I keep reading that weighing your ingredients helps to create a better cake. Is this true? Also, is it more time consuming than measuring?

It is a lot easier actually.  You just dump until the number says what it needs to.  No scooping and leveling and all that and less to clean which is a huge plus.

It is much more accurate than measuring it out by volume too.  You can pack over 1.5 cups of flour (by weight) in a 1 cup measuring cup.  Measuring it out by weight makes sure that you don't get too much or too little by chance.  it takes the guess work out of it.  It takes a bit of time converting recipes, but once you get it down it is easy.  I haven't measured an ingredient in a measuring cup in years... LOL.

Hi!

What are you asking exactly? To me it seems that weighing is a method of measuring something. You weigh something on the scale so you are measuring the weight, no? English is not my native language, I do not mean to offend.

In Holland we use the metric system, we do not have those easy cup scoops unfortunately. However I prefer to weigh my ingredients on a scale unless they are liquids, then I use a measuring cup. The time difference is hardly noticable when you have to poor it back, you have to poor it back.

Cheers!

How to correctly measure baking ingredients:

http://www.foodservicewarehouse.com/education/how-to-correctly-measure-baking-ingredients/c27624.aspx

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/weighing-in-the-bakers-dilemma/

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/measuring-ingredients-for-baking.html

Weight vs. Volume video:

http://www.joyofbaking.com/WeightvsVolumeMeasurement.html

HTH

Wow! I just watched the Joy of Baking video and am completely amazed! I never dreamed the difference in flour measurements could vary THAT much! (20+ grams) I will definitely start weighing my ingredients from here on out! I just hope that it doesn't change the outcome of some of my most loved recipes!! LOL

It ensures consistency among your cakes as well, as long as your mixing methods and baking are good.
 

So I am looking at my recipes and trying to convert them to grams. Huge confusion here!!! I have looked up several conversion charts and all of them are different... So how do I know what a true cup of flour weighs? And sifting doesn't make a difference in the weight of a true cup, right??

Lol Yes, My butter is sitting on the counter waiting for me. But I was afraid to begin because I wasn't sure what to weigh in at. Thank you, Irene. I will get my tail in the kitchen now!

Wow! Thank you auzzi! I feel like an idiot, because I'm always preaching to friends about reading food labels! Lol

I had the FromScratch recipe that I wanted to try anyway, which is measured in oz already. The cupcakes and cake turned out beautifully!!!! So I decided to pull out a vanilla cake recipe that I had filed away as "too dry". I decided to try it again with weight measurements. (It was from Joy of Baking, and had weight and volume measurements,) Another success! It was still nowhere near as moist and fluffy as FS, but definitely not overly dry like the other times I'd baked it.

I am definately sold! I even felt ambitious, and tried weight measurements with a chocolate chip cookie recipe. Again, perfect, divine sweet perfection!! LOL
 

Professionals are trained to weigh ingredients for consistency, accuracy of ratios and cost control. I never measure anything in volume, everything gets weighed in my kitchen. And it may add an extra few seconds to your production time, but the consistency of final baked product is worth it. I know my formulas won't fail due to a light or heavy hand.

Both sets of digital scales I have bought had a button for flicking between different countries weights so if you have an Aussie recipe you can set them to grams etc and if you have an American recipe you can swap it to ounces etc.  That way you are not having to convert measurements.
 

i do both weigh and measure--plus i used to use the scales with the weights to balance --those are fun too

you really had to do some cyphering!!!

i stir my flour with a whip --just stick it down in the top of the bag and stir first

and i get close enoughto right

in fact long ago my kid surprised me with this set of red heart shaped measuring cups by saving some box tops and conspiring with the neighbor

it is beyond the sweetest thing to measure brown sugar in those because when i pop it out i have a sweet heart staring back at me from the mixing bowl

probably told that story before but...still cool

I know this post hasn't been used in over a year, but I'm having some questions regarding converting from metric.  I've googled all kinds of conversion charts and read a couple postings here on CC, but am still confused somewhat.  First, how in the heck do you convert milliliters to teaspoons?  I've looked all over and can find all kinds of conversions from grams to ounces, etc., but nothing that shows very small amounts measured in milliliters (for instance, 1 ml of cardamom....it converts to .202 of an ounce.  The scale I have goes between pounds and kilograms, ounces and grams, but when it measures the ounces, it measures out in fractions, i.e., 2 3/8, not 2.202.  I am soooooo bad with math (never, never one of my favorite subjects and now I find myself using it all the time with cooking and baking!!!)!  I also thought liquid was measured different than grams. but the recipe I want to try has milk measured out in grams.  My measuring cups do liters or mililiters other than cups or ounces.  I'm having a really hard time converting this recipe I want to try.  I'm going to look further, but was wondering if any of you know of a really good place to go for the information, or a book or something that explains these conversions pretty well.  I've been measuring more in weight this past year, but it is hard to figure out exactly what amounts to use on some of these.  The scale I have is an Oxo that was very highly recommended and I love the scale, but am still needing a bit of help in the conversion area.  Any help any of you can provide will be very greatly appreciated.

1 teaspoon = 5 ml

1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons = 15 ml

For liquids you can use grams or ml almost interchangeably. 100ml weighs 100 grams. This is correct for water. For other liquids this isn't exactly accurate as it depends on density, but it's close enough for something like milk.

Hope that helps

And a dessert spoon is 10ml (ie 2 x teaspoons)

What is the recipe?

It's for muffins, not cake.  The muffin mix is:

180 g chai tea (brewed stronger than normal)

20 g milk

125 f butter

60 g walnuts

1 apple

1 ml cardamon 

1 ml cinnamon 

240 g plain flour

90 g light brown muscovado sugar

90 g regular suger

2 tsp baking powder

1 egg

It has an oat crumble topping:

50 g cold butter

40 g plain flour

40 g oats

In the UK, this is a typical recipe...  we don't "do" cups at all! LOL!!

I'd use ml for the tea and milk.... 

Only thing I would query is 1ml of cardamon and cinnamon...  that's such a tiny amount!!!!  I'd probably do about half a teaspoon (2.5ml)

BTW, baking powder isn't the same as baking soda (not teaching my grandmother to suck eggs, but just in case it's a UK recipe, some things can get 'lost in translation'! LOL)

AI just use what ever method the recipe uses so I have cups, spoons, and digital scales that does oz's and grams. That way there is no need for conversions.

Thanks everyone for the info.  Relznik I figured I'd do the 1/2 tsp, too, and the ml for the liquids.  

Using 240ml/8 oz measuring cups and 15ml tablespoon

180 g chai tea ...3/4 cup
20 g milk ....... 1 1/2 tablespoons [smidgeon over]
125 f butter .....1/2 cup
60 g walnuts .....1/2 cup chopped
1 apple...........medium size [1 1/2 x size of an egg]
1 ml cardamon ...1/4 teaspoon
1 ml cinnamon ...1/4 teaspoon
240 g plain flour ... 2 cups
90 g light brown muscovado sugar ... 1/2 cup
90 g regular suger ... 1/2 cup
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
 
It has an oat crumble topping:
50 g cold butter ... just under 1/4 cup
40 g plain flour ... 1/3 cup
40 g oats ... just under 1/2 cup

Thank you auzzie.  That's very kind of you to convert it completely for me.  I am learning how to do some of it, but most of the conversion charts I found on line are more confusing than anything.  I do have a scale that does ounces/grams and I'm learning to weigh using both measurements, but with this recipe there were a few that confused me, like the spice measurements.  I hope to learn this soon, because I like weighing my ingredients now that I'm getting used to it.  The recipes seem to come out so much better that way.  Again, thanks for your assistance.