Aaron Chimbel / WFAA.com

Fried Coke begins with golden spheres of fried dough.

The State Fair of Texas is known for its fried foods: Elephant ears, corny dogs... even fried pralines.

This year, one of the top new creations is Fried Coke. Yes, one fair concessionaire found a way to deep-fry the 120-year-old soft drink favorite.

"Why fry Coke? Why not fry Coke?" asked creator Abel Gonzales, a computer analyst most of the year, and the son of a restaurant owner. He's been perfecting his Fried Coke recipe for two years.

"If you listen to someone go, 'How do you fry Coke?' or, 'I've got to try Fried Coke,' that's automatically what you want to do—is try the Fried Coke," Gonzales said.

Gonzales' culinary contribution at last year's fair was the "Elvis," a tribute to the pop icon consisting of a fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich with banana.

Gonzales concedes that Coca-Cola is like water—too runny to fry; it needs batter around it.

In this case, it's mostly flour and sugar. After being fried, the golden nuggets cool off for a second, then get some powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, strawberry sauce and Coke syrup.

"It's not what you think," Gonzales said. "You're not going to be overwhelmed with Coke flavor."

But one consumer was satisfied with the result. "This tastes like donuts, cream and some Coke with strawberries on top. Great stuff!"

With back-to-back hits, what does Gonzales have prepared for next year's fair?

"That's the State Fair secret," he said. "You really don't start letting people know about next year's fair until this fair is done with."

His only hint: It will be something golden. "The fryer is always going at my house."

E-mail achimbel@wfaa.com