Funnel cake (Pennsylvania German: Drechderkuche[1]) is a regional sweet food popular in North America, found mainly at carnivals and amusement parks.

The concept of the funnel cake dates back to the early medieval Persian and Arab world as zalabiyeh, where similar yeast-risen dishes were first prepared, and later spread to Europe.

[3] Pennsylvania Dutch immigrants brought the yeast dish, known as drechderkuche, to America, and around 1879, they developed the baking powder version along with its new name, funnel cake.

[3] Funnel cakes are made by pouring batter into hot cooking oil in a circular pattern and deep frying the overlapping mass until golden-brown.

In Finnish cuisine, the analogous tippaleipä (literally droplet bread) is traditionally served at May Day (Vappu) celebrations, alongside sima.