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Dessert

Wafers, with Jelly

A baked wafer-like cake spread with jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Wafers, with Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the batter

  1. Cream the butter in a large bowl.

  2. Add the powdered sugar, beaten eggs, milk, brandy, orange‑flower water, grated nutmeg, powdered cinnamon, and dissolved baking powder.

  3. Mix in enough flour to create a very thick, smooth batter.

Bake and assemble

  1. Butter a large baking sheet and spread the batter in a layer no thicker than ⅛ inch.

  2. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until set, about 15 minutes.

  3. Cut the baked batter in half, spread jelly on one half, and place the other half on top.

Serve

  1. Once cooled, cut into fingers with a sharp knife and serve in a glass dish.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Orange + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  4. Orange + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,746 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Creams with sugar to give the batter richness and a tender crumb.
Eggs
Bind the batter and help it set firm in the oven.
Flour
Provides the structure that lets the batter hold a thick, cuttable sheet.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and helps create a fine, smooth batter texture.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, giving a light rise as it bakes.
Milk
Adds moisture and helps the batter reach a smooth, pourable consistency.

The step that matters

Spreading the batter to an even layer no thicker than ⅛ inch. A thin, even layer bakes through and sets evenly. A thicker or uneven layer may stay soft in places or brown unevenly before the centre sets.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, milk, brandy, nutmeg, cinnamon. 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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