Last Updated on 5th August 2022 by
Fanta is one of my favourite ways to have orange juice, and as anyone who has tried it knows, it’s more than just orange juice. This refreshing carbonated drink is perfect when chilled, and it is a great remedy for a hot day, giving you the pep of a carbonated beverage and the fruitiness of a healthy orange juice.
Something this delicious may not be a drink you think you can make on your own at home, but you actually can. It’s going to take a bit of work to pull off that authentic Fanta flavour, but it is definitely doable, even if you aren’t a mixologist or a cooking expert.
If you can pull it off and make your own Fanta at home, then you can save yourself some money perhaps and of course control the sugar levels and keep this as healthy as you like.
That’s one of the advantages to making your own beverages at home (be sure to check out our easy recipe for cola, whether it is a soda like this or even a basic juice. You can decide how much sugar goes into the drink, making it as sweet or as acidic as you prefer. You’ll be working with real fruits for this one, so it can come out kind of acidic, and you may end up putting in more sugar than you want to in order to compensate.
At least then you will understand why some of these sodas are so sugary. Drinks like Sprite and Mountain Dew use bitter limes, and they have to get rid of that bitterness with sugar.
Fanta is the same way- it takes a lot of sugar to make it sweet, but you can substitute the sugar for something else that is healthier if you want. There are ways to make this drink using agave syrup, artificial sweeteners, and other ingredients that are healthier for you than plain sugar and that won’t pack on as many pounds.
Remember, all of the sugar you eat and don’t work off as used energy becomes fat, so if you are watching your weight, you will want to watch how much sugar you are adding to your foods and drinks.
This can be a fairly healthy drink, but that may depend on what you are willing to substitute and how little sugar you are comfortable with using while still producing a drink that tastes good to you.
Recipe for Homemade Fanta
Recipe for Homemade Fanta
Ingredients
- 1 lemon
- 5 oranges
- 3 cups water
- 2 ½ cups soda water
- ⅔ cup sugar
Instructions
- Wash all of your fruits and slice them into wedges, then put them into a juicer.
- Add in the soda water to the juicer and blend.
- Take the juice and the flesh from the fruits and put it in a large saucepan. Add your water and sugar and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Boil for two minutes on medium heat, and then turn off the heat.
- After the mixture has cooled somewhat, you can put it into an airtight container and place it in the fridge for about three hours. This helps it to cool down enough to make it usable.
- Drain the juice through a sieve (you’ll need a big one).
That’s your Fanta all ready to drink. It tastes very similar to the one you can buy in the store, I think, but you will definitely notice a different flavour profile. That’s because you used fresh fruits rather than fruit juice concentrate or something artificial.
For a more authentic Fanta taste, you can substitute your fresh fruits for a powdered drink mix, but I don’t think that tastes as good.
This concoction of fruit may seem like it is orange juice, but using the carbonated soda water changes that, giving you that bubbly experience you expect from Fanta. This also differs from orange juice in that we aren’t using clear orange juice but rather a concentrated mix that comes from the fresh fruits.
If you prefer, you can filter only slightly, leaving in chunks to make it pulpy and thick. It’s up to you how to make this, and you can simply use the recipe as a springboard for what you really want to do with the drink.
Fanta Pound Cake Recipe
Why drink away all of your homemade Fanta when you can use it to make a deliciously flavoured pound cake? A simple pound cake is great on its own- a very comforting cake that you can modify in a number of ways to make it just the way you want it, adding your own touches and flair to it. This version is bright orange, giving it a very festive colour.
Now, that colour can only be achieved with some food colouring, as the Fanta doesn’t make simple pound cake bright orange. I also finish mine off with some cream cheese frosting. I think that pairs nicely with the Fanta flavoured pound cake.
Fanta Pound Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cups sugar
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- 3 flour
- 1 cup butter softened
- 5 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup Fanta soda (or homemade Fanta)
- 2 tsp orange zest
- ¼ salt
- 1 packet whipped topping mix
- Orange food coloring
Cream Cheese Topping
- 4 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 6 tbsp butter
- 6 ounces cream cheese softened
- 3 tbsp milk
- 1 tbsp fresh orange juice
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a tube pan and then flour it.
- For 3-5 minutes, cream together shortening and butter with an electric mixer (paddle attachment) or hand mixer. Add in sugar gradually as you mix.
- Add in the eggs one by one. Stop every so often to scrape the sides of the bowl down.
- Add in Fanta and flour a little at a time, alternating between the two.
- Add in salt, orange zest, vanilla extract, and whipped topping mix, beating them together.
- Add food coloring until you turn the cake a deep orange color (optional).
- Pour the batter into your pan and let it bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
- Allow the cake to cool in the cake pan for about 15 minutes, and then release it onto a cake stand.
Making the Icing
- Mix together the shortening and butter until they become smooth. Add in the orange juice and beat in milk and confectioner’s sugar. If your icing comes out too thick, then you will need to add some additional milk or orange juice.
- Once the icing is mixed together, you can spread it evenly across the surface of the cake.
Top Tip:
You have to be careful about how you beat your ingredients. The butter and shortening need to be well beaten before you can add in any sugar. Once the sugar is added, then keep beating until the mixture is fluffy and has a light colour to it. Once you have the eggs in the mixture, however, you want to beat only as much as is necessary.
So, there are a few different ways you can make this cake. The icing can be as thick or thin as you like, and you can even add some food colouring in it to make it orange, but I love the way the white icing contrasts with the orange cake. You can also drizzle orange icing over some of it and create a colourful design.
Fanta makes for a wonderful pound cake ingredient, adding some subtle flavour to it and enhancing the texture. One thing I like to do with mine is turn the cake batter into cupcakes.
Fanta Float Recipe
If you don’t have any root beer and want to make an ice cream float, Fanta will do well in a pinch. You just have to find an ice cream that works well with this flavour of soft drink. I suggest vanilla, strawberry, or any sherbet flavour.
To make this, simply mix together a cup of Fanta for every scoop of ice cream. Mix them gently together in a glass and enjoy. For best results, use a cold cup of Fanta.
You can modify the proportions to change up the taste and texture of your drink, and I just love how the fruity flavour of Fanta works with the fruity flavour of the ice cream. That’s true unless you are using vanilla, in which case you get more of a classic ice cream float taste.
These are just a few ways you can use your homemade Fanta recipe. There are tons more, of course, but hopefully these will be a good start for you and inspire you to look up even more recipes for homemade Fanta creations. Now that you know how to make homemade Fanta, you don’t have to buy it from the store anymore, so long as you have some fresh fruits available.
I'm Pauline, a mother of four grown children, my passion for cooking stemmed from the joy i get cooking for my family. I love to try new dishes, especially when dining out but creating and sharing my own recipes is my favourite thing to do!
