Second Time Around - Mocha Mochi Cake

I couldn't resist making this recipe again...

This time I changed up one of the main ingredients...


Last week, I used the shitty Hillsdale Instant Coffee which was the only brand of instant that Bert found at Fresh & Easy. I went there last night to see what else they had and thought I'd try this, the Medaglia D'Oro (Gold Medal) Instant Espresso ($3.49 for 2 oz).

This time, I microwaved  1/4 cup of water in a mug and dumped in 4 (or was it 5) heaping tablespoons. The original recipe called for 7 tablespoons of the regular instant, so I decreased it since it was espresso.

 When I mixed it, the mug contents looked like a nice thick sludge! I didn't want to have any grainy bits in the batter so I thought it best to liquefy the espresso first.

I also made sure to thoroughly beat in the eggs first before adding the milks, vanilla, and cooled melted butter.

I love the look of these!

And that crust too!!!

The texture looked more "airy" and light than my previous batch. Bert thought it was much softer.

Since I used espresso, the flavor was a bit stronger. I would even probably add a tiny bit more espresso!

Here's the recipe again...

Mocha Mochi Cake
(recipe courtesy of weekofmenus)

Ingredients
1 1lb box of Mochiko sweet rice flour
2 1/2 cups of sugar (I said I'd reduce the amount of sugar last time, but I didn't!!!)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 14 oz can of coconut milk (the Chaokoh brand is 13.5)
1 12 oz can of evaporated milk
7 tbsp of instant coffee (or 4-5 tbsp of instant espresso)
5 large eggs
1 stick of butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F
Butter a 9 x13 baking pan
In a large bowl whisk together the first  5 ingredients
Dissolve the espresso in a mug with 1/4 cup of hot water and set aside
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, add the two milks, coffee/espresso,  vanilla extract and melted butter
Mix to blend
Carefully pour the wet ingredients over the mochiko flour mixture and whisk until smooth
Pour batter into 9 x 13 pan, making sure it is uniform and level
Bake for 90 minutes (I ended up shaving off 5 minutes off the bake time)
Allow to cool 30 minutes before cutting into squares

Here's my first attempt from last week.

I liked this recipe even more the second time around!  Kirbie also made the suggestion of using Espresso Powder and recommended the brand sold by Williams Sonoma. I will have to try that next time I visit Fashion Valley.