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One of my recipe tell me to add 25cl of cream. I only have a weighing scale to measure it. How many grams should I add?

If it was water it would be 250g and cream is quite heavier isn't it?

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Rather than try to determine the weight of the cream do the following.

  • Measure out 250g of water in your container.
  • Mark the waterline on your container with a marker or tape
  • Measure your cream based on your mark

This way you don't need to know the weight of your cream, you simply need to find a container with the proper volume.

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    This is a great way to measure it! Cream's density will vary a fair bit depending on where it comes from. And this technique works for any substance. Eureka!
    – TFD
    Mar 11, 2014 at 19:24
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According to the charts at Alicia Noelle Jones, the density of cream is very, very close to that of water. Depending on the type of cream and the temperature at which you compare (remember, water is densest at about 4 degrees C), the density of cream varies from about 0.978 to 1.021 that of water.

As you can see, the largest variation is about 2%. Unless your recipe or application is spectacularly sensitive, just measure it as if it were water.

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  • You're right, I don't need a 2% precision to cook.
    – Fractaliste
    Mar 11, 2014 at 22:41
  • In other words, 250 grams of cream should do the trick.
    – GdD
    Mar 12, 2014 at 9:27
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In the kitchen, you can safely assume - If it is liquid then 1g = 1ml

The recipes use these "rounded" values, because they are convenient, not because they are necesarily the best anyway. Maybe your cake would be better with 263.7ml of milk, but who the heck would remember such numbers.

Also, since in Europe cream is often sold in 250ml packages, I assume you are from US. If it is the case, you can safely use - 250ml = 1cup (1US cup is 236ml precisely, roughly 5% less than 250ml)

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  • If the cream isn't liquid (like some in France), is the error important?
    – Fractaliste
    Mar 12, 2014 at 13:28
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    If you refer to sour-cream or even yogurt, it is still mostly water and some fat. Even if there is fruit inside, still mostly water. Even human body is mostly water. As long as you are cooking and not doing lab research, don't worry about it.
    – Petr
    Mar 12, 2014 at 14:31

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