I managed to F*ck-up A perfectly good Mochi Cake Recipe
And it was surprisingly delightful!
My professor at UMass who taught me food writing would always get us baked goods for every class (one of the main reasons I adored her.) She always got things I had never tried before, cornflake cookies and curried quiche to name a few. But it was the Matcha Mochi cake that really impressed me.
I was so intrigued by the texture because I knew it wasn’t just all-purpose flour. I asked Carol what she put in there to which she replied “Oh, yeah I used sweet rice flour and condensed milk instead of flour and sugar.” I ended up taking two more slices that day while slightly feeling embarrassed as I was probably the only one among the 15 students there who had shamelessly taken three slices. I loved it so much, that I asked her for the recipe after our class ended. She said she had followed the recipe from Bon Appetite.
I even managed to take a picture of it (like i did with most things she brought to class.)
Dont mean to be a creep, but I clicked this picture of her holding the basket filled with her baked goods because I always wanted to have a memory of what an amazing professor she was! And surprisingly I also just realized it was the same day she had made the Mochi cake (which you can still see in the basket.)
Fast forward to a few months later, I had finally found the time to make this cake. I went to my nearest supermarket and got myself all the ingredients or at least I thought I did. When I started measuring out my ingredients at home, I realized I was out of butter and barely had any heavy cream left. So, I made some adjustments and hoped for the best. I used coconut oil instead of butter and added some coconut milk to compensate for the lack of heavy cream.
The result was amazing! My sister and my friends absolutely loved it. You could taste all of the flavors- the matcha, the chocolate, and the coconut. I think using heavy cream and coconut milk was a great decision because it complemented the flavors so well and wasn’t even a little bit overpowering. The matcha chocolate combination was still the star of the dish. Anyway, this is my take on the incredible cake developed by Christina Chaey of Bon Appetite.
INGREDIENTS
For the cake -
1 ½ cups sweet rice flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill Sweet White Rice flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
2 tbs. Matcha (sifted)
6 tbsp coconut oil
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup coconut milk
½ cup heavy cream
For the ganache -
4 oz Semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup heavy cream.
DIRECTIONS
Preheat your oven to 350 Fahrenheit line a 9” inch pan with parchment paper and set aside.
In a bowl sift the matcha, and baking powder and add to the rice flour and salt. Mix till you see all the matcha evenly mixed into the flour.
In another bowl, mix the coconut oil, eggs, and vanilla. Then add the condensed milk, coconut milk, and heavy cream till all of it is properly missed.
Then add all your dry ingredients to the wet ingredients (I personally like to add the dry ingredients in batches of three to prevent lumps in the batter.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, until you see the toothpick or knife poked in the center comes out clean. Let it cool for about 10 minutes before you flip the pan to remove the cake.
While the cake is cooling on a rack, heat your cream in a microwave for about 45 – 50 seconds, or till it reaches a boil, then add it to the chocolate chips and set aside for a couple of minutes. make sure all the chocolate the hot cream. Then, use a spatula to mix it all, till well combined.
Finally, ice the cake with the ganache and dust with some matcha sugar, if you’re into that!
In case you do end up trying to make this mochi cake (which I insist you do,) you best believe that this cake will be annihilated in a matter of a few minutes.
Oh and take a few risks, at least with food. It might surprise you as it did to me!
Happy baking, and much love, Rhea