"funnel cake (pan)"

[Sally Donlon]

I used to work the funnel cake booth at the school's fundraiser and I
can tell you that folks who buy funnel cakes (the fried kind) really
like them to be loopy (through a funnel) and would not like them to be
lumpy (dropped by spoon). Also, what we used to call funnel cakes (that
is, a round cake with a hole in the middle) -- in my household and in
general parlance -- seems to more often now be called bundt cakes .

Sally Donlon



Jesse Sheidlower wrote:

> 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