sugar cubes

How many cubes of sugar in a cup?

[Robert Fogt]

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

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

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]

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]

Originally Posted by Sandra

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.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

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.

[unitVerse]

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 ).

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.

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.

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