“We’ll just go on Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster, then we’ll get a funnel cake”
That funnel cake was never to be. Though the sun was scorching as we sauntered across Disney Studios, an hour later the rain came down like stair rods and we dashed for cover into a 50’s style diner for pot roast, meat loaf and fried chicken.
On our ‘to do’ list at Disney World there were more ‘items of food’ than there were ‘rides and shows’. We worked our way through most offerings including Dole Whips, hot pretzels, shrimp po’ boys and beignets, but due to that most impressive thunderstorm, which flushed yellow writhing snakes out of the flower beds, the funnel cake was never ticked off the list.
Although we didn’t travel through America, we were determined to at least try a Disney-fied version of American classics. Funnel cakes, are something that you might find at a traditional fairground or pier, hence my nod to that nostalgia with the typeface I used in the title. It reminds me of ‘Fulton’s Crab House’ on the steamboat at Downtown Disney.
So…back to the job in hand.
These really couldn’t be much easier. They are nothing more than pancake batter, cooked in 1-2″ of oil instead of a frying pan. Rather than using a funnel to drizzle the batter into the pan I used a squeezy sauce bottle, but you could just as easily use a piping bag, or zip-lock bag with ¼” cut off the end. I cooked them in a tiny non stick pan that I recently bought for making sauces and warming milk. It’s only about 12cm/5″ across which meant I was able to make these with just 250ml of sunflower oil, so it’s not a big ‘deep frying’ task that uses lots of oil.
I flavoured the batter with orange zest and vanilla, then topped the finished funnel cakes with cream and a simple syrup made with blueberries and orange. Though I promise you they are just as good dusted with icing sugar, wrapped in paper and eaten hot from the pan.
An added bonus is that they make your house smell of freshly cooked doughnuts.
Orange and Blueberry Funnel Cakes
Makes 6-8 small cakes, double it up for a family of 4
90ml Milk (1 third of a cup)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Large Egg
Grated zest of half an orange
Mix this in a jug then gradually whisk it into:
90g Plain Flour (2 thirds of a cup of AP Flour for the Americans)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 Tbsp Caster Sugar
1 pinch of salt
You should have a thick custardy batter.
In a small pan heat 2″ of flavourless oil until it sizzles if you sprinkle in a pinch of flour.
Squirt the batter into the oil, in a spiral, starting from the centre.
Cook for a couple of minutes till the edges start to brown, then flip it over for 2 minutes more.
Remove and cool on kitchen paper then dust with icing sugar.
Blueberry and Orange Syrup
2 Punnets of Blueberries (250g)
100g of Golden Syrup
The zest of an orange, sliced from the orange with a vegetable peeler
Heat the berries, syrup and zest gently in a pan.
As the berries start to burst mash them with a wooden spoon and cook until syrupy.
Pass the sauce through a strainer to remove the skins and zest.
Add a few more extra fresh blueberries when you serve it.
A few out-takes for you: Here’s the first batch I made, without orange…these were more ‘spirally’ and the tiny pan in action, my squirting technique and George testing one hot from the pan.
If you’d like to see a few photos from our trip (they are mainly iPhone and waterproof camera snaps) the Flickr set is here: Disney World 2012.
Darya
May 25, 2013
How pretty and delicious looking!
thingswemake.co.uk
May 26, 2013
Thanks Darya!
saucygander
May 25, 2013
I’ve wanted to make funnel cake for a while now, but was worried about the amount of oil needed. Using a small pan sounds like a very good idea!
thingswemake.co.uk
May 26, 2013
Yes…I hate to waste oil so don’t deep fry much, but I am sure you could re-use this oil as it doesn’t take on any flavour.
arie12345
May 25, 2013
I love funnel cakes! The toppings are so different then regular funnel cakes.
thingswemake.co.uk
May 26, 2013
I wondered for ages what to top them with. Next time I plan to make coconut and lime ones.
arie12345
May 27, 2013
That sounds delicious that’s a great idea.
Louise at Cake and Calico
May 25, 2013
Wow! I’ve never heard of these before. What a great idea. 😀
thingswemake.co.uk
May 26, 2013
It’s surprisingly something that has not really spread across the Atlantic to the UK.
Jacqueline
May 25, 2013
I’ve never heard of funnel cakes. They are so squigley, my wee boy would love them 🙂
thingswemake.co.uk
May 26, 2013
He really would love them! LIke little handheld donutty pancakes!
swedenole13
May 26, 2013
Love funnel cake! Yearn for it sometimes….thanks or appeasing my visual appetite!
thingswemake.co.uk
May 26, 2013
I actually was reminded of them on reading about the Finnish Tippaleivät, but I decided to take these ones down the American route.
swedenole13
May 27, 2013
I didn’t know about the Finnish one! I do know some Finnish people and they make excellent breads, pastries and cakes! The Funnel Cake appears to be quite American so I don’t get to have it very often!
Sally
May 26, 2013
Another newbie to funnel cakes. My oven is broken right now so it’s the only kind of cake I’ll be making 🙂 Beautiful as always.
thingswemake.co.uk
May 26, 2013
Oh no! Hope you get your oven fixed soon. I would imagine you could do some barbecuing though. Thanks Sally.
theoddowl
May 26, 2013
Your photography is stunning! The funnel cakes look delicious too. 😛
thingswemake.co.uk
May 26, 2013
Thanks so much!
Clouds of Colour
May 26, 2013
Oh my gosh. Your photos make me want to dive in and gobble those cakes up!! You have a beautiful talent with food styling. Yum!!!
thingswemake.co.uk
May 26, 2013
Thanks you for that lovely comment!
Sarah
May 27, 2013
Oh MAN – these looks amazing. Crispy crispy pancake donuts? Yes. Yes indeed.
grandbabycakes
May 28, 2013
These are incredible. I am the biggest fan of funnel cakes.
snookiescakes
May 28, 2013
Yum! Makes me want to go to the fair!
danilocklear
May 28, 2013
sheesh, funnel cake brings back so many childhood memories! these look delicious. i can’t wait to try them!
Adriana
May 28, 2013
We have funnel cakes every time we are at the amusement park and these actually look better than the ones from the park! I will be making these for father’s day for sure!
trixpin
June 2, 2013
Wow.
canalcook
June 13, 2013
I always wondered what funnel cakes were, now I know and I definitely want to try them.
thingswemake.co.uk
June 20, 2013
Thanks for all the ‘likes’ and positive comments. I love this post. Can I ‘like’ it too!?
elamb
June 26, 2013
Oh I went last year too and I did manage to get my hands on funnel cake and it was fantastic! Love that you came home and made your own, I’ll have to try this out soon, thanks for sharing!
Multicolaure
August 4, 2013
Miamiam! 🙂 It seems to be tasty ! Your blog is beautifull, I love all your pictures!
Zest
September 14, 2013
Very unusual! I’ve never seen anything like it… but they look delish! 🙂
missfoodwise
November 13, 2013
intriguing cakes! So pretty, I bet they were delish!
a
March 29, 2014
We call the Strauben in the Northern part of Italy (South Tyrol) and serve them with crnberry sauce and icing sugar or with sugar and cinnamon
Lindsay
July 7, 2014
Oh my, such tasty goodness!
Nadia
August 29, 2015
beautiful!