Funnel Cake is a fair favorite, but it’s even better made at home! You can enjoy crispy, fried funnel cakes with powdered sugar any time of the year with this easy recipe!
Have fun and great creative, try drizzling with homemade caramel sauce, hot fudge sauce, or your favorite toppings!
What is a Funnel Cake
If you’ve been wondering “Is funnel cake a cake?”, the answer is no. Funnel cake is a lovely light batter fried until golden brown, most often topped with powdered sugar. It is a sweet and delicious fair food that no one really thinks to make at home, and yet it makes me wonder, why not?!
They are actually incredibly easy to make. If you can stir together a simple batter and heat a bit of oil in a pan, you can make this easy homemade funnel cake recipe!
But why stop there, if you’re suddenly craving all the fair food, try these churros, caramel apples or homemade mini corn dogs. They are sure to satisfy your craving!
How to Make Funnel Cakes
This recipe makes two large funnel cakes. Because they really need to be eaten fresh, I wanted a small batch that can easily be doubled or tripled when you need it.
- Mix together wet ingredients.
- Whisk in dry ingredients until completely smooth (per recipe below).
- In a pot of hot oil, drizzle batter in thin lines, swirling and overlapping.
- Cook just until golden, using tongs to carefully flip.
Remove to a paper towel to drain excess oil. Dust with powdered sugar, add your toppings of choice, and serve immediately.
Best Funnel Cake Toppings
The most difficult thing about making homemade funnel cakes might be deciding what to top them with ;).
Traditionally, they are served with a generous sprinkling of powdered sugar. But there are so many fun toppings to try!
- Fruit: Fresh sliced strawberries, pineapples, or an assortment of berries!
- Ice Cream: A scoop of your favorite ice cream, like classic vanilla or mint chocolate chip ice cream.
- Sauce: Drizzle with chocolate sauce, homemade nutella, caramel sauce, or even whipped cream!
- Sprinkles: Try cinnamon sugar like a churro or classic rainbow sprinkles.
Whatever you choose, just be sure you eat them while they’re fresh and warm!
More Fun Desserts
-
- Homemade Jelly Jigglers – with real fruit juice
- Mini Cinnamon Donut Holes – just 3 ingredients!
- Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes – perfect handheld portions!
- Easy Fruit Pizza – colorful, sweet, and full of flavor!
- Frozen Hot Chocolate – with 3 ways to serve
Homemade Funnel Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a large liquid measuring cup or batter bowl with a spout, whisk together milk, egg, water and vanilla.
- Add sugar, baking powder and salt and whisk until combined.
- Add the flour, and whisk until completely smooth. Set aside.
- In a medium, deep-sided pan or pot, heat 1" of oil to 375°F over medium-high heat. When you put the end of a wooden spoon in the pot and bubbles form around the spoon, it's ready. Reduce heat to medium.
- Drizzle batter from cup in a thin line, swirling around the pan and overlapping as desired. Cook for 2 minutes or until light golden brown, then flip and cook another 2 minutes or until golden brown.
- Dust with 2 tablespoons powdered sugar and serve. Repeat one more time with the remaining batter.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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It’s a small amount of batter and super runny. Just comes apart in the oil. Didn’t even taste good. Not recommended. Will need another recipe for some good ole “fair” funnel cakes.
Sorry to hear that, Kris. This recipe is for about 2 funnel cakes so not too much batter but you can definitely double it for more sweet treats! While we haven’t had the problem of this batter being too thin, you can add a little extra flour at a time until it reaches a consistency that is easier to pour and stay together when frying.
Maybe it was just me but the batter was too thin for my liking. It made my funnel cake super crunchy. I prefer fluffy funnel cakes.
Great tasting! To those unfamiliar with frying though, I would recommend sticking the batter in a fridge for a while especially in the summer, or you might end up with lots of tiny pieces instead of an intact cake.
This recipe turned out okay… The batter was a bit thick, and hard to pour into the oil. And as for taste, I think it could have used more vanilla flavoring to it.
So happy you enjoyed them, you can definitely add more vanilla to your preferences or try adding a little cinnamon right into the batter.
I made this recipe because I had a craving for funnel cakes and it realy hit the spot would highly recomend this recipe.
These were a hit! Thanks
Easy and delicious, but I found it very thick…like thicker than muffin batter thick. I had to add extra milk to even get it to remotely pour. Is it supposed to be thick? Don’t get me wrong! It was tasty and I will make it again!!
Hi Elizabeth, it should be a pourable consistency. If too thick, it sounds like there may be too much flour. You can follow our flour measuring guide to help you achieve the best results!
Batter was too thin. Made it hard to get a nice funnel cake.It tastes good, just hard to make it look nice.
I really liked this recipe!! I added some cinnamon because I like it not because the batter wasn’t to my liking. Thank you for sharing!! Which I could add a picture.
Tag us on Instagram using @spendpennies, we would love to see how it turned out, Sandra!
I just made these! I honestly think they taste better than the ones you get at the fairs. The recipe is easy to follow and the funnel cakes are ready in minutes. I topped mine with powdered sugar and caramel sauce. Yum!
This had absolutely no flavor at all! Disappointed :-(
Sorry, this recipe didn’t meet your expectations, Mrs. Loo. For extra flavor, we love to sprinkle with cinnamon and powdered sugar before enjoying or drizzle in caramel sauce or chocolate sauce.
Holy smokes, seriously holy smokes. This is the easiest and quickest dessert I’ve ever made. Not to mention the low ingredient count makes this one affordable as well. Excellent.
Great recipe! My family loved it. I made it several times. I used almond milk instead of regular milk. Thanks for sharing…
This was so yummy. But I added to the batter 1/2 T cocoa powder and then added sugar to my likeness. A splash of milk. I didnt measure but I’d say 1 t. Then fried as directions said. I made 1 cake then put lid on the container and placed in fridge for later.
How long can I store this and save it for later in the fridge? Or freezer? I’m asking in case I make a batch the night before for the morning.
Hi Jes, you could store it in the fridge in an airtight container for 3-4 days and it should still turn out delicious. I am not sure about freezing the raw batter though.
My Family and I loved it!! Its such a good funnel cake recipe
This was perfect. It’s plenty sweet when you sift the powdered sugar on while nice and hot. I doubled the recipe thinking there would not be enough. There was a lot, but my husband didn’t let them go to waste. Thanks.
Thank YOU Joyce!
I made this it was good just not sweet enough
Followed exactly but didn’t have a spout or funnel so just poured randomly in deep fryer and it turned out great. Few larger chunks and small bits. Family said tasted just like fair. We did put alot more powdered sugar on it
It was a little bit thicker when I made then expected after I put the flour in! Other than that the taste was amazing with a dash of cinnamon! Next time adding a little less flour. (I was using gluten free 1:1 sub)
Um mine came out rubbery and not like a funnel cake at all
Sorry to hear that Leah. Thank you for trying the recipe.
Likely the oil wasn’t hot enough. Mine turned out perfect and is now a family favorite! Thank you for the recipe! ❤