Cream cheese

One US cup of cream cheese weighs 232 grams. Going the other way, 100 grams is about 0.43 cups.

Cream cheese is one of the rare ingredients where the King Arthur figure of 227 grams per cup lines up with something real — but for reasons that have nothing to do with the fluid-ounce convention that produces the same number for milk, yogurt and pumpkin. The 227 grams here comes from the weight of a standard American cream cheese block: 8 ounces by weight (8 × 28.35 = 227 grams). Almost every US recipe that calls for '1 cup of cream cheese' means one 8-ounce block, and the King Arthur chart has quietly encoded that convention.

USDA FoodData Central publishes 1 cup at 232 grams and 1 tablespoon at 15 grams (FDC 173418, Cheese, cream). This gives a bulk density of 0.9806 grams per millilitre. King Arthur's ingredient weight chart publishes 1 cup at 227 grams, density 0.9595. The two figures agree within 2.2 percent, comfortably inside the 5 percent tolerance we apply to the liquid category.

We publish the USDA figure of 232 grams per cup because it represents the actual weight that fits into a US customary cup measure, rather than the block-weight convention.

The physics of cream cheese density is similar to sour cream. It is 53.3 percent water and 34.9 percent fat, with milk fat around 0.92 grams per millilitre pulling the overall density slightly below water. The result of about 0.98 grams per millilitre sits between plain milk (1.03) and butter (0.91). If a cream cheese recipe calls for one cup and you dip the cup into a tub, you will get about 232 grams. If you slice open a standard block instead, you will get exactly 227 grams — and most recipe writers assume that is what you did.

The 8-ounce block is defined by USDA and FDA convention. The FDA identity standard for cream cheese is at 21 CFR 133.133, requiring at least 33 percent milkfat and no more than 55 percent moisture in the finished product. Neufchâtel cheese, defined at 21 CFR 133.162, is the reduced-fat version at 20 to 33 percent milkfat and up to 65 percent moisture; it weighs slightly less per cup because of the extra water. USDA AMS grading standards for cream cheese exist under 7 CFR Part 58 but govern quality inspection rather than density.

Products this entry does not cover include: whipped cream cheese, which has air incorporated during processing and weighs about two-thirds as much per volume (USDA publishes 1 tablespoon whipped at 10 grams versus 15 grams for standard, implying about 158 grams per cup for whipped); Neufchâtel cheese, sold in the same block shape but labelled lower-fat, with density slightly lower because water replaces some fat; reduced-fat and fat-free cream cheeses, which vary widely because gums and stabilisers are added to compensate for the missing fat; mascarpone, an Italian fresh cheese with much higher fat (75 percent) and no added acid, denser than cream cheese despite the extra fat because it contains no whey; and cream cheese spreads (chive, strawberry, vegetable), which have added ingredients and lower densities.

Standard US packaging: 8-ounce (227 g) rigid brick, 3-ounce (85 g) mini brick, 7.5-ounce tub of whipped, 8-ounce tub of soft or spreadable. Recipes usually specify the format needed.

The category here is 'liquid' rather than 'sugar' or 'milled' because cream cheese behaves as a soft, semi-liquid paste in a measuring cup: it settles into the container, sets its own level with a moderate press, and the density is determined by the ratio of fat to water rather than by how it was scooped. The 5 percent liquid category tolerance applies, and both sources sit well inside it.