Over the holiday break, I received the most interesting e-mail from a friend.
Dear Jen:
What a proposition! I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone offer to pay me for my baked goods! Usually I’m happy enough if people enjoy my cooking.
In any event, this green tea mocha is easy to make and definitely a crowd pleaser. The friend for whom I made it? He ate an entire loaf in one morning.
Yeah, it’s that good.
Matcha powder is the key ingredient in this recipe. Matcha is finely milled shade-grown dried tea leaves. During the last few weeks before harvest, tea plants are covered and protected from the sun. This act causes the tea leaves to grow more slowly, become darker, and produce much more amino acids, which results in a sweeter tasting tea. The best buds are picked, dried, and crumbled up.
These crumbled leaves can then be milled into a fine powder. Drinking matcha involves adding hot water to this fine, bright green powder and drinking it whole.
Matcha boasts even more health benefits than normal green tea because you are drinking the entire tea leave whole instead of just steeping the leaf and extracting certain flavors from it. Matcha is packed full of anti-oxidants, having a more concentrated boost than pomegranates, blueberries, and spinach.
Because of the involved process required to make matcha, matcha costs a lot more than other green teas. A tiny little can of the stuff from Japan can cost you close to $20.
I think it’s worth spending the money on good matcha, because the quality of the flavor influences the flavor of your dessert so directly.
Enjoy!
Matcha Mochi Cake
1 lb glutinous rice flour
2 T matcha powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 cups milk
2 cups sugar
3 eggs, beaten
Combine all ingredients and mix until well combined. Add to 2 well greased loaf pans (or 1 bundt pan) and bake at 350 ° F for at least one hour depending on the pan. Cake is done when an inserted toothpick comes out cleanly.
Let cool completely before trying to removing from the pan! Otherwise it will get stuck and you will be very, very sorry.
Note: this dish was made for the Gojee (Virtual) Potluck.
Starting on Thursday, January 26, check out other potluck dishes fellow gojee contributors shared. Go to gojee.com and enter “gojeepotluck” into I Crave. You can also follow #gojeepotluck on Twitter.
Giveaway is still going on! The odds are pretty good right now. I am giving away three personally autographed copies of Nina Simonds’ new book Simple Asian Meals. Enter the giveaway here.
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Great recipe. M looking for Matcha since long wanna try a cake 🙂
Looks delicious! Where do you buy your matcha when you are in the states?
hahah. hopefully H will get her fix now!
Where can you get Matcha here in Cambridge/Boston?
I get my Matcha from Amazon.com.
Hi Alvina,
My current batch of matcha I
got at Ranch 99 in California, but I am guessing that larger markets
like Super 88 would have it too (Maeda-en brand, pretty universal). One
of my readers told me she gets them in bulk at H-Mart for a pretty good
price. I’m not sure of the quality of the bulk one though. Maybe try
Ebisuya Japanese market in Medford? There’s also a small Japanese market
at Porter Square called Miso Market – they might have it too, though I haven’t actually
looked.
Hi Stella,
My current batch of matcha I got at Ranch 99 in California, but I am
guessing that larger markets like Super 88 would have it too (Maeda-en
brand, pretty universal). One of my readers told me she gets them in
bulk at H-Mart for a pretty good price. I’m not sure of the quality of
the bulk one though. Maybe try Ebisuya Japanese market in Medford?
There’s also a small Japanese market at Porter Square called Miso Market
– they might have it too, though I haven’t actually looked.
I love these things! They’re SO easy to make, easier than the traditional New Year’s cake. I’ve done a sesame version, rose, red bean matcha, or just plain red bean. I’ve wanted to do just matcha, but I didn’t know the proper amount, so I just stayed on the conservative side. Well, now I know 🙂
Mmm! These are baking as we speak. I added some homemade red bean paste and replaced the milk with coconut milk…hope it turns out good!
What kind of milk? Whole, 1%, 2%, or skim?
I think any of them would work. I used 2%, but I think it’s pretty flexible!
Thanks! I only asked because some other baked goods call for whole milk and I never buy whole! Looking forward to making this as soon as I get my hands on matcha. 🙂
I loooove matcha. When I was in Japan, I feasted on bakery matcha cupcake twice a week. Not figure friendly, but oh so good. Happy New Year!
Please bring to East Coast ITASA conference in Feb to share:) My tummy will be in wild anticipation!
After putting half in a pan, I realized there was no way I was waiting for 2 pans to bake, so I made the other half into crepes, for immediate consumption. BEST. CREPES. EVAH. Didn’t wait for them to cool, didn’t regret it at all. ;-> Perfect with red bean paste, and with chocolate ice cream. Thanks for the recipe!
Cool! I had no idea you could make crepes. What a fantastic idea. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
Delicious recipe, tried it today and it turned out well. Thanks! =)
Just found this blog while searching some stuff and healthy looking matcha mochi cake. I will try this cake tonight and will share my reviews soon.
personal trainer san antonio
Hi, by
2 T matcha powder, do you mean teaspoons or what?
“T” means tablespoons. Sorry for the confusion!
You’re welcome! Sorry for the late response!
Sorry! Maybe next time!! 🙂
I got my FIX!
Just made this tonight. Came out nicely, but wondering how to store and how long it wil stay good.. Any suggestions? https://www.dropbox.com/s/sp2s2ep9bnxzeul/2012-09-09%2019.57.40.jpg
Yum, that looks fantastic! I have kept it sealed in a plastic container (like tupperware or something like that) for up to a week. It may dry out slightly, but other than that it keeps pretty well. I personally love toasting it just a bit before eating. You can also microwave quickly to soften it if it gets hard. I’ve never tried refrigerating it. I think it would get really hard!
I have tried this recipe many times and love it. The only problem I’m having is that there are a lot of holes in the mochi. BIG holes. It’s almost as if I let in too much air. Do you know what I’m doing wrong? Is it the way I’m putting the batter in the pan?
I’m not sure what’s wrong. 🙁 Would it help if you tapped the pan a couple times to remove potential air bubbles? Good luck!
Hi Jen, I enjoyed this recipe very much. Tried it w/coconut milk and it was just a tad too sweet. I’m baking it again w/regular (cow’s) milk and also subtracting a couple of T of sugar to see what happens. I’d also suggest sifting the matcha powder) through a tea strainer to get rid of lumps–before mixing in the wet ingredients. Thanks!
Hi Ellen – thanks for the tip about sifting the matcha. I always got those unsightly lumps that almost looked like mold, lol. Hope your next batch turns out well! 🙂
Jen
You’re welcome! 🙂
Hi Jen,
Just a quick question! Do you have and recommendations on what brand of rice flour to use? Or where I can purchase some?
Thanks!
Hi Jas,
I’ve used Mochiko and the green colored bag (from Southeast Asia) and they both work fine. You can find these in most Asian grocery stores. I think certain normal supermarkets *might* sell Mochiko. Make sure you buy “sweet” rice flour, not normal rice flour.
Best of luck!
Jen
Hi, can I subsitute the 2 cups of milk with 1 can of evaporated milk for this recipe?
HI Mo,
I’ve never tried substituting. I would think that if you added only 1 can of evaporated milk you might have to make up for the liquid loss by possibly adding a cup of water? I’m not sure.
Jen
This recipe sounds so good and can’t wait to try it! I was wondering how sweet is this cake? I’m not a fan of overly sweet things so I’m wondering of I can reduce just the sugar and still make a successful cake.
You can definitely try reducing the sugar and make a successful cake, I think. I personally don’t think it’s too sweet (and I’m kind of sensitive), but you could probably reduce the sugar a bit. Try it and let me know how it works!
Hi Jen – I just wanted to thank you so much for this recipe! I’ve recently started a personal food blog, and just posted my attempt at your recipe (http://sundayswithsam.com/matcha-mochi-cake/). Hope that’s okay.. and thank you again!
Samantha
So glad you enjoyed it! Congrats on starting a food blog. It looks great! 🙂
i was wondering if you tried it with either coconut oil or olive oil instead of vegetable oil? Didn’t know if it changed anything
I have tried making a similar mochi cake with coconut milk and butter, which works out quite well. I describe both versions of the recipe in this post on a similar pumpkin mochi cake:
http://tinyurbankitchen.com/project-food-blog-round-8-unusual-take/
Mmmmm, it’s like a matcha latte in mochi cake form! I used some of the batter to make mini cakes with my mini muffin tin and they turned out great! Next time I would fill the cups almost all the way to the top since they don’t rise a lot, but they were perfect bite size!
Tried this and it was great!
Beautiful matcha mochi, there’s a Japanese food fair near me so i have the sudden urge to make matcha mochi. I googled and saw your photo of your is the only one that attracted me.
so after some research i realise other recipes don’t contain eggs, may I know what does the eggs do? Can I leave them out?
I am making this for my mom’s birthday cake! I hope it turns out ok. Thank you for posting this recipe! I also added red bean paste to mine. Baking in the oven now!
Nice recipe. Came out okay I guess when I tried it. I only did half the recipe. Wasn’t sure about how long to cook it, but about 3/4 of the original time. It looked perfect, sadly when I cooled it to take it out of the pan, the bottom and sides were overcooked, hard and stuck like glue. I was sooo upset =( Why do you think that happened? Too long in the oven? Wrong pan? Not enough grease (I used butter as I always do when I bake)?
But, it tasted great. Looking forward to adjust and experiment with other ingredients =) Thanks for sharing this recipe Jen
Hi there!
I just made this the other day and loved it. Have you tried using cocoa powder in place of matcha to make it chocolate mochi? I love the simple ingredients in this recipe, and am thinking of trying different “flavors” – have you been successful in that?
Hi Michelle,
Ha ha, yes. In fact, I originally decided to add matcha instead of red bean paste, which was the original recipe that my mom gave me. I think I’ve tried coffee as well, which didn’t taste that different. I think I needed to add more coffee, or use espresso powder!
Jen
Made this the other day and it was SO delicious – thanks so much for the great recipe!
Thanks!
Jen
Hi! How long does this cake keep for?
I think it begins to dry out after a couple days, but otherwise I’ve never had it go bad on me. I would reheat by either microwaving or toasting in the toaster oven!
Can i use almond milk instead of milk?
I’ve never tried, but I would imagine that it would work OK. It’s a pretty flexible recipe!
Hi Jen –
This was so delicious I pretty much ate the entire loaf! I’d like to make a version with cocoa powder and chocolate chips – how much of each ingredient would you recommend?
Thanks!
Linda
Ooh, that sounds amazing. Not sure how much I’d recommend, maybe try starting with 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder?
I just made this and it came out delicious. It was a hit. Saved for next time. Thanks!!
Hi! I’m excited to try this cake, but I don’t have a scale – how many cups of flour does that end up being? Thanks!
I have been making this for years! I use coconut oil and I cut the sugar by half… it is ALWAYS a hit. Thank you so much.
Hi there, can you tell me how many cups is equivalent to 1 lb of glutinous rice flour?