How to Make Funnel Cakes Easy Recipe

Funnel cakes are a popular treat you’ll find at carnivals, fairs, sporting events, and on the boardwalk in seaside resorts. The smell of this deep fried dough is hard to resist; as you can tell by the long lines of people waiting to buy this scrumptious treat.  Would you like to know how to make funnel cakes?

These sweet warm delicious cakes are made by pouring batter into hot cooking oil in a circular pattern and deep frying the batter until it’s golden-brown. They are typically served plain with powdered sugar sprinkled on top, or with jam, cinnamon, fresh fruit, whipped cream or other toppings.

This delicious cake originated in Pennsylvania Dutch Amish country. Funnel cakes date back to the German Immigrants settling in the Pennsylvania Amish Country. The Amish would make funnel cakes to serve at special occasions and celebrations. Today we find them at street fairs and food festivals throughout the summer. Nothing says summer like funnel cake, and it’s easy to make at home.

Why are they named funnel cakes?

They are so named because the traditional method used to make them is to pour the batter into a funnel. As the batter comes out the bottom of the funnel you swirl it around in the pan of oil to create the lattice design. Today, there are many methods used to create the cakes, you can use a funnel, or one of the fancy new batter droppers that are used for pancakes, cupcakes and funnel cakes. You could also use a pouring funnel, squeeze bottle, or funnel cake kit.

Make your own Funnel Cake Kits

There are a variety of different kits you can buy to make your own funnel cake at home. They usually include a special pouring pitcher, a cake ring to help hold the shape of the cake, batter mix and tongs to lift your delicious funnel cake from the hot oil.

The first time we made funnel cakes at home I bought the Carnival Funnel Cake set from Amazon and it worked like a charm; our funnel cakes tasted just like the ones we buy on the boardwalk at the Jersey shore or at our local carnival when it comes to town. The kit was easy to use and in no time our kitchen was filled with the fabulous smell of funnel cakes cooking just like at the carnival. The kit comes with a funnel pitcher, batter mix and the cake ring. To make the funnel cakes you’ll also need your own frying pan, oil, tongs or a fork and toppings such as powdered sugar, fruit, nutella, cinnamon sugar…anything tastes good on top of a funnel cake! We used the batter mix that came with the kit the first time we made the funnel cakes, and each time after that we used the recipe you’ll find below for the batter to make more funnel cakes.