A couple of weeks ago I made the famed blueberry mochi cake, which stems from three fabulous sources. It’s a lovely cake, with a mochi-esque chewiness to it, along with a surprisingly rich flavor. It is as if a golden sponge cake was spiked with buttery humidity, resulting in something between a pound cake, and the most wonderful blueberry muffin you’ve ever had. I highly suggest it, and I halved the recipe, with no issues.
Then I got thinking about the cake, and how versatile it could be, which led me to adapting the recipe to make a chocolate version. The cake is different than you might expect, so be ready. It has the chewiness of mochi, with an almost pudding like interior. Don’t be fooled, I used dark, Dutch-processed cocoa which explains the black color, but the darker the cocoa, the milder the flavor, so it isn’t exaggeratedly chocolate. I also added dark chocolate chips (chopped chocolate or chocolate discs would improve the appearance), in two layers, much like I added the blueberries to its vanilla counterpart.
Above: Batter, ready for baking. I only covered half the top with chocolate pieces as I was not sure how I would like it.
It is not overly sweet in the least, making the small bursts of chocolate pieces a welcome addition. A frosting or glaze would be interesting as well. While I have used evaporated milk here (as in the original recipe), I have found multiple mochi recipes that use coconut milk. I didn’t have any on hand, but now that I do, I can confidently say I will be trying it soon.
Dark Chocolate Infused Mochi Cake
The Cinnamon Quill
4 oz (1 stick) of butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup of sugar + extra for pan
2 eggs
1/2 cup Dutch-processed/dark cocoa powder
5 1/3 oz of sweet rice flour, about 1 3/4 cups (no substitutions)
1 generous teaspoon baking powder
6 oz of evaporated milk (or coconut milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
3/4 cup chopped dark chocolate pieces, or more/less to taste (optional, but recommended)
Oil an 8×8 inch square pan, or other pan of equivalent volume, then dust lightly with some sugar. Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a mixing bowl, combine the melted butter and 1 cup of sugar, then incorporate the eggs. Add the cocoa powder, sweet rice flour, and baking powder, stirring just to mix. Pour the milk and vanilla over the top and stir until the batter isn’t lumpy. Spoon half the batter into the prepared pan, then sprinkle chocolate pieces evenly over top. Repeat with the remaining batter and chocolate pieces. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes back clean. Let cool before cutting and eating.
Keeps for 2-3 days at room temperature, and can be refrigerated after that, though refrigeration does alter the softness of the cake. It is still good, but denser.
*Notes:
The sweet rice flour is measured by weight, but I have also checked the volume each time I’ve made this recipe. As you can imagine, the volume tends to vary a bit, but as long as the measurement is approximate, you shouldn’t have any problems.
Oddly enough, I like this recipe best with salted butter. Unsalted works fine too.
I used Dutch-processed cocoa to avoid the need to add baking soda. I imagine you could use natural cocoa powder and add 1/2-1tsp baking soda. I like the rich color, and mysteriously mild chocolate tones from the Dutched/black cocoa. Black cocoa can be hard to find, but Hershey’s makes a nice “dark cocoa” blend that is readily available.
Finally, I used chocolate chips. but they aren’t very photogenic. Chocolate pieces or discs would look more appealing. Any other ideas?
This looks so delicious!
this looks so tasty and it was interesting to read about the different cocoa powder.
Justine
Wow! This takes mochi cake to a new level! It looks fantastic!!! And it is very photogenic…it screams YUM!
-mary the food librarian
Thank you! It was your blueberry mochi cake post that got me mochi crazed. I think I have made the blueberry cake three times already?!
Yummy !
Looks absolutely delicious! Beautiful pics.
Oh my! This looks positively amazing.
Amazing idea! I will definitely try this when I find sweet rice flour!
Nice! I would love to know how you like it!
That looks really good! I recently bought a box of mochiko and am still not sure what to do with it but a mochi cake sounds pretty wonderful.
I hope you try it! Or the blueberry one that I linked to. It is delicious as well. Let me know what you think
I really like the sound of a chocolate mochi cake. It looks great!
i love mochi, but never tried to make any type of cake with it. i’ll have to try out one of these recipes. they look so moist and delicious.
Indeed, and it doesn’t dry out like other cakes. I would be curious to know how you like the cake compared to mochi itself.
Cookies are actually quite easy to make, even gluten-free. Chocolate cookies should NEVER be underestimated
I’m going to try this cake though !
Holy moly these looks amazing!!! You are very creative and take lovely photos. Yummmm!
How long have you been GF? Do you have celiac?
Email reply sent. I’m glad you stopped by
I’ve never cooked with sweet rice flour, so I’m intrigued! You were trying to make it look prettier (but I think it looks excellent already) – too bad I don’t like white chocolate, that’d be yummy. It’s not really chocolate though. How about dried cranberries and walnuts…or a layer of raspberry jam…or some natural mini-marshmallows with the honey caramel! Now I want to go buy sweet rice flour to add to my arsenal of flours in the pantry.
Let me know what you come up with!
Good lord, you’re slaying me. Consider these added to my list of things I’m going to make this weekend. Funny mochi story: I was at a baseball game a week ago and the lady next to me pulled out a pack of red bean mochi – and before I could stop myself, I was reaching for one of them while simultaneously asking, “Can I have?” in a raspy, drooly voice. She was really nice and gave it to me, but I was mortified. I guess mochi is like my catnip.
She probably wrote about you on her blog! I kid.
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Wow, this looks like the most creative twist I’ve seen on this recipe. I’ve done a couple of versions (cherries, strawberries and pumpkin), but I’m excited to try this one out.
My husband has celiac disease and one of the flours, I use for his baked goods, is sweet riice flour so I have it on hand. I want to make this one for me. I can eat gluten but I will take advantage of that sweet rice flour.
This looks amazing.
I just realized that sweet rice flour is the only flour so I guess I don’t have to be concerned about the gluten and if hubby should want a taste (it is chocolate – I doubt it), he will be free to. Sorry about my good.
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Hi, I just made these this evening. My brother and mother are both Celiac so they can not have any gluten, so I thought it would be perfect.
Truth is, IT IS! I love them, they love them, and best of all they taste 100% like a good old brownie. Doesn’t taste funny or slightly “off” like so many gluten-free recipes are. This one is golden. I also really love the moist, chewy texture. Very awesome. Thank you for sharing this, it’s going to keep a page in my recipe book.