One of my Facebook friends asked me if I had a gluten free funnel cake recipe. I didn’t, but it intrigued me, as I had never made one, or tasted one before. I headed on over to one of my favorite chef’s, Alton Brown, to see how he made them. You can watch his Funnel Cake video. Either click on the photo with the arrow or the Video tab above the recipe. Funnel cakes are usually served at fairs, carnivals and street vendors. If you’re missing them now that you’re gluten free, try making this recipe at home. I must say, they are very addicting!
Because a high protein flour is needed so that the liquid is absorbed by the flour, I used sorghum flour. It contains double the amount of protein compared to rice flour. I was tempted to use rice flour, as it creates a good crust when fried, but knowing that the high egg amount would brown nicely, I used the sorghum.
I chose Alton’s funnel cake recipe to convert to gluten free because he uses water instead of milk or cream, making it a dairy-free delight when using a dairy-free buttery spread, though I used unsalted butter. If you like a more cake-like texture I suggest using milk. I hope you enjoy these gluten free funnel cakes as much as I did. They’re so fun to make!
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
A gluten free funnel cake recipe just like the ones you'd find at a fair - made from a lightly sweetened batter, ready for your sweet toppings!
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup sorghum flour
- 1/4 cup potato starch
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
- 1 cup + 1-2 tablespoons milk (or water for crispy texture), divided
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 6 large eggs, at room temperature
- Neutral-flavored oil, for frying
- Confectioners’ sugar
- Cinnamon and sugar
- Honey
- Chocolate syrup
- Fruit toppings
- Ice cream
- Whipped cream
Instructions:
- Whisk together the flour, starches, and cinnamon, if using; set aside.
- Add 1 cup milk, butter, sugar, and salt to a medium-sized saucepan and cook until milk is hot and steamy.
- Remove the pan from the burner, and add the flour. Stir quickly and constantly until it is thoroughly incorporated. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of your mixer and allow to cool for about 8 minutes.
- Turn the mixer on the lowest speed possible fitted with the paddle attachment. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until dough is thoroughly blended and smooth, scraping bowl as needed. To create a batter thin enough to pour, add an additional teaspoon at a time of milk and mix after each addition until it reaches the proper consistency.
- Place the dough either in a piping bag with a decorating tip that has a 3/8-inch opening such as Ateco #804, or a 1-gallon resealable storage bag with 1/4-inch cut off one of the corners. Preheat a skillet with approximately 1 - 2 inches of oil on medium to medium-high heat, or a deep-fryer heated to 375°F.
- Pipe the dough into the oil, slowly at first, allowing the first piece to rise to the surface before piping much more. Swirl the bag to create a lattice pattern.* Cook until golden brown, about 1-1/2 minutes on each side. (The longer it cooks, the more crisp the center will become.)
- Remove the cake from the oil, allowing excess oil to drip back into the pan/deep-fryer. Drain on paper towels. Allow to cool for a little while if topping with confectioners’ sugar.
- Remove any remaining pieces left in the oil and repeat with remaining batter. Serve immediately. Allow leftovers to cool and store covered, at room temperature.
Tips
* You want to push the batter out hard enough for the streams to be thick. Thin strings of batter results in crispy cakes, nothing like cake at all. Also, be careful not to over-fry them.
When making funnel cakes freehand, often some of the batter or a large section of a cake will float away in the oil. You can add more batter to combine them, or flip a piece on top of the other, as long as you do so immediately. You can also use a mold especially made for deep-frying funnel cakes which can be used in skillets.
The batter will sink to the bottom of the pan/fryer at first. Don't worry, as it will float to the top in a few seconds. Just continue making your swirling motion no matter where it is. Don't stop the flow of the batter on top of the batter in the oil.
I never heard the expression, “tempted on using” before — is it a colloquialism?
Deb,
Thanks for pointing out that error. It should have been “tempted to use”. My mother used to say “tempted on using” and it must have stuck with me. It’s funny how her bad grammar shows itself once in awhile in me.
Carla
Facebook Comment – May 31, 2013:
“This is an awesome, super yummy fail safe recipe! If I can do it anyone can do it!”
~S.B.G.
Wholesome Sweeteners powdered sugar (from Navan Foods. Amazon has the same brand but with cornstarch) has powdered sugar with tapioca starch only.
Do you have a version with less eggs?
looking forward to trying this, with what can I substitute cornstartch? I can’t have corn …
Tina,
Use more potato starch. It is the standard gluten-free substitute for cornstarch. For more substitutions see: http://glutenfreerecipebox.com/gluten-free-substitutes/.
Enjoy!
Carla
Facebook Comment – Sept. 18, 2012:
“Your funnel cake recipe which is awesome by the way) put me in the mood for all things deep fried. I searched for a yeast doughnut recipe and found one that looked like it might work. Before I started on the doughnut recipe I mixed up a batch soft gluten free dinner rolls. As I looked the dough in the mixing bowl I had an ahha moment. Why not just use a bread dough I already love for the yeast doughnuts. I placed the dough in a cake decorating bag with no tip attached to the end. The other recipe suggested cutting squares of parchment paper into squares and piping the dough onto the square. You were then supposed to fry the doughnut attached to the parchemnt paper and peel it off once you flip the doughnut. My doughnuts were firm enough, once they had risen for the suggested 20 minutes, I just peeled of the paper before placing it in the oil. They came out perfect. I have very few dinner rolls from that batch but a ton of yummy doughnuts. :) Thank you for all your hard work and for sharing so many recipes with us.”
~C.O.
so excited. I love these, so hopefully my son will too.
I have made gluten free funnel cake a lot. You can buy empty ketchup and mustard bottles (usually packaged together at Wal-Mart), cut the tip off a bit to make the hole bigger, and use them to squeeze out the batter! :) Rebecca
Rebecca,
Great idea! I love it. Wilton’s has a set of squeeze bottles which are used for a variety of purposes from plating to now, funnel cake making. Thanks for your comment.
Carla