Bake: Cinnamon Toast Crunch Mochi Cake
Both of my grandmothers made mochi cake growing up. Different from traditional mochi served during New Years, this was a lightly sweet, buttery, mochi cake with a dark brown crust.
It’s become super popular thanks to bakeries such as Third Culture that have created a mochi muffin. When I saw a recipe that incorporate cereal milk, I had to try it. I adapted this version from one of my favorite cooking blogs, Little Fat Boy who added in the Cinnamon Toast Crunch! I think it would be delicious with Frosted Flakes too.
One of the best mochi cake/muffin recipes, in my opinion, comes from the Aloha Kitchen cookbook (which is where Little Fat Boy adapted his version from). You can get creative with your mochi cake or muffins by adding in different flavor profiles. I love adding in some matcha or hojicha powder into mine. I’m sure chocolate or any kind of fruit would be great as well. Most of the recipe sticks to the blog’s instructions but I added in some helpful notes and tips. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did!
Prep Time: 1 hour (up to 24 hours, depending on how long you soak your cereal milk), Total Time: 2 hours
Dry Ingredients:
1 cup of Cinnamon Toast Crunch (Frosted Flakes would be delicious too)
1/2 box (254 g) Mochiko rice flour (see picture for reference and my preferred brand, Koda Farms)
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking powder
Wet Ingredients:
2 large eggs
1 cup milk (2% or whole milk)
1/2 can of coconut milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter (melted) + a little extra to oil your baking pan
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
Combine regular milk and coconut milk in large bowl. Pour in cereal and let it sit for at least 2 hours or overnight covered in the refrigerator. Once you’re ready to start baking, strain and set aside in a bowl.
Preheat your oven to 350° F and oil a baking pan or your muffin tins with melted butter. I used a longer glass Pyrex (11" L x 7" W) for thinner pieces, but you can use a smaller one for thicker pieces.
In the large bowl with cereal milk, whisk in eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. The wet ingredients should be nicely incorporated and smooth.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Give it a good whisk so everything is also incorporated.
Crush extra cereal in a ziploc bag for the topping and melt your butter.
Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ones, while constantly whisking. Add in your melted butter and then after everything is incorporated, pour into your oiled pan.
Add a crumbled layer of crushed cereal on top of the batter.
Bake for 1 hour until the cake/muffins look golden brown. Test with a toothpick or a chopstick as it gets closet o an hour to make sure it goes in and out completely smooth. Once cooled, add powdered sugar, slice and serve!
