Ok this maybe a stupid question but I was told I should get a scale and measure everything. So last night when making a cake I realized that a 'cup' of flour does not weigh 8 oz and neither does water. I baked everything according to the scales calculations but I'm not sure I'd that was a good idea. If anyone can help me out with this one I'd appreciate it. Thanks

Well the cake is done and its horrible. So for anyone that was wondering don't weigh your flour... And I will be telling my teacher what bad advise she gave, lol.

8 oz in a liquid volume measure - not weight for a solid such as flour. 8 oz liquid measure in a measuring cup will be the same volume (8 oz) regardless of whether its water, milk, or liquid gold. however, the weight will be very very different

Yes, if the recipe isn't already written in weights, you'll have to convert the volume measurements using something like this:

http://www.onlineconversion.com/weight_volume_cooking.htm

http://www.recipetips.com/kitchen-tips/t--1035/measuring-flour.asp

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes2008/master-weight-chart.html

http://www.erikthered.com/flwm.html

Sorry for your baking misadventures.

However, you've just learned first hand that not everything that fits into a one cup measures weighs 8 oz. (Sort of reminds me of the joke: which weighs more a ton of feathers or a ton of coal? The answer: a ton is a ton - but the volume between feathers and coal would be significant.)

Article on converting recipes from volume to weight:

http://www.ochef.com/895.htm

Weight of common baking ingredients (by one cup volume):

http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Baking-Ingredient-Conversions/Detail.aspx

HTH

Thanks everyone. Yea now I know stick to the measuring cups.