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Dessert

Wafer Cakes

A light, spiced batter baked in a wafer iron to produce thin, sweet wafer cakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Leslie · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Wafer Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Mix half a pound powdered sugar and a quarter pound butter, then add six beaten eggs.

  2. Beat the mixture very light, stirring in sifted flour until a stiff batter forms.

  3. Add powdered nutmeg, a teaspoon of cinnamon, and eight drops of oil of lemon or a tablespoon of rose water.

  4. Ensure the batter is very smooth and lump-free.

Bake the wafers

  1. Heat the wafer iron on both sides by turning it in the fire, but do not let it get too hot.

  2. Grease the inside of the iron with butter tied in a rag (repeat before each cake).

  3. Pour the batter into the iron, allowing two large tablespoonfuls per wafer, taking care not to stir up the batter.

  4. Close the iron; when one side is baked, turn it over; open occasionally to check the wafer's color.

  5. The wafers should be a light brown; remove them carefully with a knife.

Finish and serve

  1. Sprinkle powdered sugar over the wafers and roll them up while warm around a smooth stick, withdrawing the stick as they cool.

  2. If preparing for company, fill the hollow of the wafers with whipped cream and stop up the ends with preserved strawberries or other small sweetmeat.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

360Calories
7 gProtein
30 gFat
17 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Eliza Leslie. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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 and lift as the wafers set.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and greasing the iron helps wafers release cleanly.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the wafers brown evenly as they bake.
Flour (in the method)
Gives the stiff batter its body so the wafers hold their shape.

The step that matters

Heat the iron gently and check the colour. An iron that is too hot scorches the outside before the batter sets through, while a cool iron gives pale, soft wafers. Opening the iron to check colour lets you catch browning early, since sugar and butter darken quickly.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Lemonthe original
  3. Raisinfits about as well
  4. Figfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.

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