Linda explores food facts, folklore, and fabulous recipes, one ingredient at a time.

At the recommendation of a friend, I started watching the Great British Baking Show, and, like Bill Holland, I have become absolutely mesmerized. The cakes, tarts, and pastries that they create are works of art, the techniques are fascinating, and the terminology and measurements are . . . totally befuddling.

Litres, grams, Celsius—of course, one can find conversion charts online, but wouldn't it be nice if all of the references, cues, and aids were all in one place? Then I started thinking about the mathematics of cooking and baking. What if you want to bake a three-egg cake and have only two eggs in the fridge? How can you convert the other ingredients proportionately?

It can be done, and I've compiled all of the answers for you here.

Dividing a Recipe

Have you ever found yourself needing to scale back the size of a recipe because (1) the original recipe as written makes much more than you need/want, or (2) you don't have quite enough of a key ingredient? (You wouldn't believe how many times I've needed three eggs and found that there are only two in the refrigerator).

With this simple table, I hope that your task of dividing a recipe will be a bit easier.

Equivalent Measures

When You Don't Have the Right Size Pan

You need an 8 x 1 1/2-inch pan. You could use:

• 10 x 6 x 2-inch dish
• 9 x 1 1/2-inch round pan
• 8 x 4 x 2-inch loaf pan
• 9-inch pie plate
• (Approximate volume = 1 1/2 quarts)

You need an 8 x 8 x 2-inch pan. You could use:

• 11 x 7 x 1 1/2-inch pan
• 12 x 71/2 x 2-inch pan
• 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan
• two 8 x 1 1/2-inch round pans
• (Approximate volume = 2 quarts)

You need a 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan. You could use:

• 14 x 11 x 2-inch baking dish
• two 9 x 1 1/2-inch round pans
• three 8 x 1 1/2-inch round pans
• (Approximate volume = 3 quarts)

Converting Recipes Across the Pond

Have you ever searched for (and found, oh joy!) new cooking/baking ideas on Pinterest, the website that proves that one picture is truly worth a thousand words? And then, your heart is broken when you find that all of the measurements are listed in grams, the temperature is in Celcius or, worse yet, Gas Mark?

Here's what to do.

Dry Measure Conversions

Liquid Measure Conversions

Oven Temperature Conversions

How Much Do You Need to Cook?

Not sure how much macaroni to cook for just yourself? (No, you don't need to boil the entire box, trust me.)

Your recipe asks for 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs—how many graham crackers do you need?

Need 2 cups of cooked rice and not sure where to begin?

You need this:

Handy Equivalents

But I'm Missing Something

What should you do when the kids are starving (or you are starving) and there's no time to run to the store for that one little thing you are missing? This table might help:

Off-the-Shelf Substitutes

© 2015 Linda Lum

Comments

Linda Lum (author) from Washington State, USA on July 24, 2015:

Thank you Jackie. I appreciate your feedback. As to whether HP will agree--who knows?

Jackie Lynnley from the beautiful south on July 24, 2015:

These are great charts I am sure we all can use! ^+ and it should go over well with HP too would think!

Linda Lum (author) from Washington State, USA on July 20, 2015:

Thank you Rachel. I appreciate your comments always, but am a bit confused. Is there such a thing as too much pasta?

Rachel L Alba from Every Day Cooking and Baking on July 20, 2015:

This is all very good information. Some of it I knew but I always had trouble knowing how much pasta to measure out when they say 2 cups. My old way is like my mother's a handful. lol I voted up and interesting.

Blessings to you.

Linda Lum (author) from Washington State, USA on July 18, 2015:

Ahh, thank you Bill, but I don't believe that anyone is hopeless in the kitchen--not even you! Will be going to a movie tomorrow to try to beat the heat for a few hours.

Bill Holland from Olympia, WA on July 18, 2015:

This really is a very handy and useful hub, Linda. Not for me, of course, because I am hopeless in the kitchen, but for the other 99.9% of the population, this is a great article. :) Have a great weekend and stay cool.

Linda Lum (author) from Washington State, USA on July 17, 2015:

Flourish - thank you so much. I hope you find it useful.

Linda Lum (author) from Washington State, USA on July 17, 2015:

Thank you MsLizzy. I agree that eggs are not really critical unless, of course, you are baking something. Baking is truly a science and precise measuring is demanded. Thanks for your support.

FlourishAnyway from USA on July 17, 2015:

What an incredibly useful hub, especially the handy equivalents.

Linda Lum (author) from Washington State, USA on July 17, 2015:

Thank you RTalloni - I grew weary of thumbing through goodness-knows how many cookbooks to find the information I needed, so I entered it on my computer so that it would be in one tidy place. And then I figured, if it works for me, it might just be helpful to someone else. I'm glad you like it.

Liz Elias from Oakley, CA on July 17, 2015:

Ah--most interesting! I've had to look up such equivalents several times.

I have also become very good at doubling or halving recipes in my head. but..when cutting in half, I notice much of the time, the measurement comes out to something for which no measuring devices exist.

There is no such thing, for example, as a 3/8 cup measuring cup, or a 1/16th teaspoon or Tablespoon measure. At that point, it comes down to pure guesswork.

As far as eggs go, I don't find they are critical; if you need 4 and only have 3, that will be good enough; if you need to cut the quantity from 3 to half a recipe, 1 will be good enough, since it's hard to measure out half an egg. Or, you could just use 2; either way, it won't ruin the dish, with the possible exception of some very fussy batters, such as for creme puffs (known to some as profiteroles). With those, it's better not to try and mess with the ingredient quantities.

Voted up, useful, interesting, pinned and shared.

RTalloni on July 17, 2015:

How handy this will be, affirmed by staff or not. :) All these useful equivalents in one easy to find place has to be appreciated by anyone who spends time working in the kitchen!