Mama Jane’s New Florida Strawberry Festival Funnel Cake for 2026
“Mama Jane” Harris is a favorite on the cable TV show Carnival Eats. Her funnel cakes and desserts have been featured on The Today Show, CBS This Morning, and The…
Mama Jane’s creation for the 2026 Florida Strawberry Festival is inspired by a candy bar from far, far away.
Photo courtesy of Jane Harris"Mama Jane" Harris is a favorite on the cable TV show Carnival Eats. Her funnel cakes and desserts have been featured on The Today Show, CBS This Morning, and The Travel Channel. There's always a line for her fair food creations at the Florida Strawberry Festival. Each year for Plant City, she comes up with something new and I have been tasked once again with revealing next year's Mama Jane masterpiece.
Mama Jane's new funnel cake for the Florida Strawberry Festival for 2026 is the Dubai Chocolate Strawberry Funnel Cake. Dubai chocolate bars are filled with kadayif and pistachio-tahini cream. The candy was created a few years ago at an Emirati chocolatier in Dubai. But you can keep your passport tucked away. Experience it when the gates open at the Strawberry Festival February 26 through March 8, 2026.
When the Dubai chocolate strawberries went viral on Tik Tok, Mama Jane said she had to take it to the next level. She starts with one of those traditional classic Mama Jane funnel cakes. Then fresh cut strawberries are covered in a decadent Belgium chocolate. Next a vos pistachio cream is poured on top and crispy katafi is sprinkled on top to finish it off.
Mama Jane's Previous Florida Strawberry Festival Creations
Last year Mama Jane's funnel cake was for Almond Joy candy bar lovers. Another winner a few years ago that drove me wild was her lemon ricotta with strawberries funnel cake. This year, she teamed up with Mazzaro's to create a strawberry cannoli funnel cake with chocolate chip cannoli filling from the iconic St. Pete Italian foods mecca.
But Mama Jane's creation that still makes me weak in the knees to this day was her "Funnel Bacon on a Stick." She'd take a thick slice of bacon, coat it in her funnel cake batter, deep fry it to a golden brown and then pour a maple butter drizzle on top. Finally some powdered sugar was sprinkled on top of that. It was incredible. Funnel bacon on a stick was so popular she brought it back a few times and it ended up getting featured on Carnival Eats. Sadly it was retired in 2020, but she says one year, it could make a comeback. Fingers crossed.
Mama Jane will also have her usual elephant ears and other funnel cakes too, like strawberry cheesecake, red velvet or the turtle with the chocolate and caramel. You can find Mama's truck near the main concert stage.
