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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.
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I added a couple tablespoons of nutella and some crushed walnuts to the dulche de leche mixture (my sisters recommendation per her famous Romanian waffle cake) It was fabulous!
P.S. We buy these international wafers at a local Italian market. Sometimes, they are even sold out there.
Wow that sounds absolutely delicious! I love the ideas of adding walnuts and nutella. Now, tell me more about this famous Romanian waffle cake! 🙂
My mom uses Lekorna plain wafers from a store called Global, but she ran out of that brand once and used a different brand of them. I found some on Amazon. http://amzn.to/1FTMGFP
Thanks for sharing Alla :).
My husbands family is Slovak and with these waffles, they make Oblandi. It is similar to this but has a cocolate/walnut/hazelnut filling. Delicious!
Wow that sounds so good! Do you know if there is a good recipe posted for that somewhere?
I found these wafers at an international store…they have a variety of them…
Thanks Lana!
where do you find the wafers in the USA
I’ve purchased them at our local European store. I haven’t found an online source yet.
I found the waffles in a local walmart. I live in Tri Cities, WA. They don’t have them all the time. When I see them I buy several packs. They come in rectangular shapes and much cheaper than in our local Ukrainian store.
I wish our Walmart stocked them, but they don’t :(. Thanks so much for sharing that!! 🙂
Where can I buy the wafers?
I’ve looked online with no success. They sell them in European or Russian food stores. You might do a google search for European stores in your area. In areas like Sacramento where there is a large Russian/Ukrainian population, they even sell them in some Walmarts, but not all Walmarts.
Love this cake! After it was weighed down and set, I drizzled a bit of melted caramel on top and a few dashes of shaved milk chocolate. So good.
Thank you for the great review Vita :). This cake never gets old, we just had some of it at the birthday party.
If you are looking for an outlet for the wafers, please check out www.buy-ukrainian.com. The import from Ukraine and the ship all over the US Free – they are in Delaware – phone # 302-273-4853
Hi Marion! Thanks for sharing that. I checked it out and couldn’t find wafers. Do you know what they call them on their site so I could search for them?
Try to add homemade coffee extract, it’s delicious 🙂
That sounds amazing! How do you make your coffee extract?
How long should the condensed milk be cooked for, and how should it be cooked?
Amber, I have all the instructions right here. Let me know if you need anything else :).
These waffles are sooo popular in Poland too :))
I think we have alot in common with Polish cuisine! Do you have any good websites or books you could recommend for Polish recipes? Or recipes you could share? I’d love to try some more Polish food! 🙂
Hi Natasha,
I tried your recipe and the cake was awesome! You can look at it here (there’s a translation button on the right side): http://cookingworldtour.wordpress.com/2014/10/11/ukraine-waffelkuchen-mit-sguschonka/
Greetings from Germany, Becky
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! And I’m glad you included instructions for the translation! 🙂 Thanks Becky 🙂
You’re very welcome and good luck with your baby! 🙂
Hello Natasha. I like this cake too, but lately we found out that my family like this too. I want to share this recipe with you.I use cooked condensed milk, but i make white cream too. 1 pack of cream cheese, 2 sticks of butter, and a half of the can not cooked condensed milk: mix. Then you spread it over the wafers. 1-cooked condensed milk, 2-white cream. In all you will have 2 times white and 3 times with cooked condensed milk. After all just put in the freezer for couple hours. U will love this.Its like frozen cake. Try and enjoy.
Wow that sounds really really good! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe! 🙂
I made this cake over the weekend and it was gone the next day, and that’s just mostly my husband eating it lol. Delicious! I did alternate layers and did Dulce de Leche and the next layer black currant jam… & aletrnated thru the entire cake…delicious! Thanks for a great recipe, it will be a staple in our house 😀
:-O That sounds SO SO GOOD! I bet it looked amazing too. I’m so craving your cake right now!
Phooey on WalMart if you’re close to Rancho Cordova! Go to Koreana Plaza International Market in Rancho Cordova (about 3 blocks away from the local WalMart) to get the Russian/Ukrainian specialty items you want. If they don’t have it, ASK and they’ll go to work getting a supply of whatever you couldn’t find. If it sells, they’ll continue to stock it. That’s where I got my stock of wafers …. which I didn’t know what to do with untill I came across your post tonight while I was looking for some kind of filling using dulce de leche OR cornstarch-based something or other. How FUN to have turned up the “authentic” way to use the wafers!
It’s so yummy too! Thanks for sharing your source suggestions 🙂
Natasha! Nice to see another fellow Russian blogger! I made this cake too just in time for our New Year’s! It’s a staple in our house 🙂 If you want you can check it out at www.girlandthekitchen.com 🙂 S’ Novim Godum!
I’m looking forward to exploring more of your blog! This is one of my absolute all-time favorite cakes 🙂 And I love how easy it is.
Ive never tried it with lemon juice either. Also I like waffles better when ALL the squares are filled in, to me they seem kinda dry when they arent. (thats just how I like it) 🙂
I think you’ll love it with a little lemon to offset the sweetness 🙂
Hey natasha I checked ur link to ebay ,,, nd these are different than my mom it’s looking for.do you have any idea where I could buy the old school, stove-top type, bigger ones,, if you know pls reply,, this will mean a lot to me, . Thank you
I haven’t really seen those online. Have you search Amazon and Ebay?
best recipe ever
Thank you Ian, I’m glad you like it :).