sugar cubes

[pointman]

How many cubes of sugar in a cup?

[Robert Fogt]

Re: sugar cubes

I did some searching and found that sugar cubes are 1/2 inch squares. That means each cube is 0.125 cubic inches.

1 cup (U.S.) = 14.4375 cubic inches

14.4375 / 0.125 = 115.5 cubes / cup

[Unregistered]

Re: sugar cubes

Wow, I had no idea. By the time I would count out that many cubes I could go to the store and buy a bag of granulated to fill my hummingbird feeder.

Thx

[Unregistered]

Re: sugar cubes

No, this isn't correct. One sugar cube is one teaspoon of sugar. There are 48 teaspoons in one cup. The answer is 48.

[Sandra]

Re: sugar cubes

If you go by the calorie count there are 25 calories in a sugar cube and there are 770 calories in a cup of sugar. So 30.8 or 31 sugar cubes would equal a cup. A sugar cube is listed as a heaping teaspoon of sugar.

Here is the link I used

http://www.annecollins.com/calories/calories-sugar.htm

Sugar (Serving size) Calories
Table Sugar, 1 level teaspoon (4g) 15
Table Sugar, 1 heaped teaspoon (6g) 25
Table Sugar, 1 cup 770
Table Sugar, average (1 cube) 25
Icing Sugar, 1 average tablespoon (12g) 48

[JohnS]

Re: sugar cubes

If you go by the calorie count there are 25 calories in a sugar cube and there are 770 calories in a cup of sugar. So 30.8 or 31 sugar cubes would equal a cup. A sugar cube is listed as a heaping teaspoon of sugar.

Here is the link I used

http://www.annecollins.com/calories/calories-sugar.htm

Sugar (Serving size) Calories
Table Sugar, 1 level teaspoon (4g) 15
Table Sugar, 1 heaped teaspoon (6g) 25
Table Sugar, 1 cup 770
Table Sugar, average (1 cube) 25
Icing Sugar, 1 average tablespoon (12g) 48

I think sugar cubes are not completely standardized. We've gotten at least two different sizes from our store. I checked the nutrition label of our current box, they are 2.5 g, 10 calories per cube. While two dimensions are 1/2", the other is about 7/16". Accepting Sandra's value of 25 calories, her cubes are considerable bigger. Mine are a scant teaspoon (actually about 2/3). So the correct answer is "YMMV."

Edit: I think Sandra has outlined a good approach above. Use the nutrition label on your particular package of sugar cubes to get either the calories or the weight in grams for 1 sugar cube. Divide it into the data for a cup of sugar (USDA database gives 774 calories, 200 g) to get the number of your sugar cubes per cup.

[Unregistered]

Re: sugar cubes

No, this isn't correct. One sugar cube is one teaspoon of sugar. There are 48 teaspoons in one cup. The answer is 48.

Interesting. What a difference a fraction of an inch makes. 115.5 cubes/cup is almost twice 48 cubes/cup ( actually 2.4; 2.4 x 48 = 115.5)

The closest rational dimension for 48 cubes per cup is 5/8" per side = 0.625" ( instead of 1/2" = 0.5"). 5/8" is 1/8" over 1/2".

One teaspoon is 0.3 in^3 or 0.67" per side ( 0.67 x 0.67 x 0.67 = 0.3)

5/8" = 15.876 mm

17 mm ( 0.67") would be the best dimension of a cube so that 48 cubes is one cup.

[Guest]

Re: sugar cubes

Interesting. What a difference a fraction of an inch makes. 115.5 cubes/cup is almost twice 48 cubes/cup ( actually 2.4; 2.4 x 48 = 115.5)

The closest rational dimension for 48 cubes per cup is 5/8" per side = 0.625" ( instead of 1/2" = 0.5"). 5/8" is 1/8" over 1/2".

One teaspoon is 0.3 in³ or 0.67" per side ( 0.67 x 0.67 x 0.67 = 0.3)

5/8" = 15.876 mm

17 mm ( 0.67") would be the best dimension of a cube so that 48 cubes is one cup.

I entered the above post before I registered as unitVerse ( in case you require further explaination :angel.

To use 'Material Balance' the volume and effective density are required, not just volume ( assuming 100% sugar, no filler, etc).

If energy is the computation goal ( ie dietary Calorie = 1 Kilo-Calorie = 4186.8 Joule) then Sandra's approach is most interesting.

[JohnS]

Re: sugar cubes

I entered the above post before I registered as unitVerse ( in case you require further explaination :angel.

To use 'Material Balance' the volume and effective density are required, not just volume ( assuming 100% sugar, no filler, etc).

If energy is the computation goal ( ie dietary Calorie = 1 Kilo-Calorie) then Sandra's approach is most interesting.

And the density of powders is generally variable; it is increased by tapping or compacting. The act of forming a sugar cube is likely to result in a different volume than the loose sugar from which it is made.

I think comparison has to be made by energy (as Sandra did) or mass, not volume. Per USDA database (link in our resource section), sugar is 200 g/cup, 4.2 g/tsp or 2.3 g/cube. Within rounding this is very close to 48 tsp/cup, and Domino Sugar's claim of 198 cubes (Dots) per pound.

Thus 200 g/cup divided by 2.3 g/cube gives around 87 cubes per cup of loose sugar

[anonymous]

you are all wrong...

i took a bag and smashed up sugar cubes with a meat tenderizer. then i poured repeatedly poured in my bag of sugar. it was filled up after i smashed 55 cubes. to keep up for the little holes cause by big chunks, maybe 56. so 55-56 cubes equals 1 cup of sugar.

[Unregistered]

Re: sugar cubes

Hey! Just doing this myself today. Came up with 40 cubes to use.

[Unregistered]

Re: sugar cubes

If a sugar cube weights very close to 5 grams, what is the volume of the cube?

[Unregistered]

Re: sugar cubes

How many cubes of sugar in a cup?

LMAO seen alot of confilcting anwsers here...lol So I called C&H (who Knew !!lol)
Spoke to Caroline July 3 2012, she said there are......48 (standard Cubes) in a cup.
at first she told me 96 BUT that was for the DOTS lol So 48 cubes in a cup,easy math

[Robert Fogt]

Re: sugar cubes

This has been a fascinating discussion.

Who knew sugar cubes could keep me so interested.

[Guest]

Re: sugar cubes

How many cubes of sugar in a cup?

Fill a cup with sugar cubes.
Count them.
Repeat this experiment five to 30 times.
Use a histogram to find the most likely value. Wiki has rules for making histograms.