Helpful Tips
This page is designed to be able to help those of you who don’t work in grams, or if you just need some help converting ingredients, weights, ingredients or temperatures etc! I myself have ALWAYS worked in grams, so forgive me if my conversions on my recipes are a little off, but hopefully this will help
Vegan Baking Swaps
- Milks – Instead of dairy milk, I prefer to use almond, soy or other nut milks – it’s a straight 1:1 swap.
- Creams – There are some good alternatives now, you just need to make sure they are full fat alternatives. Or, coconut cream works well.
- Buttermilk – add 20 ml of lemon juice to a dairy free milk to make a homemade vegan buttermilk.
- Soured cream/yoghurt – any vegan full-fat yoghurt works, typically with a coconut base
- Butter – you want to find a dairy free alternative that is as firm as possible. Spreads should be avoided if possible as the oil content is higher to make it softer.
- Eggs – 1 tbsp flax seeds or chia seeds with 3 tbsps of water makes a good alternative to replace eggs in some bakes. 60g of applesauce, half a mashed ripe banana, or 3 tbsps of aquafaba are also good swaps.
- Chocolates – there are many good swaps out there, but some plain chocolate are naturally vegan so check the labels
- Honey – maple syrup works wonders, or golden syrup
- Cheese – I have often made my savoury dishes vegan using straight swaps. Nutritional yeast is lovely to add to a cheesy dish as it brings the cheesy flavour, on top of using a vegan cheese alternative.
- Meat – you can find some brilliant vegan meat alternatives out there now such as fake chicken, sausages etc, and these all work well. Mushrooms make a brilliant swap for a more meaty texture, as well as pressed tofu and tempeh.
Gluten Free Baking Swaps
- Flours – Most flours have gluten free alternatives now, and they work well. The texture can vary slightly, but xanthan gum is a useful addition.
- Pasta – rice and lentil based pastas are often gluten free, but the gluten free pasta options work perfectly.
- Xanthan Gum – it can vary, but a good start is about ¼ tsp of xantham gum per 150g of flour.
- Custard powder – this can help like xanthan gum as well. As it has a cornflour base, it works wonders. I add 50g of custard powder to a cupcake mix, and 100g to a cake mix
- Biscuits – Again, the swaps work perfectly. Add butter to biscuits slower for a biscuit base as some may need slightly less to make a good biscuit base.
- Cornflour – some bakes such as cupcakes can be improved by using cornflour. A lot of custard powders contain just cornflour and are gluten free – custard powder can improve the texture of a bake tenfold.
Cooking Temperature Conversion Table
Fahrenheit to Celcius (F to C)
500 F = 260 C = 240C Fan = Gas Mark 10
465 F = 240 C = 220C Fan = Gas Mark 9
445 F = 230 C = 210C Fan = Gas Mark 8
425 F = 220 C = 200C Fan = Gas Mark 7
400 F = 200 C = 180C Fan = Gas Mark 6
375 F = 190 C = 170C Fan = Gas Mark 5
350 F = 180 C = 160C Fan = Gas Mark 4
325 F = 160 C = 140C Fan = Gas Mark 3
300 F = 150 C = 130C Fan = Gas Mark 2
285 F = 140 C = 120C Fan = Gas Mark 1
250 F = 120 C = 100C Fan = Gas Mark 1/2
Weight Conversion Tables
Cups, Tablespoons and Teaspoons to Millitiers (cup to ml)
1 cup = 16 tablespoons = 48 teaspoons = 240 ml
3/4 cup = 12 tablespoons = 36 teaspoons = 180 ml
2/3 cup = 11 tablespoons = 32 teaspoons = 160 ml
1/2 cup = 8 tablespoons = 24 teaspoons = 120 ml
1/3 cup = 5 tablespoons = 16 teaspoons = 80 ml
1/4 cup = 4 tablespoons = 12 teaspoons = 60 ml
1 tablespoon = 15 ml
1 teaspoon = 5 ml
Cups to Fluid Ounces (cup to fl. oz)
1 cup = 8 fl oz
3/4 cup = 6 fl oz
2/3 cup = 5 fl oz
1/2 cup = 4 fl oz
1/3 cup = 3 fl oz
1/4 cup = 2 fl oz
1 tablespoon = 0.5 fl oz
1 fl oz = 2 tablespoons = 6 teaspoons
Ounces to Grams
1 oz = 28 grams
2 oz = 56 grams
3.5 oz = 100 grams
4 oz = 112 grams
5 oz = 140 grams
6 oz = 168 grams
8 oz = 225 grams
9 oz = 250 grams
10 oz = 280 grams
12 oz = 340 grams
16 oz = 450 grams
18 oz = 500 grams
20 oz = 560 grams
24 oz = 675 grams
27 oz = 750 grams
36 oz = 1 kilogram
54 oz = 1,5 kilograms
72 oz = 2 kilograms
Pounds to Grams
1/4 pound = 112 grams
1/2 pound = 225 grams
3/4 pound = 340 grams
1 pound = 450 grams
1,25 pound = 560 grams
1,5 pound = 675 grams
2 pound = 900 grams
2,25 pound = 1 kilogram
3 pound = 1,35 kilograms
4,5 pound = 2 kilograms
Ingredients – This demonstrates how different 1 cup of different ingredients can weigh!
Flour – 1 cup = 140g
Butter – 1 cup = 2 sticks = 8oz = 230g
Granulated Sugar – 1 cup = 200g
Brown Sugar – 1 cup = 220g
Cocoa – 1 cup = 105g
Icing Sugar – 1 cup = 160g
Yoghurt – 1 cup = 235g
Milk – 1 cup = 245g
Cream – 1 cup = 245g
Sugar Temperature Conversion
Thread = 107C/225F
Softball = 119C/238F
Firmball = 125C/256F
Hardball = 138C/280
Soft Crack = 151C/304F
Hard Crack = 168C/336F
Cake Tin Sizes
Round Tins = Square Tins
6 inch/15cm = 5 inch/13cm
8 inch/20cm = 7 inch/18cm
9 inch/23cm = 8 inch/20cm
11 inch/28cm = 10inch/25.5cm
Hey Jane another quick question, when do you use stork and when do you unsalted/salted butter (the ones that come wrapped in tinfoil). Do you have a preference on salted and unsalted butter for baking? And which would you use for cookie & cookie bars? Thanks
Hi Jane all you bakes look so pretty and I’m desperate to try some when I get time! Quick couple of questions…
1. do you use the same base recipe for all your cookies and then add different flavours/toppings to change the theme or are the completely different
2. Do you use the same recipe for cookies and cookie bars and cookie cakes?
3. Do you have to add the cornflour if/can you substitute it for something else.
Morning Jane,
I’m going to be making a birthday for my friend and she would like different shades of purple for the buttercream can you advise how you would achieve this? What food colouring can you advise would it be a purple or do you think a red and blue to get the different shades? Thank you x
Hiya! I would buy a good quality purple online (check out my food colouring post) and then just add different amounts to different bowls of buttercream!
Hi Jane. Do you have a tutorial video on how to pipe the rainbow frosting on the rainbow explosion cake, please?
Hi Jane,
I’m looking to make toffifee brownies for my stepdads 50th as he doesn’t really like cake. Which recipe is best to use to substitute them in to and would the toffifees need freezing first?
Hi Jane. A lot of your recipes say that the sponges can be frozen, which is great, however what is the process you go through to defrost them? How long for? Also what do you put things in to freeze? Sorry if it’s a stupid sounding question. Thanks for your help lovely xx
Hiya! When freezing sponges, I wrap them twice in clingfilm then once in foil. To defrost, I leave them at room temperature unwrapped until defrosted, though I do often decorate from frozen as I sometimes find this easier! Hope this helps x
Thank you so much for answering my question Jane! 😘❤️ You’re an absolute star. Going to attempt freezing/defrosting some and see how they turn out. THANKYOU!! xx
Hi, Know you’ve probably been asked before but where do you order your choc chips? They do small bags in the supermarket but I find the chocolate quality poor and buying in bulk would be better, thanks Jo
Hiya! I usually use Callebaut in baking, they’re linked on my amazon shop! Hope this helps! x
Hi Jane
I absolutely love your recipes and have made quite a few of your bakes. My problem is I really struggle with the drip cakes. I just can’t get the drips to set like yours seem to part way down the cake. I’ve followed your recipes and kept the cake in the fridge right up until I’m ready to pipe the drip but it just runs right down the cake. Do you have any tips? Many thanks 😃
Hiya! You could be piping too much so the drip is too heavy, or if your mixture is too thin, this likely means your cocoa content was too low. Hope this helps! x
Hi Jane! I love your recipes and have made quite a few of your cakes – always very popular! Could you let me know if you have a food mixer that you could recommend? With Christmas coming up I am thinking of upgrading my old hand mixer and getting a proper mixer – will be giving very large hints to my hubby! Are there any that you would recommend, I’d say budget wise up to around £300 or thereabouts ideally. Many thanks! Liz
Hiya! Take a look at my ‘favourite baking appliances’ blog post – I list and link all my favourites there! Hope this helps! x
Hi Jane, where do do source all your sprinkles and cake decorations from please? They always look so good.
Hiya! Each recipe should have links to the decorations and sprinkles! Hope this helps! x
Hi, I’m wanting to make the carrot cake in a 12inch round tin for a wedding instead of 8inch, what quantities would I need please? 8inch always goes down a treat but won’t be big enough. Lemon will be the second tier in an 8inch and then a small plain sponge.
Hi there,
When making a sponge cake, (going to do a white chocolate and raspberry cake) what attachment do you use on the kitchen aid?
Hiya! I always use a paddle attachment when making a cake mix. Hope this helps! x
Hi Jane , how do you manage to cut your blondies and brownies in such straight clean lines . I made some jammy dodger blondies which were delicious but the biscuits broke and crumbled when I cut them . Can you recommend the best knife to use ?
Hiya! I just use a very large, sharp knife! You can also try waiting until the bake is room temperature, or warming up your knife slightly! Hope this helps! x
Hi Jane
I have been making your rolo brownies for a while now and they are 🤤 Only problem is, every single time, the centre pieces are always close to being raw. I have tried lowering the temp to 150 and cooking for longer but I still get the same result. Have you any other ideas please?
Thank you X
Hiya! Try ‘setting’ them in the fridge overnight! Hope this helps! x
Hi Jane,
I’m planning to make your smores cake, and I’m looking for a suitable carrier to transport it. Roughly how tall are your cakes (might go for 2 tier instead of 3, not sure yet), or do you have a recommendation for a carrier or container?
Thanks 🙂
Hi Jane, have recently purchased your first book and pre-ordered your second. Could you tell me if your cake recipes are freezeable? (For example ones containing fresh fruit). And if so, how long can you freeze them for? Many thanks!
Hiya! Thank you so much – hope you love them both! Yes, all of my cake recipes you can freeze both decorated and undecorated for up to 3 months! Hope this helps! x