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Deep Fried Cupcakes You Can Make at Home

Published , Last updated by Stef
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To imagine deep fried cupcakes, picture biting into a piping hot funnel cake. As you bite into the hot doughy goodness, you hit a layer of melted chocolate and then a layer of hot chocolate cake. Your bite finishes with a final hit of funnel cake dough and a splash of powdered sugar. After licking your lips, you bring them to a big smile!

I’ve been thinking about making deep fried cupcakes for at least a year. I thought about deep fried cupcakes last Chanukah since I always make doughnuts (sufganiyot) on Chanukah and thought frying cupcakes would be a nice substitute for that. I got busy with other recipes and never got around to this concept.

When Chanukah came around this year, though, deep fried cupcakes were still bubbling in my brain – and now I had a mini Cuisinart deep fryer [paid link].

To say that the deep fried cupcakes were worth the wait would be an understatement.

How to Make Deep Fried Cupcakes

Step 1: You’ll Need Cupcakes To Fry

You can deep fry any cupcake. I opted to fry mini-cupcakes so that the end result would be bite-sized fried cupcakes that you could pop in your mouth. I also opted to choose cupcakes frosted with a chocolate ganache. While a buttercream or cream cheese frosting could also work, if I were going to melt something, chocolate seemed like the perfect choice.

The chocolate cake I used was the one that I featured in my Better Than Sex Chocolate Cupcakes. The original recipe came from Chockylit’s cupcake blog.

Makes about 50 mini cupcakes (Cut the recipe in half if you don’t have lots of people eating. Although, you will probably have people lining up to try them.)
  • 1/2 C (1 stick) butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/4 C sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 3/4 C flour
  • 1/2 t baking powder
  • 1/4 t baking soda
  • 1/4 t salt
  • 1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 C milk
  • 1 t vanilla
  1. Beat butter until softened.
  2. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined.
  4. Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a small sized bowl and whisk to combine.
  5. Measure out the milk and vanilla and stir to combine.
  6. Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar and beat to combine.
  7. Add about a half of the milk/vanilla and beat to combine. Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry.
  8. Scoop batter into cupcake cups about 1/2 full.
  9. Bake at 350 F for 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Frost the cupcakes with the following ganache recipe:

  • 3.5 oz of dark chocolate broken into small pieces
  • 1/3 C heavy cream
  1. Place the chocolate in a small glass bowl.
  2. Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it just starts to boil.
  3. Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir until all the chocolate is melted and integrated with the cream.
  4. While it is still warm, spread a thin layer of it over the cupcakes. It will harden when it cools.

Step 2: Make the Funnel Cake Batter

The next thing that you will need is some funnel cake batter to dunk your cupcakes in. I got the funnel cake batter recipe from MomsWhoThink.

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/3 C milk
  • 4 T sugar
  • 2 1/2 C flour
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 2 t baking powder
  1. Beat egg and milk.
  2. Mix all other ingredients in a separate bowl and slowly add to the egg mixture, beating until smooth.
  3. Set aside for dunking. I do not recommend keeping this mixture in the refrigerator at all. I made some in advance and stuck it in the fridge and the texture changed. It became much thicker and not as easy to use for dunking.

Step 3: Deep Frying

 

I’m not going to give too many instructions on exactly how to do the deep frying. It will vary depending on what brand of deep fryer you are using or if you are just using a pot to fry in. However the basic instructions are:

  1. Remove the cupcake wrapper. You do not want charred paper.
  2. Dunk your cupcake in the funnel cake batter, making sure to cover all sides completely.
  3. Follow the instructions on your fryer [paid link] (You could also fry in a pot. It works, but it’s much more messy.). I used peanut oil, but any vegetable oil will do.
  4. Fry until all sides are golden brown (about 3 minutes).
  5. Remove from the fryer and dust with powdered sugar.

Step 4: Eat the Deep Fried Cupcakes Immediately

You must eat deep fried cupcakes when they are hot. It’s just not the same after they cool down – and yes, I’m wearing dreidels on my head. I go all out for Chanukah!