Making new recipes has never been easier as any and all recipes are available at our fingertips through the magic that is Google. But one thing I noticed, and that ultimately lead me to create my blog, was that as an Australian, many of the new recipes I wanted to try included ingredients and measurements that I was not familiar with.
For this reason, you will find that the recipes I publish use metric measurements and Australian language. If you are a visitor from the US, I wanted to make interpreting my recipes easier for you so I put this handy conversion guide together. It is something I wish I had when using American recipe sites as it would have saved so much time googling conversions and ingredient alternatives.
Aussie friends, bookmark this page. I guarantee it will come in handy the next time you are wanting to convert a recipe from US to AU measurements.
Use the links below to jump to the following sections:
Products/Ingredients
Cups Around The World
1 Cup Weight Conversions
Liquids
Oven Temperatures
Products/Ingredients
There are many products in Australia that are the same in the States, but happen to go buy a slightly different name. Here are a few of the key ones, especially when it comes to baking!
| Australia | USA |
| Plain Flour | All Purpose Flour |
| Bicarbonate of Soda | Baking Soda |
| Icing Sugar Mixture* | Confectioners’ Sugar / Powdered Sugar |
| White Sugar | Granulated Sugar |
| Caster Sugar | Super-fine Sugar |
| Cornflour | Cornstarch |
| Wholemeal Flour | Whole Wheat Flour |
* The most common form of icing sugar used in Australian baking is icing sugar mixture. Which is finely powdered sugar with a small percentage of cornflour added. You can also buy pure icing sugar here however it is prone to going rock hard in the pantry which is why the mixture is generally preferred.
Measuring Cups Around the World
Cups are a different volume around the world.
| Country | 1 Cup |
| Australia | 250ml |
| New Zealand | 250ml |
| US | 240 ml |
| UK | 225ml |
As you can see, the US is close enough that standard measurements between Australian and US recipes will be fine. The UK however will need to apply conversions when making recipes from either the US or Australia.
1 cup = What?
Different ingredients have different weights therefore when wanting to measure 1 cup in weight, the ingredient type needs to be considered. Here are some common ingredient weights.
| Ingredient per 1 cup | Weight |
| Plain or SR Flour | 125g |
| White or Caster Sugar | 220g |
| Brown Sugar, lightly packed | 155g |
| Icing Sugar | 155g |
| Rolled Oats | 90g |
| Butter or Margarine | 250g |
Liquids
Liquids are usually measured in millilitres here in Australia, and fluid ounces in the US. But what happens when you don’t have a measuring cup that has millilitres or fluid ounces? This table takes into account regular cups as well.
| Metric | Cup | Imperial |
| 30ml | 1 fl oz | |
| 60ml | ¼ cup | 2 fl oz |
| 80ml | ⅓ cup | 2 ¾ fl oz |
| 100ml | 3 ½ fl oz | |
| 125ml | ½ cup | 4 fl oz |
| 150ml | 5 fl oz | |
| 180ml | ¾ cup | 6 fl oz |
| 200ml | 7 fl oz | |
| 250ml | 1 cup | 8 ¾ fl oz |
| 310ml | 1 ¼ cups | 10 ½ fl oz |
| 375ml | 1 ½ cups | 13 fl oz |
| 430ml | 1 ¾ cups | 15 fl oz |
| 475ml | 16 fl oz | |
| 500ml | 2 cups | 17 fl oz |
| 625ml | 2 ½ cups | 21 ½ fl oz |
| 750ml | 3 cups | 26 fl oz |
| 1L | 4 cups | 35 fl oz |
Oven Temperatures
| Celsius | Fahrenheit |
| 120º | 250º |
| 150º | 300º |
| 160º | 325º |
| 180º | 350º |
| 190º | 375º |
| 200º | 400º |
| 230º | 450º |
Note that if you are using a fan-forced oven, cooking times will be quicker so start checking your food earlier than the recipe specifies.