ounces and there’s avoirdupois ounces and that site does not distinguish.
And 8 fluid ounces is a (US) cup, of anything.

1 cup all-purpose flour
5 ounces
142 grams
1 cup whole wheat flour
8 1/2 ounces
156 grams

8.5 ounces by weight = 241 grams

It’s not a good site for metric oriented types.

It still works for me. Thanks for pointing out the problems. I didn't notice in the dry/weight section that they were giving grams. I only noticed the first ones that gave ml, which is what it all should have been.

I believe the US weights given in the first section refer to water.

I think that "1 cup whole wheat flour
8 1/2 ounces
156 grams"

should have read "5 1/2 ounces", which is ~5.5 ounces. It did seem improbable that a cup of whole wheat flour would weigh so much more than a cup of AP flour.

Do you have a link to a better chart?

 

[dcSaute]

>>I believe the US weights given in the first section refer to water.
certainly works with the caption: Dry/Weight Measurements

that site has been reference a number of times; it's misleading, inaccurate and never been fixed.

>>a better site
I'm an engineer, and I'm a geek. so I wrote my own conversion program

 

[taxlady]

>>I believe the US weights given in the first section refer to water.
certainly works with the caption: Dry/Weight Measurements

that site has been reference a number of times; it's misleading, inaccurate and never been fixed.

Has anyone told them it's wrong?

>>a better site
I'm an engineer, and I'm a geek. so I wrote my own conversion program

I meant something that the original poster could use for cooking.

I'm not a geek, but I'm pretty geeky, so I might write up a table if I get bored. It's probably quicker than Googling and verifying a bunch of tables.

 

[GotGarlic]

We've suggested to other U.K. members that they invest in an inexpensive set of American measuring cups and spoons for making American recipes. It seems to me to be the easiest solution.

 

[Mad Cook]

I like the soft cake and fragrant, but also very swollen!!
what is the best baking powder to make cakes very high and swollen?
Furthermore, I was wondering what is meant by "cup" ...
how many grams are one cup?
...and, What does the word "flavors" that we find on the labels of American!

I've just spent 20 minutes looking for my baking powder recipe but I can't find it. It's basically bicarbonate of soda (baking soda in "American"), cream of tartar (potassium hydrogen tartrate) and cornflour (aka corn starch) but for the life of me I can't remember the proportions but I think this might do it:- 1 teaspoon baking soda+2 teaspoons cream of tartar+1 teaspoon corn starch

As for measuring you might find this link useful:-
Conversion Calculators | DianasDesserts.com

 

[Mad Cook]

It still works for me. Thanks for pointing out the problems. I didn't notice in the dry/weight section that they were giving grams. I only noticed the first ones that gave ml, which is what it all should have been.

I believe the US weights given in the first section refer to water.

I think that "1 cup whole wheat flour
8 1/2 ounces
156 grams"

should have read "5 1/2 ounces", which is ~5.5 ounces. It did seem improbable that a cup of whole wheat flour would weigh so much more than a cup of AP flour.

Do you have a link to a better chart?

Sigh! I can't get to grips with cups at all. I have a set of American measuring cups and I "fluff" the flour as that woman on the television tells me too. To be on the safe side I weigh it when I've scooped and every time I do it I get a different weight!

And sieving flour which you always do for cake making in British cake recipes! If you scooped a cup of flour and sieved it or sieved your flour and then scooped it wouldn't the former yield more flour by weight? So which way are you supposed to do it?

 

[taxlady]

Sigh! I can't get to grips with cups at all. I have a set of American measuring cups and I "fluff" the flour as that woman on the television tells me too. To be on the safe side I weigh it when I've scooped and every time I do it I get a different weight!

And sieving flour which you always do for cake making in British cake recipes! If you scooped a cup of flour and sieved it or sieved your flour and then scooped it wouldn't the former yield more flour by weight? So which way are you supposed to do it?

When I took cooking in school, they taught us how to measure a cup of flour:

• Place your measuring cup on a piece of waxed paper.
• Sift the flour over the measuring cup until it is well mounded.
• Carefully run a knife through the flour to let out air pockets. Make sure the knife is vertical.
• Using the back of the knife, run it across the top of the measuring cup, knocking off the excess flour, leaving it completely level with the top of the cup.

I hope that helps.

 

[Andy M.]

...I can't remember the proportions but I think this might do it:- 1 teaspoon baking soda+2 teaspoons cream of tartar+1 teaspoon corn starch...

This is correct according to one site I saw. Most sites omit the cornstarch...

 

[taxlady]

This is correct according to one site I saw. Most sites omit the cornstarch...

You don't really need the corn starch unless you are going to store your baking powder. According to Wikipedia (Baking powder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), you could use potato starch.

The other reason for using cornstarch, is that it makes it easier to measure accurately. Commercial baking powder has corn starch, and the baking powder in the recipe probably has corn starch. So, if you want one teaspoon of baking powder with corn starch, it's easier to use baking powder with corn starch than to do the math for how much powder without corn starch makes 1 tsp with corn starch. Of course, if you find a substitution rule that says something like 1 teaspoon of baking powder equals 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp cream of tartar, that would work.

 

[Mad Cook]

When I took cooking in school, they taught us how to measure a cup of flour:

• Place your measuring cup on a piece of waxed paper.
• Sift the flour over the measuring cup until it is well mounded.
• Carefully run a knife through the flour to let out air pockets. Make sure the knife is vertical.
• Using the back of the knife, run it across the top of the measuring cup, knocking off the excess flour, leaving it completely level with the top of the cup.

I hope that helps.

Aha! Thanks for that, Taxlady. Will give it a whirl and see how I get on. I've been missing out on a lot of American baking recipes when my two-legged calculator (maths genius god-daughter)is not available. I have dyscalculia and you wouldn't want to know what a mess I've got into when trying to convert cups to weighed quantities!

 

[taxlady]

For everyone who doesn't live in the US or Canada. If you don't want to calculate conversions, you need two kinds of measuring cups for US (and most Canadian) recipes:

For measuring liquid ingredients:

Something like this:

or this:

And for dry ingredients, like flour, sugar, oats, something like this:

And here is a pic of how to level the flour or other dry ingredients:

 

[DianaP81]

It seems to me to be the easiest solution,
especially for me..ahhahaha

 

[DianaP81]

I believe that this solution is the more simple for me...thanks for all the advice

 

[Addie]

Sigh! I can't get to grips with cups at all. I have a set of American measuring cups and I "fluff" the flour as that woman on the television tells me too. To be on the safe side I weigh it when I've scooped and every time I do it I get a different weight!

And sieving flour which you always do for cake making in British cake recipes! If you scooped a cup of flour and sieved it or sieved your flour and then scooped it wouldn't the former yield more flour by weight? So which way are you supposed to do it?

For cake or any recipe that calls for all purpose flour, I do sift it, even if the recipe doesn't say to. I put all the dry ingredients together and sift. That's it! I don't measure any of it again. And I don't weigh it either. The only reason I sift is because it is something my mother taught me to do. And I have never done differently.

There is a thread that is active right now regarding corn bread. I put the sugar, corm meal, baking powder and flour all together in the sifter after I have measured it out according to American measurements. Then I sift it all together on a piece of wax paper and use the paper as a funnel when adding to the wet ingredients. I do the same for when I am making a cake.

We use the scoop and scrape method here in the States. That is, scoop up the dry ingredient and then with the back of a knife, scrape off the top of the cup until it is all level. Since you sift in England, then I say stick with it. Dump the dry ingredient into your sifter, then add other ingredients in the same manner. Even if it is a spoonful of an ingredient. Scoop and scrape off the excess until it is level in the spoon. Add to your sifter along with your other ingredients. When all you dry ingredients are in the sifter, then sift them all together. American standard recipes do not call for weighing.

Does this answer your questions? If not, keep asking and I will try to make it clearer.