Custardy Apricot Vegan Sweet Corn Mochi Cake
Rich and sweet with a soft, custard-like texture, it’s time to celebrate corn season with this vegan sweet corn mochi cake. The warm sweetness of summer corn is the star of the show, sharing the stage with apricots for added fruity sweetness. The thick, silky texture with the chewiness of the crust is thanks to glutenous rice flour (the main ingredient in mochi). Bake up this cake and store it in cute little squares, each piece adorned with a soft and shiny apricot and peppered with corn kernels. Happy Corn Season!
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All About Mochi Cake
Mochi cake has been growing in popularity over the last couple years. It’s a dessert that has its origins in Hawaiian butter mochi, a creamy, buttery dessert popular across the islands of Hawaii. Traditional butter mochi contains glutenous rice flour, butter, coconut milk, and sugar that’s all mixed together and baked into a dessert that is soft and chewy, with a flavor of sweet butter and coconut. The ingredients from different areas around the globe baked together is the perfect dessert to reflect the multi-cultural Hawiian Islands.
But mochi cake, which is an all-encompassing name for cake-like recipes made with sweet rice flour, isn’t exactly a cake. It’s sort of a cake and custard hybrid- a thickened custard that you pop in the oven. And because of that, it’s easier to experiment with and try different flavors and techniques. One great example of this is when Trader Joe’s came out with their boxed mochi cakes. They started with a very traditional looking mochi cake, inspired by butter mochi, but then quickly tried out an ube flavored version. Another great example is my inspiration for this recipe, which is a sweet corn mochi cake that I came across on Tiktok (okay, it was Instagram Reels, but we all know I’m too old for Tiktok). I loved the idea of using fresh summer corn to make a dessert that combined cake, cornbread, and mochi. How could I not give it a try! So here we come- vegan sweet corn mochi cake. I decided to add apricots to mine for the added fruitiness, and because I think warm and sunny flavors of corn and apricot go really well together.
The biggest problem with a vegan mochi cake is the eggs. While it’s simple to replace butter with a vegan butter, eggs are a bit of a different story since they are a lot of what gives a traditional butter mochi structure. I tried a few different methods for replacing the eggs with vegan alternatives, and in the end I found that adding some all-purpose flour to the mix was what worked the best. It wasn’t my first choice, because I really did want to keep this dessert gluten free, but really it worked much better than the other egg alternatives I tried.
I will say that now I have this recipe under my belt, I’ll be keeping my eyes out for other ways to play on a traditional butter mochi. I can’t wait to keep the mochi cakes coming!
Looking for Sweet Corn Recipes? Try one of these!
- Corn Jelly Thumbprint Masa Cookies
- Light and Brothy Vegan Corn Soup
- Tomato Masala Stuffed Spaghetti Squash with Corn
- Roasted, Fiery Pineapple Corn Salad
Looking for Fruity Vegan Cakes? Try one of these!
- Chocolate Cognac Fresh Fig Cake
- Fresh Currants Vegan Yeasted Cake
- No-Cook Vegan Pawpaw Cheesecake Recipe
- Vegan Chai Mulberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Blueberry Japanese Knotweed Vegan Bakewell Tart
- Vegan Kumquat Cake with Chocolate Ganache
- Simple Vegan Lemon Cake with Coconut and Almonds
- Easy Vegan German Apple Cake
- Pumpkin, Pecan and Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
How to Make Vegan Sweet Corn Mochi Cake
Mochi cakes are actually really simple to make, once you’ve tracked down the key ingredient. Look for glutinous rice flour, also called sweet rice flour, and sometimes by the brand name Mochiko. Make sure you are not using regular old rice flour, because it won’t give you the samo sticky, chewy, thick texture. If you are unable to find sweet rice flour in stores, you can easily find it online. Here is a seller I like.
We used dried apricots in this recipe, but in order to make them a little juicier and softer we’ve rehydrated them a bit in boiling water. Most of the apricots are going to be placed on the top of the cake, but a few will be blended together with the corn to flavor the batter.
Speaking of the corn, this recipe is really only intended for fresh summer sweet corn. I’m sure you could make it with frozen corn, but it won’t have the same sweet summer flavor. We used three cups of corn for the batter, and a little more to sprinkle on top. I found that four ears of corn is the perfect amount for three cups of corn and a little left over to sprinkle- of course if you’re ears are particularly large or small you may need to adjust. Cut the corn off the cob, measure out your three cups, and set the rest aside.
The cake batter comes together in your blender. Start with the corn, apricots, and plant-based milk and blend together into a creamy, corny milk. The rest of the ingredients can also be blended in, and the whole batter poured into a prepared 8-inch square cake pan. It should be thick enough that the corn and apricots you place on top don’t sink below the surface of the batter. I like to arrange my apricots in a 4×4 grid, so that once cooked it can be cut into 16 squares, each with an apricot in the middle.
Cook your vegan sweet corn mochi cake for 90 minutes, until the top is nicely browned. and the cake feels relatively firm. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before brushing some melted apricot jam on top to give it a shiny texture. Cut it into equal pieces. For a firmer texture, place in the fridge, for a more custardy experience eat at room temperature.
Custardy Apricot Vegan Sweet Corn Mochi Cake
Ingredients
- 20 dried apricots
- 4 ears of sweet corn
- ¼ cup plant-based milk
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup vegan butter, melted
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 cup glutenous rice flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp. apricot jam
Instructions
- Place the dried apricots in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for about 10 minute to soften. Remove from the heat, strain, and set aside. Preheat the oven to 325°F (175°C). Grease an 8x8 inch square cake tin and set aside.
- Cut the kernels off the cob of corn, measure out three cups of kernels and set aside the remaining corn for later. Add the kernels to a blender, along with four of the rehydrated apricots and the plant-based milk. Blend until smooth, and follow by adding the melted butter, sugar, and vanilla. Blend again. Add the flours, baking powder and salt, and blend until smooth.
- Transfer the batter to the greased cake tin. Sprinkle the remaining corn kernels on top of the cake. Add the apricots in four rows of four on top. Place the cake in the oven and bake for 90 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow to cool, and run a butter knife around the sides of the cake tin before flipping it onto a cooling rack. Heat the jam in a small bowl for 30 seconds in the microwave to melt. Brush the melted jam on top of the cake for a shiny finish. Cut the cake into 16 equal squares, with an apricot in the center of each piece. Store in the fridge, and enjoy!
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