How To Use Measuring Cups

There are many recipes out there that call for a ‘pinch’ of some ingredient, or they even give you the freedom to put as much (or as little) as you want of an ingredients, depending on your taste.

But then there are other recipes which require precise measuring of ingredients, such as in cake making or bread making.

Even the slightest error has produced unwanted results for me. I’ve even had my daughter laugh a number of times because I’ve managed to sink the middle of a cake yet again, or cause it to crack at the top, all because I didn’t measure out key ingredients correctly.

For this reason, I use measuring cups.

However, how we use these handy tools can mean the difference between accurate measuring and bad results. Here’s how to use measuring cups so you are guaranteed correct measures of ingredients, every time!

• Work out which type of cups you own – jug cups or oversized spoon cups

There are 2 types of cups; those that are designed to measure dry and liquid ingredients, and those primarily designed for dry ingredients.

If you have cups that resemble jugs, with measurements calibrated onto the side, then you can measure dry and liquid ingredients.

If you have cups that resemble oversized spoons, these are mainly used to measure dry ingredients.

Can you measure liquids with these? Yes you can, but it can be messy and sometimes inaccurate.

As the correct measure using these types of cups means filling a cup up to the brim, liquids can spill out and cause a mess.

Trying to avoid mess by not filling to the brim may mean you have lost preciseness in how much liquid you have in the cup. 

These types of measuring cups were designed to be used with dry ingredients, so you can use a clean knife blade to swipe across the top to give the exact measurement.

I definitely prefer jug measuring cups. I can fill the jug to the correct measurement, as stated on the side of the jug, without needing to fill to the brim.

And I can also measure dry ingredients with them too. I can get the same accuracy as a swiped knife blade (see step 2).

• Shake dry ingredients from side to side for accurate measurement

With the oversized spoon type of cups, you swipe a clean knife blade across the top for accurate results. But you can’t do that with the jug type of cups.

For accurate measurement, shake the jug from side to side gently.

This will settle the dry ingredients into a straight line so you and easily see how much is in the cup, and weather you need to add more of the ingredient, or take away.

• Liquids curve down, so read where the bottom of the curve is

Liquids, such as oils, water etc, will not settle into a straight line. Instead, they tend to curve down. For accurate measurements, read where the bottom of the curve is, NOT the edge that is against the measuring cup.

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