Mochi is a Japanese confection made from sweet rice that is pounded into a fine paste and molded into a shape. You have probably encountered mochi filled with ice cream, as it is a popular Japanese dessert that is also available at many grocery stores. A popular Hawaiian dessert is known as Mochi Cake, a baked cake that is made with the same sweet rice flour used to make traditional mochi. The cake is soft, chewy and very different than traditional butter cakes. The unusual texture might not make mochi cake everyone’s favorite dessert, but it is absolutely delicious for those who love it. Recently, Trader Joe’s introduced a Mochi Cake Mix that allows you to easily make your own mochi cake at home.
The cake mixes up very easily with just the addition of butter, eggs and water. It has just the right sweetness and bakes up to be dense, chewy and quite delicious. While I admit that I haven’t made a mochi cake from scratch before using this mix, the consistency was very similar to some of the mochi cakes I tried on my last visit to Hawaii. The cake is not overly sweet and has a hint of coconut flavor to it, as it contains coconut milk (coconut milk powder, actually, that is rehydrated by adding water to the cake mix).
I really enjoyed this mix and would get it again – especially to share with some of my friends from Hawaii! The only change that I would like to see here would be to add some serving suggestions to the box. Many mochi cakes have coconut, chocolate or matcha added to them. As a non-traditional cake for many bakers, it would be nice to offer a bit of extra inspiration to go along with the mix.
What do you think?