It is late Monday evening and I leave early tomorrow for Los Angeles and then continue on my way to Bangkok via Taipei. A long travel day. There are still some more pictures and stories to share from the reunion but those will have to wait. In the meantime, I’ll share this Mochi Cake recipe (originally from Gourmet Magazine) that Joanne Choi at Week of Menus wrote about recently.
For anyone who doesn’t know, mochi is the glutinous rice that is pounded into a sticky semi-solid and used as an ingredient in several dishes, including various Japanese desserts like daifuku.
Mochi Cake
Gourmet Magazine | May 2005
Makes one 9X13 pan, or 24 squares
1 lb box of mochiko flour (3 cups equivalent)
2 1/2 cups of sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 14 oz cans of coconut milk – not lowfat (I used two cans of 13.5 oz)
5 large eggs
1/2 stick of butter (1/4 cup) melted and slightly cooled
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9X13 baking pan. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together mochiko flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
In a separate bowl or large measuring cup (4 cup capacity), beat eggs, then add coconut milk, melted butter and vanilla extract.
Carefully pour the wet ingredients over the mochiko flour mixture and whisk until mixture is smooth and uniform in texture.
Pour batter into greased 9X13 pan. Carefully smooth out the top. Bake for 90 minutes (yes, 90 minutes!), until top is golden brown and the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.
Allow cake to cool for about 30 minutes on a rack, and then carefully flip it out and cut into 24 squares, or the size of your choice. Can store mochi cake for three days, covered.
The texture is really fun – very moist and chewy. I think it would be excellent topped with some fresh fruit like peaches, strawberries, or mangoes. It also is quite nice just as a snack cake. Try it out.
christao408 
Very yummy stuff, Chris!
I like Japanese Mochi cakes.
Even though I hate that glutinous rice, the cake look really good.
I love mochi – I bet I’d like the cake… I think I can find all the ingredients except the flour. Looks like another item for the “Going to Chicago” shopping list.
@murisopsis – If there is any Asian market nearby, you should be able to find the flour. In Asian markets it is very common.@amygwen – It crosses the line between sticky rice and cake pretty nicely, owing more to pound cake than anything else. @foggysunnymorning – Then this is the cake for you!@slmret – Glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks for this post, Chris. My wife was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and American father. She loves Daifuku, but never knew the correct nbame, her mother always just called it (incorrectly) “mochi.” I always felt like an idiot trying to buy some in a place where no one spoke any of the languages I know without even knowing the proper name. If I couldn’t find it by just looking around, I was screwed…
those eggs are so white! are they the expensive kind?i bought my first dozen free-range eggs the other day – i really think it tastes better, plus i feel better thinking about the happier chickens.
🙂 I heart Mochi!!!found out about ur blog thru Andy… been reading for awhile but finally decided to leave a comment hope thats ok! xo
Nice!
That looks delicious as usual. :I Thanks for showing the step-by-step instructions! It looks quite easy… I’m tempted to try it, but coconut milk and butter have soooo much saturated fat. Maybe I’ll try making it and giving it away.How much does the Mochiko cost? When you say you’d put fresh fruit on it, do you mean literally putting fresh fruit slices on it, or were you thinking of making some sort of glaze/frosting?
@Sinful_Sundae – Of course. Welcome. Any friend of Andy’s is a friend of mine.@stepaside_loser – These were whatever standard supermarket eggs were in my sister’s refrigerator. I wrote an entry a while back about my experience with free-range eggs: http://christao408.xanga.com/687922386/breakfast/@Senlin – Mochiko was cheap, maybe $4 a box. Regarding the fruit, I’d be inclined to just slice fresh fruit into the bowl, maybe add just a wee bit of sugar to get the juices flowing, and then spoon it over slices of the cake. Don’t worry so much about the saturated fat. This is something you’re just eating a little bit of. Serve it at a party or work funtion, or cut the recipe in half.@Toro69 – Gosh, I bet she’d enjoy this mochi cake if she liked daifuku.
So that’s the mochi you’ve been talking about! Looks delicious and moist!
i love mochi cake and get it at the phillipino take out in riverside. in fact i love sticky rice anyway i can get it. my friend makes it with carrots and potatoes in it like a hot dish. such a shame you are only changing planes in los angeles as i live just an hour from the airport and would be fun to meet you in person . next time you come this way we should make an appointment to meet. unfortuneately i have to work the rest of the week. survey is over and i have to help with the clean up, corrections etc.
You have introduced to me a very new cake Chris. I hope I can find the flour in our grocery stores. Yes I would like to try it. Thank you.
@grannykaren – It is interesting how mochi and other forms of sticky rice are prevalant across various Asian cultures.@ZSA_MD – I’m certain that if you can’t find it in Quincy (do you have an Asian specialty market?) then you can most certainly find it in St. Louis.@CurryPuffy – That’s the mochi I’ve been talking about.
Mmmmm. Is this gluten free or am I imagining things?
@christao408 – Yes I am sure I will find it at the Global Foods in St. Louis.
@wereallylikefood – No flour, just rice flour, so it is gluten free.
(looks confused at amygwen) I think we file this under the tastes better than it looks category I’m sure. I’m reminded of my gran’s hot milk cake which always tasted fabulous but left much to the eye, and, I always thought, would do better buried under a 4cm layer of butter cream icing.
@AppsScraps – There’s got to be a reason that grandmothers say things like “don’t judge a book by its cover.”
Agh!!! Mochi cake! I gotta try this recipe! Before I even read the last paragraph and saw the pic I thought “that would be great with some strawberries, strawberry syrup and whipped cream”!
@brooklyn2028 – That would be a very good topping. Now, I remade this recipe last night here in Bangkok and it turned out much denser. Not sure why. But some slices of mango on top more than made up for it.
I have had some of these while I was in Japan. So, i was looking online for a recipe and thankfully I came across your wonderful site. Thank you for sharing this to us as I made it and it was perfect. My kids loved it too! Kudos to you!
@Best%20coffee%20maker – I’m glad you found the recipe. The original recipe I link to in this entry – Week of Menus – also has several variations on the recipe that you might enjoy.