Choosing the right dessert is extremely important for people who have a sweet tooth since everyone has a specific flavor palette. For this reason, we are talking about beignets vs. funnel cake comparison as these two desserts have become popular in America and are available in a variety of forms, which is why the proper comparison is essential. So, let’s find out the nitty-gritty!
Funnel Cake vs. Beignets
Funnel Cake
Funnel cake is known as a sweet food that’s extremely popular in North America and is widely sold in amusement parks and carnivals. These cakes are made by adding batter in piping hot cooking oil. The batter is poured in a circular pattern and it’s deep-fried by overlapping the batter until it achieves a golden-brown appearance. A special funnel is used to pour batter into the oil, which creates the popular texture, hence the name.
Many chefs recommend using choux pastry to make the funnel cake since it expands through steam as it has higher water content. The funnel cakes are served in plain form with powdered sugar. However, it is often sold and served with fresh fruits, chocolate, jelly/jam, or cinnamon. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that it is a fried doughnut and is finished with a variety of toppings, ranging from ice cream to syrup and powdered icing sugar.
The most surprising fact about funnel cake is that it can be made from pancake mix, which means you can make this at home if you have a funnel for pouring the mix. On the other hand, if you don’t have the premade batter mix, you can use a combination of milk, baking powder, plain flour, vanilla extract, and sugar to make your own batter at home. These cakes are popular in the United States and it’s believed that it’s native to Germany.
According to history, the funnel cake recipe was first identified back in 1879 in a German recipe book, which makes it quite an old one. Overall, it’s quite easy to make as the ingredients are quite limited. As far as the availability is concerned, it’s available in the carnivals all year around. On the other hand, the grocery stores have funnel cake mix available for your ease, so you can mix it up with milk and make your own funnel cake.
Beignets
A beignet is a common form of deep-fried pastry or fritter, which is usually made from pate a choux but other dough varieties can also be used, such as yeast dough. It has become popular in French-American, Italian, and French cuisines. The French-oriented beignet that’s available in the United States is basically the deep-fried choux pastry. In addition, it can be made from yeast pastry as well, which is known as boules de berlin in French, which means Dutch doughnuts.
To illustrate, it’s basically a doughnut without the hole since it’s filled with jam or fruits. In some countries, the beignets are also made from chestnut flour while the Canadian-French people call beignets “doughnuts.” In Louisiana, beignet has a rectangular or square pastry that’s fried and is made from leavened dough rather than with choux pastry. It is usually served for breakfast with powdered sugar or icing sugar on the top.
Traditionally, they are served fresh and hot but it’s usually served as dessert. When it comes down to history, beignets were brought to New Orleans back in the 18th century by the Acadians. Some varieties of beignets are also made with plantain or banana but some people use berries as well. In most cases, beignets are made with a variety of ingredients, such as evaporated milk, granulated sugar, shortening, bread flour, lard, and confectioner’s sugar.
These pastries raise with the help of yeast rather than steam and have become a compelling form of fried dough. In some cases, it is served with a beverage that’s made from milk and strong coffee. The preparation is quite similar to doughnuts but you don’t make a hole and opt for a square shape. In addition, it has a lighter texture with a puffier appearance.
The Bottom Line
Be it beignets or funnel cake, both of them are delicious but the preparation is quite different. That’s because beignets are baked while funnel cake is made by frying the batter. However, they are both topped with icing sugar, so which one do you like more?