Tube pan volume calculator
A tube pan 10 inches across with a 3-inch center tube and 4 inches of usable height holds 285.8849 cubic inches, or 4.6848 liters. Enter the three inside measurements and get the capacity in cups, fluid ounces, liters and cubic centimeters. Free in your browser.
- Free
- Runs in your browser
- No sign-up
- Your data stays on your device
Run — free
Worked example
- Outer diameter
- 10 in
- Inner diameter
- 3
- Height
- 4
- Precision
- 4
- Cubic inches
- 285.8849 in
- Cubic centimeters
- 4,684.8147
- Liters
- 4.6848
- Us cups
- 19.8016
This tube pan volume calculator estimates the full geometric capacity of a straight-sided tube or angel-food pan from three internal measurements: the outer diameter, the diameter of the center tube, and the usable height. It treats the cavity as a large cylinder with the center cylinder removed, then reports the result in cubic inches, cubic centimeters, liters, US cups, and US fluid ounces. Use the same unit for every measurement and measure inside the baking cavity for the most useful estimate.
Measure the usable cavity, not the label
A pan sold as ten inches may be named for a convenient nominal size rather than the precise cavity that holds batter. Measure the outer diameter across the inside of the pan at the level where the wall begins, without including a rolled rim, handles, or decorative projections. Measure the center tube across its outside because that entire circular obstruction displaces batter.
Finally, measure the usable vertical height from the interior base to the practical fill line. Keep all three readings in inches or all three in centimeters. The calculator does not mix units within one request.
A rigid ruler or caliper gives a better result than a flexible tape that can bow across the opening. If the sides taper, take measurements that reasonably represent the cavity and understand that the result is an approximation, because this model assumes vertical walls. Likewise, feet, a removable base lip, seams, and small embossed details are not modeled.
Entering internal measurements is important: exterior dimensions include the thickness of the metal and can overstate how much batter the pan can actually contain. The returned capacity is the mathematical space up to the supplied height, not an instruction to fill the pan to its edge.
Understand the annular-cylinder calculation
The cavity of an ideal tube pan is an annular cylinder, sometimes described as a cylindrical ring. Its volume is the volume of the outer cylinder minus the volume occupied by the center tube. Using diameters directly, the formula is pi multiplied by height multiplied by the difference between the squared outer and inner diameters, divided by four.
The calculator first normalizes centimeter measurements to inches, performs that calculation without randomness or external data, and converts the result into several useful kitchen units. One US cup is defined here as 14.4375 cubic inches, and one US fluid ounce is one eighth of that cup. A liter is 1,000 cubic centimeters.
Returned values are rounded to the requested precision, while conversions use the unrounded calculated value so rounding does not compound. The center tube matters substantially: treating a tube pan as a solid round pan always overestimates capacity. The function rejects zero, negative, missing, non-finite, or excessively large dimensions, and it also rejects a center tube diameter equal to or greater than the outer diameter.
Those conditions cannot describe a valid batter cavity and should be corrected rather than silently converted into a misleading result.
Turn geometric capacity into a safe batter plan
Geometric volume is a comparison tool, not a universal fill recommendation. Cake batter expands as trapped air, steam, and leavening gases develop, so a recipe normally uses only part of a pan's total capacity. Angel-food batter can climb the tube and ungreased walls, while dense pound cake, chiffon cake, and yeast dough behave differently.
Follow the recipe or pan manufacturer's fill guidance whenever it is available. When adapting a known recipe, compare this calculator's result for the original pan with the result for the new pan, then use the ratio as a starting point for scaling batter. Keep the intended fill fraction the same in both pans.
Baking time does not scale directly with volume: wall color, material, batter depth, oven airflow, and the center tube's heat conduction all influence doneness. Check the cake using the recipe's visual and temperature cues instead of multiplying time mechanically. Real pans may have tapered or fluted walls, curved bottoms, or center tubes that widen near the base, so water measurement is better when exact physical capacity is essential.
What you can do with it
Scale an angel-food recipe
Compare the calculated capacities of the recipe's original pan and your pan before adjusting ingredient quantities.
Compare two tube pans
Quantify how much usable cavity is lost to different center-tube sizes rather than comparing outer diameters alone.
Document bakery equipment
Store standardized capacities in cups and liters for production planning, inventory records, or recipe software.
FAQ
What dimensions should I measure?
Measure the internal outer diameter, the outside diameter of the center tube, and the usable internal height. Use the same unit for all three.
Does the result tell me how much batter to pour?
No. It is the full geometric cavity volume. Leave expansion space and follow the recipe or manufacturer's recommended fill level.
Can I enter centimeters?
Yes. Set unit to cm and enter every dimension in centimeters. The response includes both metric and US customary capacity units.
Will this be exact for a fluted or tapered pan?
No. The formula assumes straight cylindrical walls and a straight cylindrical center tube. Complex contours require a physical water-capacity measurement.
Why does the center tube matter so much?
Because the whole tube takes up space that batter cannot fill. The calculator subtracts that inner cylinder from the outer one, so treating a tube pan like a plain round cylinder would overstate its capacity.
Related tools
For developers — API access
Everything on this page is available programmatically. This section is for teams who want to wire it into their own systems; everyone else can just use the tool above.
API endpoint
Prefer to automate it? One authenticated POST creates the task; the result comes back by webhook or a signed link. The same capability also runs here on the web, by email and from Telegram — and soon from our app too.
Call it from your stack
curl -X POST https://api.kit.forhosting.com/cook/tube-pan-volume \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $KIT_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"outer_diameter":10,"inner_diameter":3,"height":4}'const res = await fetch("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/cook/tube-pan-volume", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
"Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.KIT_KEY}`,
"Content-Type": "application/json"
},
body: JSON.stringify({
"outer_diameter": 10,
"inner_diameter": 3,
"height": 4
})
});
const { task_id } = await res.json();import os, requests
res = requests.post(
"https://api.kit.forhosting.com/cook/tube-pan-volume",
headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['KIT_KEY']}"},
json={
"outer_diameter": 10,
"inner_diameter": 3,
"height": 4
},
)
task_id = res.json()["task_id"]<?php
$res = file_get_contents("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/cook/tube-pan-volume", false, stream_context_create([
"http" => [
"method" => "POST",
"header" => "Authorization: Bearer " . getenv("KIT_KEY") . "\r\nContent-Type: application/json",
"content" => '{"outer_diameter":10,"inner_diameter":3,"height":4}',
],
]));
$task = json_decode($res, true);body := bytes.NewBufferString(`{"outer_diameter":10,"inner_diameter":3,"height":4}`)
req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.kit.forhosting.com/cook/tube-pan-volume", body)
req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+os.Getenv("KIT_KEY"))
req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)Example request
{
"outer_diameter": 10,
"inner_diameter": 3,
"height": 4
}Example response
{
"task_id": "tsk_a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6",
"type": "cook.tube_pan_volume",
"status": "queued",
"_links": {
"result": "/tasks/tsk_…/result"
}
}The API is asynchronous: the call returns a task_id immediately and the result arrives by webhook. Polling is capped at 1 req/s per task.
Pricing
Published price — no tokens, no invented credits. A failed task is never charged.
Errors
| HTTP | Code | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
401 | unauthorized | Missing or invalid API key. |
402 | insufficient_balance | Your balance doesn't cover the task price. |
404 | unknown_type | That task type doesn't exist. |
429 | rate_limited | Too many requests. Use the webhook instead of polling. |
Technical notes
Turn geometric capacity into a safe batter plan
For repeatable automation, the API performs the same deterministic calculation for $0.002 per request and returns the formula and method with each result.
Technical questions
Why must the inner diameter be smaller than the outer diameter?
A center tube as wide as or wider than the pan leaves no valid annular cavity for batter, so the request returns invalid_input.