I’ve just had a really wonderful birthday, and one of the best things I got this year was a couple of new stunning bundt pans, like the one I used to make this fantastic pound cake. So, you can expect to see some pretty cakes coming up on the blog in the next few weeks!
Pound cake is perfection. It goes perfectly with any topping, in any trifle or parfait, or all alone. The term pound cake, as you probably know, comes from original recipes that used one pound of each ingredient. Today however, and particularly at a high altitude, this is not how we make it.
It’s a sturdy and yet soft cake, overall more dense than a normal birthday cake or sponge style cake. This means that it holds up well to cutting, decorating, and even stacking if you wanted to bake the batter in a normal cake pan.
This version has a light lemony flavor and a hint of almond in addition to the traditional vanilla. It’s a great recipe to add blueberries to, poppy seeds, or another flavoring before you bake as well.
I’ve actually had very little success at baking pound cake at my Denver altitude, and this recipe is adapted from the CU Boulder recipe in High Altitude Baking, 2nd Edition. Seriously, its the best pound cake ever, and it’s very easy. I’ve previously made many pound cakes that involved like 8 eggs and 10 cups of flour. This is MUCH more manageable.
Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 3 cups cake flour
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 4 eggs (plus enough milk to make 1 cup)
- 1 1/2 sticks softened butter
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. almond extract
- 1 tbs. lemon zest
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 10 cup bundt pan.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Crack the eggs into a measuring cup, and add enough milk to make 1 cup total. Then whisk together.
- Beat the egg mixture and the butter into the flour mixture, and mix for 2 minutes on medium speed.
- Then, add in the remaining milk, vanilla, almond, and lemon zest. Beat for 3 minutes on medium speed.
- The mixture will look fully mixed before the 3 minutes are up, but continue for the entire time.
- Pour into your greased pan, and bake for 60 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Cool completely, and turn the cake out. Enjoy!
**Adapted from the CSU Fort Collins High Altitude Baking book
Hello and welcome! My name is Nicole, and Dough-eyed is a food blog for people who want to bake for their family and friends in high-altitude areas. Think of me as a friendly voice there with you in the kitchen, here to give you confidence when you’re baking, and to help you with the struggles of baking at high-altitude. Come back every week for new recipes, tips, and advice on high-altitude baking!
Just found your site and everything looks amazing! But before I try anything, I really need to know how you measure your flour. Dip and scoop method? Spoon in method? Do you ever weigh your flour out? Thank you!
Hi I love this recipe I live in Calgary so not Denver but 3800, I do have a question is there a conversion for 2100 ft.
Hi Catherine! So if you are going to a lower altitude I would suggest reducing the flour by 2-3 tablespoons, and increasing the baking powder by 1/4 tsp. Since I can't really test in lower altitudes, I'm not exactly sure, but I think that should help!! Thanks!
Could this be made without the lemon zest and in a round cake pan?
Hi Sabrina! You can definitely omit the lemon zest if you like. This makes a large bundt-pan's worth of cake, which is about the equivalent of two 8-inch round cake pans. If you bake that way, you should have a shorter bake time as well, but you'll have to keep an eye on them as they cook. Thank you!
Hi Kim! I'm so sorry I missed your comment before! I'm a scoop-measurer when it comes to flour! Thanks for stopping by!
This recipe is actually adapted from CSU Fort Collins High Altitude Baking book.
You are right! Thanks for pointing this out- I just switched over some of my recipe plugins and seem to have lost some data! It's added back in now- I'm trying to find ones that I may have missed!
Made this cake yesterday to take to friends. It turned out wonderfully. Lovely texture, and great complex flavor from the vanilla, almond extracts and lemon. I am at 6700 feet in Colorado Springs and I made no adjustments. The toothpick came out clean at 55 minutes. This will be a favorite 🙂
That's great Diane, I'm so glad to hear it came out beautifully for you!!
Oh I am excited to see another Colorado Springs baker here. I will be making this cake in a few days!! I have some issues at 6700 feet. Thank you.
Awesome, I'm so glad you found me! I hope the recipe works great for ya!
If i added about 4 tablespoons of key lime juice would it still rise?
Of i added 4 tablespoons of key lime juice would the cake be o.k.?
Hi Denise! I would replace some of the milk with the lime juice. So do 1/4 cup less milk, and then the 1/4 cup lime juice in place of it.
Hi! I’m in New Mexico at a mile high. My cake turned out wonderfully, but it wasn’t what I was expecting it to be. Pound cake to me is dense and rich. While my cake was delicious, it was light and fluffy. Is there anything you can think of I may have done wrong? Over mixing maybe?
Hi there! It could be slightly over mixed, however this cake is a bit of a mix, it's on the fluffier side of pound cake for sure!
Hi! I’m making this and am excited. (I’m at 7200’ though- hope it works!) I have a question about the milk. Should I add part of the 3/4c of milk to the eggs, or is this in addition to the 3/4 cup? Thanks!
Hi there! It's additional to the milk you add to the eggs!!
Hello! Do you think I could sub almond milk for regular milk in this recipe?
Yes- you can sub it out and it should work perfectly!
I'm curious why the sugar and butter are not creamed together first (as in most cake recipes), but rather, the egg mixture, flour, sugar, butter, etc is all mixed together. Does this have something to do with high altitude baking? I'm trying the recipe today; I also have had trouble finding a good pound cake recipe that works in Flagstaff, AZ (7,000 feet). Thanks!