Cake Flour: Grams to Cups
1 cup of cake flour = 120 grams
One US cup of cake flour weighs 120 grams. One 250 ml metric cup — the one used in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada — holds 127 grams. To convert any weight, divide the grams by the figure for your cup.
Cake flour is 120 g per cup spooned and levelled, King Arthur Baking's published figure. USDA's 137 g is for a cup dipped straight into the bag, and older recipes that sift cake flour before measuring get about 100 g.
Sifted, spooned or dipped
Cake flour is milled very fine from soft wheat and is often chlorinated, which makes it clump. That fineness is exactly why its cup weight moves so much with technique: sifted straight into the cup it can be as light as 100 g; spooned and levelled it is about 120 g (King Arthur's figure); dipped, USDA measures 137 g.
Read the recipe's wording. "1 cup sifted cake flour" means sift, then measure — use about 100 g. "1 cup cake flour, sifted" means measure first — use 120 g, then sift it into the bowl.
Making a substitute
The common swap is 1 cup of all-purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons, plus 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, sifted together. By weight that is about 109 g of all-purpose flour and 16 g of cornstarch. It lowers the protein and gives a softer crumb, though it is not identical to real cake flour.
Going the other way, a recipe written for cake flour can be made with all-purpose flour weight for weight, but expect a slightly denser, chewier cake: all-purpose flour has more protein, so it builds more gluten when the batter is mixed.
Where the 120 g figure comes from
- USDA FoodData Central: 1 cup unsifted, dipped of “Wheat flour, white, cake, enriched” = 137 g (FDC ID 169723)
- King Arthur Baking ingredient weight chart: Unbleached Cake Flour, 1 cup = 120 g (chart)
This site uses 120 g per US cup of cake flour, spooned and levelled. References checked September 2026.
How many cups is X grams of cake flour?
| Grams | US cups | Metric cups | Tablespoons | Ounces |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 g cake flour | ¼ | ¼ | 3.33 | 0.88 |
| 50 g cake flour | ⅜ | ⅜ | 6.67 | 1.76 |
| 75 g cake flour | ⅝ | ⅝ | 10 | 2.65 |
| 100 g cake flour | ⅞ | ¾ | 13.33 | 3.53 |
| 110 g cake flour | ⅞ | ⅞ | 14.67 | 3.88 |
| 120 g cake flour | 1 | 0.95 | 16 | 4.23 |
| 125 g cake flour | 1.04 | 1 | 16.67 | 4.41 |
| 130 g cake flour | 1⅛ | 1 | 17.33 | 4.59 |
| 140 g cake flour | 1⅛ | 1⅛ | 18.67 | 4.94 |
| 150 g cake flour | 1¼ | 1⅛ | 20 | 5.29 |
| 170 g cake flour | 1⅜ | 1⅓ | 22.67 | 6.00 |
| 175 g cake flour | 1½ | 1⅜ | 23.33 | 6.17 |
| 200 g cake flour | 1⅔ | 1⅝ | 26.67 | 7.05 |
| 225 g cake flour | 1⅞ | 1¾ | 30 | 7.94 |
| 240 g cake flour | 2 | 1⅞ | 32 | 8.47 |
| 250 g cake flour | 2⅛ | 2 | 33.33 | 8.82 |
| 275 g cake flour | 2¼ | 2⅛ | 36.67 | 9.70 |
| 300 g cake flour | 2½ | 2⅜ | 40 | 10.58 |
| 350 g cake flour | 2⅞ | 2¾ | 46.67 | 12.35 |
| 400 g cake flour | 3⅓ | 3⅛ | 53.33 | 14.11 |
| 450 g cake flour | 3¾ | 3½ | 60 | 15.87 |
| 500 g cake flour | 4⅛ | 3.94 | 66.67 | 17.64 |
How to measure cake flour accurately
The 120 g figure assumes the spooned-and-levelled method: spoon the cake flour into a dry measuring cup and sweep the top flat with a straight edge. Scooping the cup through the bag compacts it and gives a heavier cup.
- 1 US cup of cake flour = 120 g
- 1 metric cup (250 ml) of cake flour = 127 g
- ¾ cup = 90 g
- ½ cup = 60 g
- ⅓ cup = 40 g
- ¼ cup = 30 g
- 1 tablespoon = 7.5 g
Frequently asked questions
How many cups is 100 grams of cake flour?
100 grams of cake flour is about ⅞ US cups, based on 120 g per cup, or ¾ metric cups.
How many grams in a cup of cake flour?
One US cup of cake flour weighs 120 grams. A 250 ml metric cup holds 127 grams.
How many cups is 250 grams of cake flour?
250 grams of cake flour is about 2⅛ US cups, or 2 metric cups.
Does a UK cup of cake flour weigh the same as a US cup?
No. A UK, Australian or Canadian metric cup is 250 ml against the US 236.6 ml, so it holds about 5.7% more — 127 g of cake flour rather than 120 g.
How many tablespoons is 100 grams of cake flour?
100 grams of cake flour is about 13.33 tablespoons.
More flours conversions: Whole Wheat Flour grams to cups, Rice Flour grams to cups and Tapioca Flour / Starch grams to cups.