Is a Canadian cup the same as a US cup?

No. The Canadian metric cup is 250 ml and the US customary cup is 236.6 ml, a difference of 5.7 per cent. Measuring spoons are 15 ml and 5 ml in both countries. The sets sold in Canada are usually marked 250 ml, so check the cup you own.

How many grams is a stick of butter in Canada?

A US stick is 113 g, which is half a cup or 8 tablespoons. Canadian butter comes in 454 g blocks, so a stick is a quarter of the block. Some brands sell 250 g bricks; a stick is a little under half of one.

Is Canadian all-purpose flour different from American?

Yes. Canadian all-purpose flour is milled from hard red spring wheat and runs about 13 per cent protein, close to US bread flour. US all-purpose runs 10 to 12 per cent. In a US recipe the Canadian flour absorbs more liquid, so cakes and cookies come out drier and chewier unless you add a spoonful or two of liquid or hold back a spoonful of flour.

What is cake and pastry flour?

The Canadian name for cake flour: a soft, low-protein flour of about 8 per cent, for tender cakes and pastry. To make a cup of it from all-purpose, take out two tablespoons of flour and add two tablespoons of cornstarch, then sift.

Can I use Tenderflake instead of Crisco?

Yes, by weight. Tenderflake is lard, which gives the flakiest pastry and a faint savoury note. Crisco is vegetable shortening, neutral and vegetarian. For a sweet pie crust either works; for tourtière most Quebec cooks use lard.

How do I convert a fan oven temperature?

Set a fan (convection) oven 20 °C or 25 °F lower than a conventional recipe says, and start checking at three quarters of the time. 180 °C conventional is 160 °C fan.

Guides · Updated 31 October 2026 · 8 min read

Canadian baking measurements: the 250 ml cup, the butter block and the flour

Why a US recipe comes out heavier in a Canadian kitchen: the 250 ml cup against the 236 ml cup, the 454 g butter block against the stick, Canadian all-purpose flour against American, cake and pastry flour, lard against shortening and a cups-to-grams converter for both cups.

A US recipe made in a Canadian kitchen with Canadian cups and Canadian flour comes out heavier and drier than the photo. Nothing is wrong with the recipe. The cup is bigger and the flour is stronger, and the two errors add up in the same direction. Weighing removes the first. A spoonful less flour fixes the second.

The cup

a Canadian metric cup: 250 ml; a Canadian metric cup
a US customary cup: 236.6 ml; a US customary cup
more flour, sugar and everything else in each Canadian cup: 5.7%; more flour, sugar and everything else in each Canadian cup

Canada adopted the metric cup in the 1970s. The United States kept the customary cup. Most measuring sets sold in Canada are marked 250 ml and most US recipes assume 236.6 ml, so each cup of flour in a US recipe comes out about 7 g heavy. Over three cups that is 20 g, a sixth of a cup, enough to turn a soft cookie into a cakey one. Spoons are the same in both countries: 15 ml and 5 ml.

A container of flour sits on a black digital kitchen scale that reads 125.2 with flour dust on the surface.

The fix is a scale. Grams are grams in every country, and a US recipe written in grams needs no conversion. When a recipe gives only cups, the converter below turns it into grams for the cup the recipe meant.

Cups to grams, both cups

Grams for the amount in a US cup (236.6 ml) and a Canadian cup (250 ml). Spoons are the same in both.

120 g

with a US cup

125 g

with a Canadian cup

Flour is spooned into the cup and levelled. Rounded from King Arthur Baking’s ingredient weight chart and USDA FoodData Central.

Butter and fats

The block and the stick
454 g block113 g stick
Canadian butter comes in a 454 g (1 lb) block. A US stick is 113 g, half a cup, 8 tablespoons. Cut the block in four and each quarter is a stick. A 250 g brick is a little over two sticks.
Tenderflake and Crisco
lardvegetable shortening
Tenderflake is lard, rendered pork fat: the flakiest pastry and a faint savoury note. Crisco is vegetable shortening: neutral, vegetarian, softer at room temperature. Swap one for one by weight. Butter can stand in for either at the same weight with a less flaky, better tasting crust.
Cream
35%18%10%
Canadian whipping cream is 35 per cent fat and stands in for US heavy cream (36). Table cream or coffee cream is 18 per cent, close to US light cream (20). Half-and-half is 10 per cent in both. Homogenized milk is whole milk, 3.25 per cent.
Margarine in old recipes
oleo
Oleo on an old card is margarine. Use butter at the same weight. Soft tub margarine has more water than a block and will not cream the same.

Flour

protein in Canadian all-purpose flour: ~13%; protein in Canadian all-purpose flour
protein in US all-purpose flour: 10–12%; protein in US all-purpose flour
protein in cake and pastry flour: ~8%; protein in cake and pastry flour

Canadian all-purpose flour is milled from hard red spring wheat and sits at about 13 per cent protein, where US bread flour sits. US all-purpose is milled from softer wheat. More protein means more gluten and more water absorbed. That is why a US cookie recipe spreads less and bakes chewier in Canada, and a US cake comes out tighter. Bread is the exception: Canadian all-purpose makes a US bread recipe better.

Weigh the flour
That removes the cup error. The protein difference remains, and it is the smaller of the two.
Hold back a spoonful of flour, or add one of liquid
In a US cake or cookie recipe, take out a tablespoon of flour per cup, or add a tablespoon of milk. Do one, not both.
Mix less
Stronger flour builds gluten faster. Stop stirring a muffin or a cake batter as soon as the flour is wet.
Use cake and pastry flour where a US recipe says cake flour
They are the same thing under two names. To make it from all-purpose, take out 2 tbsp per cup and add 2 tbsp cornstarch, then sift.

Names that differ

Canada	United States	Note
Icing sugar	Confectioners’ or powdered sugar	The same. Canadian icing sugar has cornstarch in it, as the US one does.
Cake and pastry flour	Cake flour	The same.
Whipping cream, 35%	Heavy cream, 36%	Swap freely.
Table cream, 18%	Light cream, 20%	Swap freely. Not half-and-half.
Homogenized milk	Whole milk	3.25 per cent fat.
Golden corn syrup	Light corn syrup	Swap freely. British golden syrup is a different thing, made from cane.
Fancy molasses	Unsulphured or light molasses	Cooking molasses is darker and stronger; blackstrap is not a swap for either.
Sweet milk (old cards)	Milk	As opposed to sour milk or buttermilk.
Large egg, 56 g and up	Large egg, 57 g	The same grade.

Oven

Most Canadian ovens are marked in Fahrenheit, and most Canadian recipes give both. A fan (convection) oven runs hotter at the same dial setting, so set it 20 °C or 25 °F lower than a conventional recipe and start checking at three quarters of the time.

°F	°C	Fan °C	Gas mark
275	140	120	1
300	150	130	2
325	160	140	3
350	180	160	4
375	190	170	5
400	200	180	6
425	220	200	7
450	230	210	8
475	240	220	9

Cups to grams, the chart

One cup, levelled, for the ingredients that matter most. The US column is the figure a US recipe means; the Canadian column is what a 250 ml cup of the same ingredient weighs.

Ingredient	US cup, g	Canadian cup, g
All-purpose flour	120	127
Whole wheat flour	113	119
Granulated sugar	198	209
Brown sugar, packed	213	225
Icing sugar	113	119
Cocoa powder	84	89
Rolled oats	89	94
Butter	227	240
Honey	340	359
Milk	244	258

Rounded, from King Arthur Baking’s ingredient weight chart and USDA FoodData Central. Flour is spooned into the cup and levelled; a scooped cup can weigh 150 g.

Where Forktales fits

When a recipe goes into your Forktales recipe box, write the amounts the way you measured them, in grams where you weighed. A recipe scanned from a US card keeps the card’s cups, so add a note with the grams you landed on the first time you make it. In cook mode the amounts are in big type beside each step, so a note like “120 g, not a Canadian cup” is in front of you when you measure.