Homemade Funnel Cakes - Sally's Baking Addiction (2024)

That’s right, I went there.

ON A MONDAY.

And then I added sprinkles! Good glory can every week start like this.

I figured homemade funnel cakes are the perfect treat for Memorial Day gettogethers. Or any summer fun because they’re the epitome of boardwalk food, aren’t they? I’m all for super coolfood trucks serving up fried cookie dough potato chipstuffedmacaroni and cheese concoctions, but I’ll always have a sweet spot for the classics. Preferably anything served on a stick (caramel apples!!) and most definitely warm funnel cakes with a snowfall of confectioners’ sugar on top.

Lastweekend, my friend and I were talking about a beach weekend this summer and she asked me if it’s possible to make funnel cake at home—like the kind we used to eat on the boardwalk together. Is it possible?! Anything’s possible with batterand aquart of oil! Because that’s really all that funnel cake is—batter and hot oil.

And you know what? Much to all of our surprise, this nostalgic treat is easier than you ever imagined:

1. Make cake batter.
2. Pour into oil.
3. Fry all the calories out of it.

Or something like that.

The recipes started out from All Recipes, but I found a few ways to change it up after I tried it the first time. I wanted the cakes to have a bit more flavor so I added some brown sugar and vanilla extract. I left out the cinnamon on the first try, but added it back in the 2nd time. I loved the cinnamon flavor, so I kept that in the recipe below—you can leave it out if you’d like but it makes the funnel cakes taste a little extra special. I found the batter was a little too thin, so I added a little extra flour. And with that, baking powder. There’s no yeast involved here. Just baking powder. You don’t have to wait around for dough to rise, punch it down, kneadit, and all that razzmatazz.

Told you, funnel cakes are so easy.

I ended up loving the batter after these changes and it produced some of the best funnel cakes I’ve ever tasted. You’ll have a batter comparable to pancake batter.In fact, I’ve heard you can make funnel cake out of boxed pancake mix but I’ve never given it a go. This homemade version is too simple!

Frying is the next step. Don’t get nervous! The process is really quick. For this batch, I was so concerned with making a fun swirly shape, that I didn’t snap the best picture of the fryingpart.

Everyone says a funnel is best for pouring the batter into the oil(duh)but I most certainly don’t have one in my kitchen drawers. Is this a normal kitchen tool to keep on hand? Maybe I’m missing out and should get a funnel?? Anyway. A liquid measuring cup will do. And hey! It worked. I use about 1/3 cup of batter per cake—soI really like using a measuring cup to pour becauseit doubles as the actual way I’m measuring the batter. Make sense?

Other things that’ll work: empty squeeze bottle, empty salad dressing bottle, emptysport water bottle, ketchup bottle… empty that sucker too. You can also pour the batter into a large plastic zipped-top bag and cut 1/4 inch off one of the corners to make a small opening.

When you pour the batter into the oil, make a big swirl starting from either the center or outside. Then you can zig zag your way all throughout the swirl shape, connecting some of the swirl layers.I’ve also read that you should pour the batter inaspider web shape, but that didn’t work for me because it was taking too long to make an intricate web pattern. Impatience? Check.

There is no specialartistry to this, as evidenced bymy misshaped and discombobulated funnel cakes, so don’t stress out about how to pour or how they look. There’s charm in the haphazardness! At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

Just fry for a minute or so on each side, then you’re done. Time to get CA-RAZY!!! Confectioners’ sugar, chocolate syrup, caramel, sprinkles, ice cream, jam, apple pie filling, lemon curd, I don’t know, melted peanut butter, whipped cream, berries, a smear of Nutella? Dude, just do it all. I was thinking it would be so fun to have these served at a party where everyone can top their own. So a funnel cake bar of sorts!

So fun to have for a special treat one night and, as you can see, there’s not much work involved at all. One more thing: how the heck do I categorize these? Under cakes? Thinking of starting a new category called damn good fried food. I’ll add these glazed doughnuts, too.

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Party cakes!