The sounds of Ooohhh and Aaaahh were heard as soon as I told my family I was going to find and make a funnel cake recipe. I have recently moved and then throw Covid in the mix, I have not been to a carnival or a fair in a couple of years. We have really been missing this awesome fair delight so homemade funnel cake, here we come.
My husband and I belong to a fine wine of the month club. We were invited to present our funnel cake for the Fair Food Festival of Wine Pairing. So, needless to say, we will be revealing a special wine to pair with our funnel cake fair delight.
My first step was to ask google, of course. After searching several recipes and videos I came up with a couple of recipes that I tweaked to be my own. My family loves my pancakes so I’m feeling it will be a fairly easy transition from pancake to funnel cake. So, here we go!!!
Some Trivial History About the Funnel Cake
I was not sure where funnel cake originated from so I did a quick search. It appears that versions of this sweet fried delight were made in many cultures around the world. For those of us in the United States, it was one of our first fried foods and we give the Pennsylvania Dutch credit for this delight. They were German immigrants that settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries. My Mother-in-law was half German but cooked primarily German dishes, as her mother was full-blooded German. But I do not recall funnel cake as one of their desserts.
Choosing the Right Pan and the Right Oil
I am a cast iron girl, so choosing the right pan was easy for me. Once the pan was chosen, then the oil was next. I am not the most health conscious, obviously because I’m making funnel cake!!! LOL. But, I do try to make healthier choices in the kitchen. In this case, you need to choose a neutral oil, so Olive oil is out as it has too strong of a flavor. Therefore, I wanted to try coconut oil, it has a high smoke point but can leave a bit of a sweet flavor so in this case, it was first on my list to try. I have a good supply of it too!!!! LOL, my husband had no complaints, so coconut oil it is.
With the pan and oil you have chosen, carefully heat up at least 2” deep in your pan. I have to use a thermometer to get the temp right so if you are like me get your handy dandy thermometer out and you want your oil to be at 375°. Too low of temperature oil and it will be greasy, too high and it will be too done on the outside and doughy on the inside. To me keeping the temp just right was the hardest part of the whole recipe for me.
Choosing the Right Recipe
I perused through several recipes and my experience with these types of batters is that I prefer them to include a little sugar, butter, and vanilla. So I ended up coming up with my own recipe.
My Ingredient List:
- 2 Eggs, I used Large
- 2 ¾ Milk, I used Whole
- 4 Tablespoons Butter, the Real Thing
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla, also the Real Thing
- 3 Cups Flour
- 3 Tablespoons Sugar
- ½ Teaspoon Salt, I used Himalayan or Sea Salt
- 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
- Powdered Sugar for topping or anything thing you desire
Blend all of the wet ingredients. I let my milk and eggs set out a bit and warm the butter till soft and you should end up with a pretty smooth mixture, if the butter hardens a little it doesn’t seem to matter. Set aside. Then, in a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together.
Now it is time to mix the dry with the wet. This is one of those rare cases that you really want to whip it all up well, I put about ⅓ to ½ half of the dry in and mix well then add more. This is very unlike pancake batter that you barely mix and even leave a few small lumps in it. For the funnel cake to turn out you can not have lumps and it needs to be a bit thinner than pancake mix. Once you have your batter thoroughly mixed you are ready to make funnel cake!!!!
Note: This is a fairly large batch, I believe I got about 6 funnel cakes, so you may want to cut it in half if there are only a couple of people in your family. Also, the longer it sits the thicker the batter gets so if you have to wait for your oil to get to the correct temperature you may need to add a bit of milk to keep the consistency right.
Ready to Fry
Hopefully, the timing is right and your oil is now at 375°. It needs to be as close as possible for the best results. I tried a couple of ways to drizzle the funnel cake batter into the oil. I used a measuring cup, a bag, and a squeeze bottle. All three worked. The bag was the messiest, and the measuring cup was the hardest to keep the right sized stream running into the oil consistently so my conclusion was the squeeze bottle is my first choice. I bought it for under a dollar and it was worth it. You will need to cut the tip open to as wide as you can or up to ½” to allow for the batter to flow into the oil for the best funnel cake.
It is important that as you drizzle the batter into the oil, you keep moving but keep it all together so that you do not end up with stragglers. By that, I mean batter that runs loose in the oil and is not connected to form a nice cohesive funnel cake. You will get the hang of it after just one, I promise, cause even my husband did after his first one!!! LOL
Fry till it looks golden brown, maybe a minute and a half, then I used a long fork and tongs to flip the funnel cake. I wanted to use my husband’s wooden drumsticks but he wouldn’t let me! Once both sides are to your liking, carefully remove the cake from the oil and place it on a paper plate lined with a paper towel. Dust with powdered sugar right away and serve it warm.
Repeat this process till all your batter is gone. If you have leftover batter it can be stored in the frig for a couple of days but fresh batter really makes the best funnel cake.
Toppings:
The traditional topping is to sift powdered sugar on top. No complaints about that at all, but for those that want a fancier fair, I recommend the fruit of your choice and whipped topping!!!
My favorite is really cinnamon and sugar, then the powdered sugar, but then strawberries and whipped cream start calling me!!!!!
Now for the Reveal of the Wine Pairing
Good Food, Fine Wine, and Awesome Friendships are what this Fine Wine of the Month club is all about. We love the adventure of the discoveries that fine wine brings to the table. But because we are all over the world the Wine and Dine Show is our answer to getting together to share our wines and pairing ideas. We have a saying that “all food paired with wine turns a plain meal into an event”. All foods are enhanced with a fine wine pairing and then sharing that with friend and family make for a memorable event.
The wine chosen to pair with the traditional fair food, funnel cake, is the 2019 Freedom Chardonnay. This is an exclusive wine from Napa, California delivered to my front door courtesy of my fine wine of the month club!!! A pinot noir would also be a good choice to pair with funnel cake. I recommend trying both if you are making funnel cake for a crowd otherwise my recommendation is to make this delicious fair delight more than once. There is a solution to every problem!!!
I am Personally Inviting You to
Join our Wine of the Month Club
and
The Wine and Dine Show
Our Wine of the Month Club has an awesome program where you can receive free wine.
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Interested in experiencing live-action food and wine pairing? Join our fun wine and dine Wednesday evenings. This is so much fun and educational (never thought you would find those two words in a sentence together)!
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You will enjoy the fun, gain a new recipe for your file, and learn about fine wine. We are looking forward to each event with anticipation. SOOOOOO MUCH FUN!!!!!!
I have even written an article giving three reasons to watch this most excellent show. I have also collected some of my favs and shows that my husband & I have participated in. That collection you will find HERE.
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