Butter Rice Cakes

Butter Rice Cakes

Also known as Shanghai butter mochi, Shanghai butter rice cakes and butter tteok in Korea, these butter mochi are individually sized, extra-crunchy and have taken the internet by storm. There are multiple theories about how the cakes originated. While some attribute them to bakeries in and outside of Shanghai, another popular belief is that the mochi were invented by an unknown baker in Nantong, China who combined nian gao with French canelé. From there, the crispy mochi became extremely popular at bakeries in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region of China before going viral, particularly in Korea. Given the similar batter,  Hawaiian butter mochi is also a likely influence—though Shanghai butter mochi use dairy milk in place of coconut.  The key to achieving their deeply browned, crackly crust and just-sweet-enough, bouncy center is to bake the cakes in a well-buttered muffin tin (or madeleine pan), frying the outside. A bit of honey in the batter further encourages browning. Though tapioca starch is often a component, different brands can produce wildly different results; for the sake of consistency, this recipe skips it, but the cakes still turn out wonderfully light and bouncy.

Yield: Makes 1 dozen

10 tablespoons/140 grams unsalted butter 

½ cup/105 grams granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon honey

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 large egg/50 grams, at room temperature 

1 cup/224 grams whole milk

2 ¼ cups/270 grams mochiko (sweet rice flour)

Heat oven to 400 degrees with a rack in the middle. 

Heat the butter in a small saucepan over medium until just melted, stirring occasionally, 3 to 4 minutes. Pour 6 tablespoons/84 grams of the melted butter into a large bowl and add the sugar, vanilla, honey and salt. Whisk until well blended, then set aside to cool. 

Meanwhile, brush the remaining 4 tablespoons/56 grams melted butter into the cups of a standard muffin tin to generously and evenly coat.

Whisk the egg into the sugar mixture until just blended, then whisk in the milk. While whisking, gradually add the rice flour and whisk until smooth. Divide the batter evenly among the buttered muffin cups (about ¼ cup/60 grams per cup) and smooth the tops, if necessary. Set the muffin tin on a sheet pan. 

Bake on the middle rack for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 375 degrees and bake until dark golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes more. 

Let cool in the pan for a few minutes, then lift each cake out with a small offset spatula or very thin paring knife and transfer to a rack to cool slightly. Serve warm. (Because their crust softens overnight, these cakes are best eaten the day they are made.)

Tip: For the most even browning, use an uncoated standard muffin tin.

Just made these exactly as directed. They’re burnt at 35 minutes (after the initial 10 minutes at 400 then down to 375). So, definitely check on them before the 35-40 minutes in the instructions. My fault for not checking them. I’ll try again another day and will start checking at 20-25 minutes.

@Katarina that won’t work since mochiko is made from sticky rice grains not regular rice flour. Also mochiko is just rice, no sugar added. It’s probably just one of those simple recipes you shouldn’t make without the main ingredient. Check Japanese food stores for it.