I’ve had this recipe in my burgeoning to-do file for some time.
The original recipe is from The New York Times and the reviews are pretty strong. A reader named Isabel, for example, wrote that this cake may be one of the best things she’s ever eaten or baked. You can find the original recipe here.
I’m a sucker for that kind of review. I knew I had to bake this.
In the end, I really enjoyed this Mochi Cake. It is delicate and moist and not too sweet…and interesting. I’ve never baked a Mochi Cake before and my experience using red bean paste is pretty thin! Be forewarned, though, that this recipe makes a lot of cake. You may want to halve the recipe or invite your friends to a mochi feast. (Come to think of it, that mochi feast is a great idea!)
Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.
Baked Red Bean Nian Gao (Mochi Cake)
Ingredients
- 1/2 C. unsalted butter (melted and cooled)
- 3 C. mochiko sweet rice flour
- 1 T. baking powder
- 1/2 t. kosher salt
- 4 large eggs
- 1 fourteen-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 fourteen-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 2 C. red bean paste
- 2 T. white sesame seeds
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a 9 inch by 13 inch pan by generously greasing it with butter.
- Step 2 Sift sweet rice flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.
- Step 3 In a separate large bowl, whisk eggs until yolks are broken up To the eggs, add butter, coconut milk and condensed milk. Whisk these ingredients until you have a smooth batter.
- Step 4 Add the liquid egg mixture to the dry sweet rice flour mixture. Whisk until you have all ingredients combined and you have a smooth batter with no lumps. I used a hand mixer for this. Spoon this batter into your prepared pan. Spoon the red bean paste on top of the batter. The original recipe says to do this is 1 T. portions and in three batches. After each batch smooth the top of the cake batter with an offset spatula. This will push the bean paste down into the batter and will begin to marble it. Scatter the sesame seeds on top of the batter.
- Step 5 Bake cake for 35 to 45 minutes. You want the cake to be a soft pretty light brown color when it is baked. You can check your cake for doneness by pressing on the top of the cake (It should be firm.) and by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake to be sure the toothpick comes out clean.
- Step 6 Cool cake for a good 20 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature. This makes a lot of cake. Leftovers can be stored (covered) in your refrigerator for up to three days.
