For Shuai Wang, chef at Short Grain, Jackrabbit Filly, and King BBQ in Charleston, South Carolina, mochi is his all-time favorite sweet treat, reminding him of holidays with family. Wang’s second favorite dessert? Classic Southern pecan pie. This Hawaiian-style butter mochi cake combines the best qualities of both. It has all the nutty richness you expect from pecan pie filling, plus any cloying sweetness gets tempered by the miso.
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What you’ll need
Sweet Rice Flour
$2.99 At Weee!
9" Round Cake Pan
$16 At Amazon
Wire Cooling Rack
$18 At Amazon
Rimmed Baking Sheet
$32 At Amazon
French Wire Whisk
$18 At Amazon
Rubber Spatula
$13 At Amazon
Recipe information
Total Time
1 hour 30 minutes
Yield
10–12 servings
Ingredients
Pecans
8
2
1
2
Cake and Assembly
6
2
1¼
1
1
2
1⅔
1
Preparation
Pecans
Step 1
Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 350°. Lightly oil a rimmed baking sheet with vegetable oil. Using your hands, toss 8 oz. raw pecans, coarsely chopped (about 2 cups), 2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup, 1 Tbsp. sugar, and 2 tsp. white or yellow miso in a medium bowl until well coated. Spread out on prepared baking sheet; bake until fragrant and matte looking, 6–8 minutes (nuts won’t be fully toasted). Let cool.
Cake and Assembly
Step 2
Lightly grease a 9"-diameter cake pan with unsalted butter and line bottom with a parchment paper round. Vigorously whisk 2 large eggs, 1¼ cups (250 g) sugar, and 1 tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt in a large bowl until smooth. Add one 13.5-oz. can unsweetened coconut milk, well shaken, heated slightly if fat is solid, 2 tsp. vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract, and 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted, slightly cooled, and whisk well. Add 1⅔ cups (254 g) mochiko and 1 tsp. baking powder; whisk vigorously until combined and batter is smooth and thick. Scrape batter into prepared pan.
Step 3
Toss pecans to break up any clumps and scatter evenly over batter, going all the way to the edges (it may seem like a lot). Bake cake until sides start to pull away from pan, top is golden brown, and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean (some pecans will sink), 50–55 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cake cool in pan 15 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack; peel away parchment and discard. Carefully turn cake right side up and let cool completely (at least 1 hour).
Step 4
To serve, slice cake and top with scoops of vanilla ice cream.
How would you rate Miso-and-Maple-Pecan Butter Mochi Cake?
Leave a Review
Reviews (9)
Back to TopGood cake! I cooked the nut mixture on the stove so I could keep an eye on it. Did not cook all the way to candied but they would be good in a salad or with yogurt that way. I was ready with my foil after reading the reviews and didn’t need it. Tastes like pecan pie. A little cinnamon might be nice.
Karen
Birmingham, MI
5/19/2024
This was PHENOMENAL and my family cannot stop eating it. It has a delightful texture and is not too sweet. I read the reviews and was apprehensive for no reason. Do not roast the pecans for more than 6 minutes and the cake is done around 45 minutes, if it’s set- your skewer may not come out clean but it will turn out fine. I turned my oven off after 40 minutes and let it sit in the oven for 5-10 more minutes and it was absolutely perfect. The sides pulled away as it cooled. My only change was to sub about 1/2 cup maple syrup for some of the sugar in the batter because I wanted to use it up. Otherwise I followed the recipe to the letter and it really was excellent. I love everything the Wangs do!
Alison
Charleston, SC living in Phoenix, AZ!
12/27/2023
I was really underwhelmed by this. The pecan topping was delicious, but the cake? Meh.
Carol
New York
12/9/2023
There is something wrong with the rice flour measurement… the grams to cup ratio is off and the cake doesn’t turn out as pictured… also, toasting the pecans as directed doesn’t work well with the time it requires to bake the cake, the pecans will burn due to the sugar and maple mixture and it just doesn’t work… I don’t recommend this cake at all
Anonymous
Brooklyn, NY
11/27/2023
I'll preface this by saying I originally made the recipe as written, save for a few tips from the comments here about how to not burn the pecans during the cook. My first attempt went well and tasted great! However, it wasn't even close to the picture, or consistency you'd normally expect. To remedy: Cook the cake without the pecans. It will brown perfectly and slightly collapse during cooling so that there is a crevice for the pecans to sit in. Toast the pecans for 6 minutes before taking them out to cool, adding the sugar, miso, and syrup, mixing, and adding them back into the oven for another 4-6 minutes. Do this only after your cake has come out of the oven. Spread your cooked nut mixture over the cake as it cools in the pan. The nuts will*roughly* adhere to the cake. The should solve the nut issue, and the consistency issue. I'd share a picture if I could but the difference for me was truly night and day. Other changes for taste: I subbed brown sugar throughout the recipe. I baked for roughly 60 minutes to achieve a slightly more firm consistency without adding extra flour. I subbed out half of the coconut milk for regular milk to cut down on coconut flavor (all purely optional). Either way, it worked for me. Your mileage may vary. Sorry for the long comment!
Mr. Midwest
11/25/2023
Made this exactly as written and it turned out perfectly! Just keep an eye on the pecans in the first step and you'll be ok. Mochi cake is SUPPOSED to be a little gooey/bouncy/chewy! If that's not your thing, you won't like this cake.
Anonymous
Nyc
11/22/2023
Planning on making this tomorrow for Thanksgiving prep day. I am curious as 2 reviews were stating rice flour mixture was off and made it a goey mess. The other 3 reviews were really good. Can anyone let me know how I can minimize the texture part being goey?
torger
11/21/2023