"funnel cake (pan)"

[Joan Houston Hall]

I call the pan a tube pan.

You can make the traditional twisted shape with a funnel; it would be
difficult with a spoon.

At 11:08 AM 11/13/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
>Subject:      "funnel cake (pan)"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>I was looking at "funnel cake", referring to deep-fried cake made
>by pouring batter through a funnel into deep fat (DARE: 1950,
>mostly PaGer sources), when I came across a number of cites
>for "funnel cake pan/tin", denoting an entirely different
>thing, viz. a cake pan with a tube in the center. There are
>a few Google hits; one with a picture is at
>http://www.kaleden.com/detail,kfun04041-antique-funnel,379646.html
>
>Barry posted about this a few months ago, with an 1889 Ancestry.com
>cite, but this refers to the cake-pan sense, and does not antedate
>the deep-fried batter sense.
>
>I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts about these terms.
>The pan seems to be familiar, but is apparently not called a
>"funnel cake pan" anymore; what is the current name?  Also,
>what is the purpose, in the deep-fat version, of pouring the
>batter through a funnel, instead of just dropping it from a
>spoon or something?
>
>Thanks.
>
>Jesse Sheidlower
>OED