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Chewy mochi flavored with vanilla and turned into a cake. This is an easy way to make mochi and is a great dessert to bring to a party or potluck.

One of my favorite things to make is mochi and my newest is this vanilla mochi. If you’ve never had mochi cake, it’s a sweet treat that has a chewy texture. It’s made with glutinous rice flour which is what gives the cake its chewy texture.

I love vanilla bean desserts. And I love seeing the little specks of vanilla bean, especially in ice cream. But vanilla beans are expensive so I normally don’t bake with them, instead opting to use extract.

Then I found out about vanilla bean paste, which is a blend of the two, and contains real vanilla beans so that when you use it, you will have little flecks in your desserts. The taste of the vanilla bean paste is stronger than extract too.

I purchased LorAnn Extracts Natural Madagascar Vanilla Bean Paste* on Amazon and it comes in a little bottle. You use it just like you would extract, so a little bottle lasts quite a while.

After my paste arrived, I thought about what I wanted to bake. I wanted something that would show off the flecks. Week of Menus has made a vanilla bean mochi cake, I didn’t use the same mochi recipe. Instead, I stuck to the mochi cake recipe I usually use, but I got the idea from her.

Ingredients

Melted unsalted butter
Vanilla bean paste
Sugar
Eggs
Baking powder
Mochiko flour
Evaporated milk

Recipe Steps

Cream the butter and sugar until it’s light and fluffy. Add the evaporated milk and continue beating until combined.

Add the eggs and beat them into the batter and then add the rice flour, baking powder, and vanilla bean paste.

Pour the batter into a prepared pan and bake the mochi for one hour or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before serving.

Store the vanilla mochi in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days. Don’t keep it in the refrigerator because it will harden and lose its chewy texture.

I love the little specks which show when you cut the mochi into squares. The vanilla flavor comes out wonderfully with this paste. I can’t want to make more vanilla bean desserts.

You might like to try my butter mochi and mochi brownies, too.

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