Vegan Butter Mochi Cake (with Matcha option!)
Feb 23, 2022 • Updated Jun 20, 2023
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This vegan Matcha Butter Mochi Cake is a chewy, soft, and sweet Hawaiian dessert that’s also rich, buttery, and so delicious! It’s an easy recipe to make at home and a delicious vegan alternative!
What is Hawaiian Butter Mochi Cake?
Butter mochi cake is a Hawaiian dessert. It’s something in between a Japanese mochi and a Filipino bibingka (two cultures omnipresent in Hawaii!). I’m not Hawaiian but know many Hawaiian-Japanese people, and this is one of my all-time favourite recipes that I’ve shared with them. It’s probably because I love all things mochi.
This mochi cake is a Hawaiian dessert staple. It’s super stretchy and chewy but also rich and buttery. Usually, the cake has a subtle coconut flavour, with toasted coconut on top for some crunch. It’s almost like a blondie but with a more fun texture and a lot more depth of flavour.
What Makes This Recipe Great
The traditional Hawaiian recipe for butter mochi cake is not at all vegan. It’s usually made with evaporated milk or whole milk, eggs, real butter, and a lot of sugar. My recipe is just as delicious as the original, without any eggs or dairy! Plus, it’s totally gluten-free!
I flavoured this mochi cake with Matcha because I love matcha, and it adds a really lovely flavour. You can make it with or without it; it will taste absolutely delicious either way!
I highly recommend sticking to the recipe for the best results with this cake. After all, this is a treat, you want it to taste good, and texture is key! Without further ado, let’s make mochi cake!
Ingredient Notes
Here’s what you’ll need to make a lightened-up, dairy-free version that’s just as buttery and delicious:
- Canned Coconut Milk: Instead of evaporated or dairy milk, coconut milk gives the signature coconut flavour and richness without the dairy. Coconut milk cannot be replaced unless you’re going to use dairy milk (you need the fat and richness for this cake).
- Silken tofu: This replaces the eggs and has a super fluffy, soft texture. Since it stands in for the egg, if you prefer to omit the tofu, I would use real eggs, or you can try another egg replacement (I haven’t tested this).
- Vegan butter: Instead of dairy-based butter. You could also use coconut oil.
- Organic sugar: I’m using less sugar than classic recipes (trust me, it’s still just as delicious).
- Matcha: If you prefer a pure coconut/vanilla flavor, you can leave this out. You definitely want to use ceremonial-grade matcha for the best colour and flavour. And do be sure to sift it first so that it doesn’t clump/lump into the batter.
- Glutinous rice flour/Sweet rice flour: This is the key to the chewy, stretchy texture. I like the Koda Farms brand.
- Vanilla bean paste: This is a tasty compliment to coconut and matcha flavours. You can also use pure vanilla extract in a pinch.
- Baking powder: To help your mochi cake get nice and puffy.
- Unsweetened shredded coconut & Chopped pistachios: Optional for garnish.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350.
- Line and grease a 10×10 square baking pan with parchment paper, then vegan butter or coconut oil.
- First, we’re going to break down the tofu. You can do this in a food processor or simply pass it through a sieve to get a nice, smooth liquid!
- Next, melt the butter over low heat in a saucepan. Once the butter is mostly melted, remove from heat, add the sugar, coconut milk, tofu, vanilla bean paste, or extract, and whisk until evenly incorporated. Don’t whisk too vigorously–avoid creating too many bubbles! Set the wet ingredients aside.
- In a large bowl, sift in your dry ingredients–matcha powder, glutinous rice flour, baking powder, and salt. Add your melted butter mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until completely smooth.
- Transfer your mixture to your prepared pan and tap the pan on a hard surface to remove any air bubbles. If desired, cover the surface with your pistachio and coconut mixture.
- Bake in the oven for 1 hour, until the surface is golden brown. Let cool completely, then cut into small squares. Traditionally, it is cut into 24 pieces!
Secrets to Success
- Where to Find Glutinous Rice Flour (Mochiko flour): You can find mochiko or glutinous rice flour at Japanese grocery stores and even Safeway or Whole Foods in the ethnic/Asian section. I recommend the Koda Farms brand, it’s a family-owned Japanese brand my grandma always uses. Traditionally the recipe is made with 1 box of mochiko, which is about a pound. And no, you cannot replace this with regular white rice flour or other rice flour, it must be this sweet, glutinous rice flour to achieve the right texture! You can also order it on Amazon!
- Alternative Flavors: The great part about mochi is that you can flavor them in dozens of delicious ways. For example, other common flavours include ube, chocolate, and fruit or berry flavors.
- Recipe Tips: Keep these key tips in mind when making your matcha mochi cake.
- Don’t be shy with the butter or greasing of the pan for easy removal.
- Make sure the tofu is blended or pushed through a sieve so it’s superfine with no lumps.
- Be patient, and make sure you get all lumps out of the batter before baking. It’s worth it, I promise!
- If you want to add coconut or pistachio on top of the cake, do so before baking, as it helps it stick to the surface.
- Let cool COMPLETELY before cutting.
Storage Suggestions
- I recommend storing leftover cake at room temperature in an airtight container. It will be good for one to three days. If you refrigerate, the mochi texture will harden up.
- I do not recommend freezing this mochi cake.
More Japanese Dessert Recipes
Kashiwa Mochi (Japanese Rice Cake with Oak Leaf)
Zenzai (Sweet Red Bean Soup with Mochi) | Vegan Japanese Dessert‘
If you make this recipe, be sure to let me know what you think with a comment below! Follow me on Instagram for more delicious recipes!
Vegan Butter Mochi Cake (with Matcha option!)
Ingredients
- 3-5 oz silken tofu
- 1/4 cup vegan butter or use coconut oil
- 1 cup organic cane sugar
- 2 cans full-fat coconut milk or evaporated coconut milk
- 1 lb glutinous rice flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 1 tbsp ceremonial grade matcha powder
- 1/4 tsp salt kosher
- 2 tbsp pistachios finely chopped
- 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350.
- Line and grease a 10x10 square baking pan with parchment paper, then vegan butter or coconut oil.
- First, we're going to break down the tofu. You can do this in a food processor or simply pass it through a sieve to get a nice, smooth liquid!
- Next, melt the butter over low heat in a saucepan. Once the butter is mostly melted, remove from heat, add the sugar, coconut milk, tofu, vanilla bean paste, or extract, and whisk until evenly incorporated. Don't whisk too vigorously--avoid creating too many bubbles! Set the wet ingredients aside.
- In a large bowl, sift in your dry ingredients--matcha powder, glutinous rice flour, baking powder, and salt. Add your melted butter mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until completely smooth.
- Transfer your mixture to your prepared pan and tap the pan on a hard surface to remove any air bubbles. If desired, cover the surface with your pistachio and coconut mixture.
- Bake in the oven for 1 hour, until the surface is golden brown. Let cool completely, then cut into small squares. Traditionally, it is cut into 24 pieces!
Notes
Secrets to Success
- Where to Find Glutinous Rice Flour (Mochiko flour): You can find mochiko or glutinous rice flour at Japanese grocery stores and even Safeway or Whole Foods in the ethnic/Asian section. I recommend the Koda Farms brand, it's a family-owned Japanese brand my grandma always uses. Traditionally the recipe is made with 1 box of mochiko, which is about a pound. And no, you cannot replace this with regular white rice flour or other rice flour, it must be this sweet, glutinous rice flour to achieve the right texture! You can also order it on Amazon!
- Alternative Flavors: The great part about mochi is that you can flavor them in dozens of delicious ways. For example, other common flavours include ube, chocolate, and fruit or berry flavors.
- Recipe Tips: Keep these key tips in mind when making your matcha mochi cake.
-
- Don't be shy with the butter or greasing of the pan for easy removal.
- Make sure the tofu is blended or pushed through a sieve so it's superfine with no lumps.
- Be patient, and make sure you get all lumps out of the batter before baking. It's worth it, I promise!
- If you want to add coconut or pistachio on top of the cake, do so before baking, as it helps it stick to the surface.
- Let cool COMPLETELY before cutting.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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