Funnel Cakes for the Whole Family

My mother in law gave me a funnel cake kit last year for the fourth of July and I kept telling myself I need to try it but I never did. I finally decided this year that we should have a big funnel cake party with our friends and neighbors. I figured that would be more fun than making funnel cakes for just the two of us anyway.

I decided to send out an invite for funnel cakes but it took a lot more planning and figuring out than I thought. We have a small one bedroom apartment and so we can only invite a small number of people over. We decided that if we made them downstairs in the courtyard of our apartment we could invite a lot more. That's what we ended up doing and it was perfect. The weather was great and we started at 6pm so that friends with kids could come before it got too late.

The chefs.

our toppings table

We were trying to figure out how to cook funnel cakes outside and at first I thought we could just do it on the grill but then we realized that it won't stay hot enough to keep the oil at the right temperature. We decided to use outdoor stoves. We borrowed one from our neighbor and then we bought one at Sports Chalet for only $29.99. It will be awesome to have next time we go camping. It even comes with a little carrying case.

With the funnel cake kit we got, it came with a metal ring, to make the funnel cake in, a pitcher, and some funnel cake mix. The pitcher for pouring the batter works awesome. I would recommend getting one. I also bought a small 4.5 inch metal cookie cutter so that we could make small funnel cakes for the kids. I used a small clear plastic ketchup bottle and poured the batter out of that. They turned out great. They were the perfect size for the kids.

My husbands funnel cake. With how big my belly looks here you would think I already ate one.

Now on to the recipe. I tried a few before I found this one and this was definitely the best! I got this recipe from Taylor takes a taste

You will need a deep frying pan with oil filling the ring up about half way. When you pour your batter into the ring, pour it in a circle around the outside twice and then pour the batter crisscross all directions to keep the funnel cake together.  Cook for about 30 seconds on each side. The funnel cake should be a golden brown. Then add whatever toppings you'd like.

We quintupled the recipe. This much batter fed 26 of us, 14 adults and 12 kids, with many people having seconds.

Dry ingredients
1 1/2 cups AP Flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Wet ingredients
1 1/3 cup milk
1/4 tsp lemon zest (I omitted this)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg

Toppings:
powdered sugar
whip cream
chocolate syrup
cut up strawberries