Mocha Mochi Cake

Cripes! Look how cold it was this morning!

I woke up bright and early to try a new mochi recipe. Here is the delicious end result, a few hours later.

(ugh, dry skin!)

The process was not without some drama though...


I was meeting some friends for lunch today and thought I'd whip up this new mochi recipe I found online. Unfortunately, I misread the directions and I wrongly substituted one of the ingredients.

The recipe called for instant coffee but in parentheses, the author wrote, "I used decaf, but you can use regular". I misinterpreted that as 'regular coffee' and not instant.  I know, DUH ON ME. Frack!  So, when I did the wet ingredients in a separate bowl, I dumped teaspoonful after teaspoonful of Bert's French Roast coffee ground and saw that it was NOT dissolving. As Yosemite Sam would say, "What in TARNATION!"!!!

Bert was kind enough to pop over to our local Fresh & Easy to get the only instant coffee they had, plus more eggs as well as coconut milk. I was mad at myself for wasting the wet ingredients. Shite.

So here is the missing ingredient...

The dry ingredients that I mixed earlier.

Here's the wet ingredients bowl. That's seven tablespoons worth of instant coffee in there dudes.

Those damn instant coffee granules didn't dissolve that easily! See my note at the end of post.


Cut into nice and neat squares by Bert.


Enjoy!

Mocha Mochi Cake
(recipe courtesy of weekofmenus)

Ingredients
1 1lb box of Mochiko sweet rice flour
2 1/2 cups of sugar (I think I would reduce the amount next time I make this)
1/3 cup cocoa powder (I used Trader Joe's)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 14 oz can of coconut milk (the Chaokoh brand is 13.5 but small difference!)
1 12 oz can of evaporated milk
7 tbsp of instant coffee
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
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, add the two milks, coffee granules, vanilla extract and melted butter
Mix to blend until the coffee granules are almost all dissolved
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 (I didn't have that much time so I put the pan in the fridge for ten minutes to cool it down slightly. It was still hot but I was in a rush!)

I loved the crackly top crust and the dark and slightly chewy middle!

* A note about the coffee granules. Next time I make this, I think I want to dissolve them first before throwing them into those wet ingredients. The wet mix didn't dissolve the coffee easily and I resorted to desperate measures such as pressing the coffee with a slotted spoon and trying to crush them against the bowl. Not very successful. Then, I poured the mix over a mesh strainer and then pressed the non crushed solids through the mesh. That way, the mix wouldn't be grainy.  Anyhow, it all came out well and  I am ready to try this recipe again.

The recipe can also be found at:

CookingHawaiianStyle

Colorado foodblogger UseRealButter's version is all chocolate and no coffee at all! Her recipe uses less eggs and sugar and instead of cocoa, she uses melted semi-sweet chocolate chips. (I've been following her blog since 2008 and she has the most gorgeous photographs and detailed posts.)

The verdict - Bert liked the consistency of the baked batter. It wasn't overly "chewy" and the coffee flavor came through. He also liked the side crust, like me. I particularly liked how the top crust looked. It smelled so good when I was baking it this morning...I was freaking out because the delay in making the second batch of wet ingredients wasted about 30 minutes.

Luckily, I made it in time to meet up with friends and fellow bloggers up North this morning...