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This Ukrainian waffle cake is a cinch! It’s so easy, I bet you could make it simply by viewing the pictures. This is also the favorite dessert of every child in my family.
Waffle Cakes are made with cooked, sweetened condensed milk (i.e. dulce de leche) that is spread onto pre-made wafer sheets and sliced into bite-sized squares or diamonds. These are a hit at all of our holiday parties, weddings, or any gathering really.
Where to Buy Wafer Cakes?
Until recently, I have only been able to find them at Russian or European stores, but now they are available online.
I’ve also seen these wafers sold in a California Walmart (near Rancho Cordova). I guess the Russian/Ukrainian population is so large that Walmart even has a Russian section. Lucky!! Once you buy the wafers, this will be the easiest cake you’ve ever made. And it’s quite fabulous!
Ingredients for Waffle Cake
- 1 package plain wafers – round or square (9 layers, 9-inch diameter)
- 1 (14oz) can of cooked sweetened condensed milk a.k.a. dulce de leche
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tsp lemon juice
How to Cook Sweetened Condensed Milk
By cooking sweetened condensed milk, you are essentially making dulce de leche. You can use one of 3 methods:
- Buy Pre-cooked or pre-made dulce de leche
- Cook Dulce de Leche in a pot in a slow cooker
- Make the quick version: Instant-pot Dulce De Leche (this is my favorite because it’s speedy!)
Once the dulce de leche is cooked, let it cool to room temperature, then store it covered in the refrigerator until ready to assemble the cakes. You can make the dulce de leche ahead of time.
How to Make Ukrainian Waffle Cake
1. Combined cooked condensed milk, 1/2 stick softened butter and 1 tsp lemon juice in the electric stand mixer and whisk attachment. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes.
2. Spread cream on the wafers, making sure to reach the edges. Don’t be concerned with filling each square or you will have too much frosting on the cake. Just put enough to have the layers stick. You may make 2 skinny cakes or 1 tall one. They do stack nicely when they aren’t as tall.
3. Place cake under a heavy cutting board or make a press using a cutting board with a bowl of water on top. Let it sit under the press at least 2 hours. Then, slice it up (Ukrainian style) and make sure you grab a slice. They go quickly!!
Enjoy! Let me know if you have found a great source for these wafers?
Ukrainian Waffle Cake with Dulce de Leche
Ingredients
- 1 package plain wafers – round or square, 9 layers, 9-inch diameter
- 1 14 oz can cooked sweetened condensed milk
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Combined cooked condensed milk, 1/2 stick softened butter and 1 tsp lemon juice. Beat them on high speed for 3 minutes.
- Spread cream on the wafers, making sure to reach the edges. Just put enough to have the layers stick. You may make 2 skinny cakes or 1 tall one. They do stack nicely when they aren’t as tall.
- Place cake under a heavy cutting board or make a press using a cutting board with a bowl of water on top. Let it sit under the press at least 2 hours. Then, slice it up and serve.
Hi Natasha,
In the process of making this cake right now for my sons birthday tomorrow. Do I need to refrigerate it to store it?
You can leave it at room temp overnight. I’d refrigerate overnight after that if you have leftovers.
I lived in Ukriane for most of my teenage years, and if there is anything I miss the most, it is the waffle cake! I really really wish I could find a place in America that sells the wafer parts! Mmmmmm!!!! Sooo good! It would be nice to be able to make it again!
Do you have any Russian or Ukrainian or European stores nearby?
Can i add the uncooked sweetened concentrated milk instead of caramel?
Yes, definitely! I use cooked sweetened condensed milk and I think it works best in this recipe.
I had put in my zipcode to calculate the shipping. that’s prob. y it did not work for you since you are in different zipcode. Try this link: http://balkanbuy.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=57
it should work now for you. Also, would love for you to check out my post here. I did provide a linkback to you as my source:
http://gourmetglobal.blogspot.com/2013/04/pineapple-nutella-sugar-wafers-balkan.html
Hi, I live in Brooklyn, NY with a large Russian/Polish/Balkan population and I am preparing a blog post that I used these wafers for and was looking for online sources to provide to my readers if they don’t have access to the wafers and found your blog. Great to know about the Ca. Walmart I will def. include the info in my post. However just so you know they can be purchased online at http://balkanbuy.com/shop/index.php?l=cart_view&zip_code=11226-%3E918369 although the shipping charges are high but they are cheaper than the shipping charges for the wafers I saw on Amazon.
When I opened that page, it just took me to the site and it didn’t show the wafers? I wish there was a good way to buy them online…
Thankyou, Natasha, I love your recipes. We are blessed to have you take the time for this website/blog.
Natasha, how crisp does is this cake when finished or is it someewhat soft from the filling? What should I expect, thankyou?
It does get soft on the inside from the filling; the top and bottom layers still retain a little crispness, but it’s great when it gets soft! 🙂
I will try this recipe. I wanted to ask if you’ve ever heard of this similar dessert. While living in southern Siberia for a short time, I often had a waffle like this shaped into a tube or cone and filled with the caramel. Have you ever seen or heard of this or have a recipe? They were so good.
Thanks so much!
I don’t have a recipe for it yet but you can check out these two recipes and see if this is what you looking for. First one is from Olga’s Flavor Factory, second one is from Grab and Go Recipes. Hope this helps.
The second one is exactly it! Thanks so much. I’ve looked everywhere for it and never thought to call it a pizzele. Can’t wait to make these for the family.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you as well Kim. I’m glad that you found what you been looking for 🙂
That’s exactly how I make this waffle cake as well: with butter and lemon juice!! Luv it like that!! :)) We (my parents) used to make the waffles in Ukraine cuz we had those big waffle makers (presses) and we also made them with chocolate filling (we used cocoa, butter and sugar and cooked it all together, but I don’t remember the proportions anymore, it was such a loooong time ago)… I’ve also experimented by putting finely chopped walnuts and/or instant coffee into the condensed milk mixture and it turned out pretty good! 🙂
Love your recipes! so simple and quite healthy i would say, considering what others offer!
Thank you Natalie 🙂
Try one layer of sguschenka and one layer of jam. My favorite is black currant or brusnika. Makes cake much colorful and add variety of taste.
I should get some black currant from jam from my mom and give it a try. With holidays coming up, it would be great to try something different. Thank you for the tip Volodya.
hi, Natasha,
thanks a lot for your recipes. it’s great to have these recipes with American products (as opposed to Russian) 🙂 i already made a few desserts, and, most importantly, KVAS!!! it was such a hit 🙂
did you have a chance to ask your mother for a recipe for home-made waffles?
I haven’t asked her and she’s actually in Ukraine for a couple of weeks :-O. Sorry, I completely forgot.
You call this Ukrainian and Russian waffle cake and your recipes are Ukrainian/Russian, is it possible for you to respectfully distinguish the difference as those two cultures are not one and the same. Thanks.
These are made by both cultures so I can’t say they are specifically one or the other.
I’ve never tried it with lemon, will try it next time, sounds tasty.
I buy already made Dulce de Leche in the mexican isle in any of the grocery stores, saves me the time of boiling the condensed milk.
Buying it already made, will speed up the process by around 2 hours 🙂
Do I still need to boil it if I use the Dulce de leche brand of sweetened condensed milk?
If it is Pre-cooked then you don’t need to cook it.
I made this to have with Arabian coffee and tea. I added some extra http://www.bakersroyale.com/basic-baking-series/baking-basics-how-to-make-homemade-dulce-de-leche using the oven method. My wafers were all beige in colour and rectangular. Just before serving I spread some extra dulce-de-leche on top of each diamond shaped piece. Thank you for this recipe!
This so delish….I found these waffles at A&K Produce market on Madison Avenue in Carmichael…the young man at the counter told me how to prepare them. I simmered a can of condensed milk for a couple of hours like he said, but I felt it was just missing something…….the butter and lemon make a huge difference in the consistency for spreading….again Thanks! Love it!
Awesome! I’m glad you liked it 🙂
THANK YOU!!!!!!! I’ve been looking for this recipe for 13 years since I went to Ukraine. My host home discovered that I LOVED this cake so they served it at nearly eery meal, and I got hooked. I’ve loked around every now and then since but couldn’t find anything on it, until just now. Now, if I can only find out where to buy the wafers…
Update – It’s not the exact wafer that you have, but if you search for torte wafer on amazon, you get something pretty similar.
Sweet!! I haven’t been able to find an online version either. I’ll definitely check it out. Thank you!!
P.s. I love your website! What an awesome career choice!!
That’s wonderful; I’m happy for you 🙂
This is my kids favorite cake, I make it with butter,dulce de leche and cool wip.
I melt the butter mix with dulce de leche with mixer and add softened cool wip mix it in with a spoon gets very fluffy. When I spread it on waffles I fill in most squares sticks together well and I cut it right away because it gets soft later and harder to cut. Ready to eat right away I guess cool wip makes it soft quickly very yummy!
I will have to try adding lemon next time 🙂
You’re the second person to suggest cool whip. There must be something to it! 🙂
Love cooking/baking ukr. Food! Your website helped out so much with my last pregnancy as I was craving ukr food. I used to make my waffles with butter but tried cool whip and my family never wants to go back to the butter.
There are so many possibilities!! Thanks for the tip!
If someone could tell me how to make this recipe with the cool whip I would result appreciate it ☺ thanks in advance!!?