Mile High Pound Cake
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This Mile High Pound Cake is exactly what the name promises. It is tall, buttery, moist, and substantial. This Southern-style cake is also known as 10 Egg Pound Cake because the recipe uses ten large eggs.
I have made a lot of pound cakes over the years, but this one is in a category of its own. The cake rises high, has a fine, tender crumb, and develops a beautiful crust on the outside.
It is also a big cake. I mean really big.
That is part of the fun.
If you love classic Southern pound cake, this is one to add to your recipe collection.
Welcome back to my Pound Cake series. I’ve shared so many PERFECT POUND CAKE RECIPES. By the way, have you tried my OLD FASHIONED BLUE RIBBON POUND CAKE? This time, I tested the Mile High Pound Cake, also known as the 10 Egg Cake Recipe or 10 Egg Pound Cake. It’s been one of my favorites for years. It lives up to its name, it’s a very tall cake! In fact, I like it so much I made a Mile High Chocolate Pound Cake
Why You’ll Love This Pound Cake
There are plenty of pound cake recipes, but this one has a few things that set it apart.
It’s tall. This isn’t a short little cake. The recipe makes a very large pound cake, so I take extra precautions to keep the batter from overflowing the pan.
It’s moist. Two cups of
It has a fine crumb. The cake is dense without being dry. The inside is soft and velvety with a delicate crumb.
It’s simple. The ingredients are basic pantry and refrigerator staples: flour, sugar,
It works for almost any occasion. Serve it plain with coffee, add berries and whipped cream, or dress it up with a sauce for dessert.
What Is a Mile High Pound Cake?
Mile High Pound Cake is a particularly tall, large pound cake made with ten eggs. It is sometimes called a 10 Egg Pound Cake or 10 Egg Cake.
Traditional pound cake gets its name from the old ratio of roughly a pound each of
My version uses 2 cups of
That combination produces a very large cake with a rich flavor and tender texture.
This Mile High Pound Cake is the largest and tallest pound cake I’ve made. (See all my pound cakes here.) I extended my
Ingredients You’ll Need
Here’s what goes into this Southern pound cake:
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Granulated sugar
- Butter
- Large eggs
- Fresh lemon juice
- Pure vanilla extract
The
How to Make Mile High Pound Cake
1. Prepare the pan
Preheat your oven to 325°F.
Generously grease and lightly flour a large
This is one recipe where pan size matters. The batter rises high, so you need enough room for the cake to expand.
2. Mix the dry ingredients
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
Set the mixture aside.
3. Cream the butter and sugar
Beat the room-temperature
Gradually add the sugar and continue beating until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
This step is important. Take your time here.
4. Add the eggs
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing just until each egg is incorporated before adding the next.
Scrape down the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl as needed.
5. Add the dry ingredients
With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture.
Add the lemon juice and vanilla.
Mix just until everything is incorporated. Once the flour goes into the batter, avoid excessive mixing because overmixing can make the finished cake tough.
6. Fill the pan
Spoon the batter into the prepared
Remember: this makes a very large cake.
7. Bake
Bake at 325°F until the cake is done.
Because ovens and pans vary, use the tested recipe-card timing as your guide and begin checking the cake for doneness toward the end of the baking time.
8. Cool
Allow the cake to cool in the pan before carefully inverting it onto a wire rack.
Let it cool completely before slicing.
The Trick That Keeps This Cake From Overflowing
This is one of the most important tips in the entire recipe.
This cake gets BIG.
I use a
That gives the batter additional room as it rises.
I’ve used this method for years without problems. Just make sure the paper doesn’t come in contact with an oven heating element.
Important:
I don’t recommend using a standard Bundt pan for this particular recipe because of the large amount of batter and the height of the finished cake. A large
My Best Tips for Making This Cake
Use room-temperature butter and eggs
Don’t skip this.
Room-temperature
Measure the flour carefully
Too much flour can make a pound cake heavier and drier.
If you don’t use a kitchen scale, spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level it off instead of scooping directly from the flour container. Accurate flour measurement is especially important in pound cake because the ingredient ratios affect the final texture.
Don’t rush the creaming step
Beat the
This gives the batter a good foundation.
Add the eggs slowly
Ten eggs is a lot of eggs!
Add them one at a time and let each one incorporate before adding another.
Don’t overmix after adding flour
Once the flour is incorporated, stop mixing.
You want everything combined, but prolonged mixing can develop gluten and lead to a tougher cake.
What Does a 10 Egg Pound Cake Taste Like?
The large number of eggs gives this cake a rich flavor and helps create its silky texture.
It has:
- A buttery flavor
- A fine crumb
- A soft interior
- A golden crust
- A classic vanilla flavor
- A subtle brightness from fresh lemon juice
The lemon juice doesn’t turn this into a lemon cake. It simply adds balance to the richness.
Can I Make This in a Bundt Pan?
I wouldn’t.
This recipe makes a much larger cake than many standard pound cake recipes. The original recipe specifically recommends a 12-cup
If you want a smaller cake, I would use a different pound cake recipe rather than trying to squeeze this amount of batter into a smaller pan.
aka 10 Egg Pound Cake
Mile High Pound Cake is more like the traditional pound cake than most others I’ve tested. I say this because traditional pound cakes use a pound of
Now you know why I was concerned with it overflowing!
I have used a ton of sugar,
Serve this deliciousness with Air Fryer Ice Cream.
Mile High Pound Cake – tips to make the best pound cake
Here are my very best tips to make the most perfect pound cake! The secret is mix, mix, mix!
- Beat the
butter until it’s smooth and creamy. It will fluff slightly and become lighter in color. - Beat in the sugar. Again, beat on medium speed until the
butter and sugar are smooth. - All refrigerated ingredients need to be at room temperature! (eggs and
butter for this cake) - Add one egg at a time, making sure each is incorporated before adding the next egg. On medium speed, this will take just a few turns of the beaters.
- Sift and measure the dry ingredients (flour and baking powder) into another bowl. With the mixer on low, spoon the flour & baking powder into the bowl with the other ingredients. Mix until the ingredients are combined but do not over-mix! An over-mixed batter results in a tough cake.
- Pour the batter into a generously greased and floured or sugared 12-cup
tube pan . (I prefer using sugar sprinkled over the solid vegetable shorting in the pan because it doesn’t leave white areas as flour does.) - I do not recommend using a bundt pan for this recipe. See above, even a 12-cup
tube pan needs an extra level of security so as not to overflow! - Bake your Mile High Pound Cake at 325 degrees F. (Learn How to Calibrate Your Oven!!)
- Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes then invert on a serving tray to cool completely.
- Serve with freshly whipped cream, ice cream, fresh berries, Caramel Sauce, Raspberry Sauce, strawberry sauce, or Orange Curd.
- Or, the beauty of a pound cake is it is delicious and plain without any embellishments or accompaniments. Enjoy!!
Mile High Pound Cake
Items in blue & underlined below can be clicked for more detail or to purchase.
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 4 cups granulated sugar
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups butter at room temperature
- 10 large eggs at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°. Grease and lightly flour bottom of tube pan.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside,4 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
- In the bowl of your electric mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time. Mix just until the yolk is incorporated. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides and bottom. Turn the mixer back on low.4 cups granulated sugar, 2 cups butter , 10 large eggs
- Add the dry ingredients (your flour, baking powder, and salt). Add lemon juice and vanilla. Don't overbeat the batter once you've added the flour. Stop the mixer and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated into the batter. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.¼ cup fresh lemon juice, 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- Bake for 1 hour and 25 minutes at 325℉, or until done. Remove from the oven and cool for 30 minutes, then invert the cake onto a wire rack to cool completely.
This recipe doesn’t have any milk?
No, it doesn’t.
This pound cake was incredible. Super impressive for guests served with your orange curd recipe (yum!). It’s very tender and and moist and is such a great base for any fruit or chocolate topping! (Or, let’s be honest, on it’s own alognside a nice cup of coffee in the morning!) Delicious.
Dare I say, this recipe lived up to its name! It was moist, rich, buttery, and it really melts in your mouth. Making this again soon for everyone to try!
This is one of the best pound cake recipes I’ve ever made and enjoyed! The tip for adding parchment to the top of the tube pan was clutch and the cake came out with little effort – always the most nerve-wracking part of baking for me!
I love this pound cake recipe, what I like the most is the moist and tender texture of it and the buttery taste. A perfect match for my cup of coffee! ~I’ll make this again soon!
The article with your Mile High Pound Cake recipe references a “12 cup tube pan” with an Amazon link for the pan. Amazon shows this as a 10″ x 4.25″ tube pan. Does the 10″ pan hold 12 cups of batter? I am unable to find a 12″ tube pan nor find information for capacity of 10″ pans. Your recipe sounds wonderful, I’m eager to make the cake. Thank you!
A 10″x 4.25″ tube pan should hold 12 cups of batter. But, this Mile High Pound cake and my Old Fashioned Blue Ribbon pound cake are extra large and that’s why I put the extra waxed paper around the pan (you can see that in one of the photos on the post.) I have been trying to find all those old links and replace them with this one> https://amzn.to/45IRM4V. One reason I changed to this pan > https://amzn.to/45IRM4V it’s larger. It holds 18 cups of batter.
Also, if you notice the Mile High Pound Cake is sunken in the center…. I couldn’t figure out why my cakes were doing that. They were done but they all would sink around the center. I tried other pans and realized it was my pan. I got this pan https://amzn.to/45IRM4V and now it doesn’t sink.
I hope I didn’t totally confuse you.
Hi am I able to add peaches to the batter?
I’d recommend this cake instead, it’s already formulated with peaches. You can omit the booze if you prefer.
Hi Paula there’s no recipe attached ☺️
Yes, it’s at the very bottom. You can click on ‘jump to recipe’ under the title at the very top and it’ll take you right to it.
Just found your site and I’m really looking forward to trying your recipes. I just finished making marble pound cake NOT YOUR RECIPE and after two failures I was looking for a new recipe and found your site. I love the look of your mile high pound cake and wanted to ask if I could use this recipe to make the marble pound cake. I saw your marble pound cake but want one that will be really tall and impressive. Will need to substitute lemon juice with something else too. Thanks so much.
Yes, you can use the Mile High Pound Cake recipe and make it marbled. It’s a wonderfully tall cake.
This is my family favorite cake. I baked one for a funeral, and it was the talk of the table!! I love cooking it too!! Thanks for this recipe honey. Only pound cake for my family and friends!!
I’m so happy you and your family enjoy it!
I keep seeing bundt cakes/tube cakes that are NOT inverted. You can see the beautiful top. What is the best way to get a cake out of the pan and get it flipped without breaking??
First wait until the cake has cooled 30 to 40 minutes and has stablelized some before flipping it out. After about 10 minutes, I run a thin knife around the edge so it doesn’t stick then I let it cool 30 or 40 minutes. Double flipping is tricky, but have 2 platters ready. If the pan has cooled enough to handle it with your hands,it’s much easier than with oven mitts. I try to flip it out of the pan then quickly flip it back over. It takes a little practice. (If it does crack you could drizzle a glaze over it.)
The best pound cake recipe I tried!! A happy baker 😄
I’m so happy you like it.