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Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Butter Mochi (Hawaiʻi Local Mochiko Coconut Cake)
Created by
A chewy, golden Hawaiʻi Local square from mochiko, butter, and coconut milk, baked in one pan until the edges pull crisp and the middle stays tender.
Desserts
Polynesian, Hawaiian
Potluck
Comfort Food
Make Ahead
15 min
Active Time
1 hr cook•1 hr 15 min total
Yield24 squares
The table I grew up at had the deep foods on one side and the Local sweets on the other, and nobody had to argue which one belonged. Hawaiʻi knows how to feed people in layers. Poi and kālua puaʻa carry the old line from the loʻi and the imu, and butter mochi carries the newer line from the plantation camp, the bake sale, the church hall, the school cafeteria, the auntie who cuts every square the same size because she knows somebody is coming back for seconds.
This one is Hawaiʻi Local, not Kanaka Maoli deep food, and that matters. Mochiko, sweet rice flour from Japanese mochi tradition, met butter, eggs, milk, sugar, and coconut in the kitchens of Hawaiʻi, where Portuguese malasadas, Okinawan andagi, Chinese gau, Filipino hopia, and guava chiffon all found their place beside rice, plate lunch, and the old canoe crops. One island, many hands. That's Local.
Across the Triangle, our cousins have their own starch-and-coconut sweets: Tahiti has poʻe, the Cook Islands has poke, Sāmoa has panipopo, Tonga has faikakai. Butter mochi is not those dishes, and we don't blur them. Same ocean, different tables. This one belongs to Hawaiʻi's everyday table, chewy in the middle, golden at the edge, easy to carry in a pan, and always enough for one more.
Butter mochi grew out of Hawaiʻi's Local foodways in the twentieth century, especially the Japanese American use of mochiko, sweet glutinous rice flour, in home baking and community potlucks. It belongs to the post-contact, multiethnic table of Hawaiʻi, not the pre-contact deep-food line of kalo, ʻulu, imu, and poi. Its place beside malasadas, andagi, gau, hopia, and shave ice shows how Hawaiʻi took immigrant bakery traditions and made them ordinary family food.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
mochiko sweet rice flour
Quantity
1 box (16 ounces)
granulated sugar
Quantity
2 cups
baking powder
Quantity
2 teaspoons
fine sea salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
large eggs
Quantity
4
coconut milk
Quantity
1 can (13.5 ounces)
well shaken
evaporated milk
Quantity
1 can (12 ounces)
unsalted butter
Quantity
1/2 cup
melted and cooled slightly
vanilla extract
Quantity
2 teaspoons
butter or neutral oil
Quantity
for the pan
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| mochiko sweet rice flour | 1 box (16 ounces) |
| granulated sugar | 2 cups |
| baking powder | 2 teaspoons |
| fine sea salt | 1/2 teaspoon |
| large eggs | 4 |
| coconut milkwell shaken | 1 can (13.5 ounces) |
| evaporated milk | 1 can (12 ounces) |
| unsalted buttermelted and cooled slightly | 1/2 cup |
| vanilla extract | 2 teaspoons |
| butter or neutral oil | for the pan |
Equipment Needed
- •9-by-13-inch baking pan
- •Large mixing bowl
- •Whisk
- •Thin sharp knife for cutting squares
Instructions
- 1
Ready the pan
Heat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan well, right into the corners, because the edges are where butter mochi gets that golden chew everybody reaches for first.
- 2
Mix the dry
In a large bowl, whisk the mochiko, sugar, baking powder, and salt until the flour looks even and loose. Mochiko clumps easy, so break up the little lumps now. No need make fancy, just make it smooth.
- 3
Mix the wet
In another bowl, whisk the eggs until blended, then whisk in the coconut milk, evaporated milk, melted butter, and vanilla. The mixture should look pale and glossy, with the butter fully carried through instead of floating on top.
- 4
Make the batter
Pour the wet mixture into the dry and whisk until the batter is smooth and pourable, like thick cream. Scrape the bottom of the bowl where dry mochiko likes to hide. If you leave pockets there, they bake up chalky, and no blame the mochi for that.
- 5
Bake it golden
Pour the batter into the pan and tap it once on the counter to settle the surface. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until the top is golden, the edges pull lightly from the pan, and the center is set with a gentle spring. A tester may come out a little tacky. That's the chew, not raw batter.
If the top browns too fast before the center sets, lay foil loosely over the pan for the last 10 to 15 minutes. - 6
Cool and cut
Let the butter mochi cool fully in the pan before cutting. Warm from the oven it tears and drags; cooled, it cuts into clean squares with shiny sides and a soft chew. Wipe the knife between cuts if you want neat potluck pieces.
Chef Tips
- •Use mochiko, not regular rice flour. Mochiko is sweet glutinous rice flour, and that sticky rice structure is what gives butter mochi its bounce.
- •Canned coconut milk is right for this Hawaiʻi Local register. Fresh coconut cream carries the soul in some western island foods, but butter mochi is a home-pantry bake, and the can belongs here.
- •Eat what you have. Some families add shredded coconut, matcha, lilikoi, or cocoa. That's the Local table talking, not a rulebook.
Advance Preparation
- •Bake butter mochi up to 2 days ahead, cool it fully, cover the pan tightly, and keep it at room temperature if your kitchen is cool.
- •For longer storage, refrigerate the cut squares in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Let them come back to room temperature before serving so the chew softens.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 49g)
Calories
170 calories
Total Fat
6 g
Saturated Fat
4 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
2 g
Cholesterol
45 mg
Sodium
120 mg
Total Carbohydrates
28 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
19 g
Protein
3 g
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