Funnel cake or funny cake is a regional food popular in North America at carnivals, fairs, sporting events, and seaside resorts.
Funnel cakes are made by pouring batter into hot cooking oil in a circular pattern and deep frying the overlapping mass until golden-brown. When made at concession stands, a pitcher with an integral funnel spout is employed.
Funnel cakes are typically served plain with powdered sugar, or with jam, cinnamon, Nutella, fresh fruit, or other toppings. In the book I'm Just Here for the Food, Alton Brown recommends they be baked with choux pastry, which expands from steam produced by its high water content.
In North America, funnel cakes were originally associated with the Pennsylvania Dutch region.
In Austrian cuisine the equivalent is called Strauben and is made and served similarly. In Slovenian cuisine they are called flancati . In Finnish cuisine the analogous tippaleipä is traditionally served at May Day (Vappu) celebrations. In Ripon, North Yorkshire, it is also known as "Fennel Funnel Pie". In the Indian subcontinent a similar dessert is called jalebi which has a somewhat chewy texture with a crystallized sugary exterior coating; in Iran this would be known as zulbia and is a popular dessert.
According to one website a 6 inches (150 mm) diameter funnel cake has fewer than 300 calories though most funnel cakes are closer to 9 inches (230 mm) in diameter. Funnel cake can vary dramatically in its caloric content, depending upon which toppings are added.
Famous quotes containing the word cake:
“Many people will say to working mothers, in effect, “I don’t think you can have it all.” The phrase for “have it all” is code for “have your cake and eat it too.” What these people really mean is that achievement in the workplace has always come at a price—usually a significant personal price; conversely, women who stayed home with their children were seen as having sacrificed a great deal of their own ambition for their families.”
—Anne C. Weisberg (20th century)