Funnel Cake

 

If you wait all year long to enjoy delicious (read: fried) carnival food, then this homemade funnel cake recipe is for you. Skip the lines and make this easy dessert right at home, with only a handful of ingredients you most likely have on hand. Trust us—we were shocked at just how easily these came together. One bite, and you’ll be transported straight to your favorite fair vendor or boardwalk.

If you’re new to frying, don’t stress—these funnel cakes are simple to make, and a great way to start out on your homemade fried food journey. Read on for everything you need to know to perfect them:

How To Make A Funnel Cake

INGREDIENTS

• All-Purpose Flour, Baking Powder & Kosher Salt: I am choosing these three dry ingredients in order to achieve the light, airy dough you imagine when thinking of a classic funnel cake from a fair. Baking powder is going to help create air pockets in the dough that will be expanded upon in the frying process, while adding in a little bit of kosher salt will help enhance the other flavors of the dough and help to ensure this super sweet treat doesn’t turn out too sweet.
• Whole Milk: Whole milk is going to add some needed fat into this dish that gives it both flavor and depth.
• Light Brown Sugar: I am using light brown sugar here to add sweetness to the recipe without adding the more concentrated molasses flavor that comes with dark brown sugar.
• Eggs: Whisking in eggs along with the other wet ingredients adds even more air into the dough which helps it to float when fried to form the light, crispy dough we all dreamed of as kids.
• Pure Vanilla Extract: In most cases, funnel cake included, I look for pure vanilla extract as opposed to imitation. Pure vanilla extract comes directly from vanilla beans which gives it a much more complex flavor profile than its synthetic counterpart. Some extracts will contain sugar or syrup, and while these still work well, I think you’ll find that the best vanilla extracts are those that contain just vanilla bean, water and alcohol.
• Vegetable Oil: Use a neutral oil for frying these funnel cakes—vegetable oil is a classic pick for me, and what I use here. A trick I like to use to make sure my oil is hot enough to fry is to sprinkle a little bit of flour into the hot oil; sufficiently hot oil will immediately begin to bubble around the flour.
• Powdered Sugar: Powdered sugar is the classic topping for funnel cakes and for good reason. It is light and sweet and—like on a beignet—just looks very pretty on top of fried dough. Funnel cake and powdered sugar are a match made in heaven and I would never dream of breaking them up.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

Start off by whisking the dry ingredients—flour, baking powder, and salt—together in a medium bowl. Then, in a large bowl, add milk, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla and whisk briskly to combine. We are looking for a smooth, homogeneous liquid here. When the wet ingredients have come together, slowly add in the dry ingredients, whisking gently as you do, until there is no visible flour. Be careful here not to over-whisk, as this could actually take air out of the dough, resulting in a too-dense tangle of fried dough. Then set the bowl aside and allow the batter to sit for 10 minutes before transferring it into a piping or ziplock bag.

After preparing the batter, pour 1" of vegetable oil into a large cast iron pan and heat on medium heat until a candy thermometer set in the oil reads 375°. If you don’t have a candy thermometer you can test the oil with the flour test I mentioned earlier, or by simply squeezing in a small dollop of batter and allowing it to fry. When you are happy with the temperature of your oil, cut a ½" hole in your piping or ziplock bag and squeeze about ¼ cup of batter into the hot oil in a spiraling circular pattern. Fry the dough until golden on both sides, flipping halfway through, 3 to 4 minutes in total. When both sides are golden and cooked through, remove the cake from the oil and place it on a paper towel lined plate to drain and cool slightly.

While still warm, dust the top of the funnel cake with powdered sugar. Dusting while warm and still glistening with residual oil allows for the powdered sugar to stick to the fried dough. An easy way to get that fine dusting we are looking for is to pour the powdered sugar into a fine mesh sieve, sometimes also called a tea strainer, and tap the edge of the sieve to release a controlled dusting of powdered sugar evening across the top of the cake.

Full list of ingredients and directions can be found in the recipe below.

Recipe Tips

• Use a candy thermometer. A candy thermometer is crucial for this recipe. If the temperature is too low they'll be pale and oily, too high and they'll burn! Keeping the oil temperature steady at 375° is important if you want your funnel cakes golden and crunchy.

• Use a piping bag. Achieve a thin pour by transferring your batter to a piping bag before frying. If you don’t have a piping bag, no problem! You can cut a corner of a ziploc bag and use that instead.

How To Serve A Funnel Cake

I like to serve funnel cakes with the classic dusting of powdered sugar to replicate the staple state fair treat, but I also love covering these with a dollop of our easy raspberry jam or drizzling them with hot fudge sauce. Looking to get creative? Try our Flamin’ Hot Cheetos funnel cake!