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Dessert

Wafers

Thin, sweet cakes made from a batter of vanilla, sugar, brandy, flour, eggs, butter, and milk, cooked on a heated iron.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Wafers

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Cut the vanilla pod very small.

  2. Pound it with some powdered sugar.

  3. Sift the mixture through a silk sieve into a bowl.

  4. Add flour, eggs, and brandy to the bowl.

  5. Stir until combined.

  6. Dissolve the butter in warm milk.

  7. Add the dissolved butter to the mixture.

  8. Check that the batter is thin enough to leave a velvety appearance when dipped with a spoon.

Cook the wafers

  1. Heat an engraved iron over a charcoal fire.

  2. Rub the iron with a bit of butter or pork rind.

  3. Pour a spoonful of batter onto the iron.

  4. Ensure it spreads evenly.

  5. Close the iron gently.

  6. Cook until golden brown on both sides.

  7. Carefully remove the wafer.

  8. Shape it on a piece of round wood or into a horn.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Vanilla + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as the wafer sets.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the wafer as it cooks.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the wafer release and brown.
Sugar
Sweetens the batter and promotes golden browning during cooking.
Milk
Thins the batter to a pourable consistency and adds moisture.

The step that matters

Check the batter consistency. If the batter is too thick it will not spread thinly across the iron, and if too thin it will run off. A velvety look when dipped with a spoon indicates the right thin, even texture for a crisp, evenly cooked wafer.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More wafers recipes

Walnut 51Almond 29Vanilla 24Nut 23Graham 21Geneva 20 See all 17 →

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