Kreamy Vegan

Do you want to take your songpyeon-making to the next level? There are so many different shapes and methods you can try for rice cake recipes, and I enjoy making them in a lot of creative ways. One of the easiest ways to make songpyeon even more beautiful is to put some decor on the original songpyeon shape.

If you want to learn how to make basic songpyeon, you can read my previous blog Making Songpyeon for Chuseok to start 🙂 You can also learn more about Chuseok on my blog.

I love how beautiful they are while keeping their true identity of having a half-moon shape. I see some modern songpyeon shapes that are in animals or even smiley faces, and while they are indeed creative, I don’t get the feeling of traditional songpyeon and what we used to eat in Cheuseok. I do love some other natural motives shapes like leaves, flowers, pumpkins, and fruits though. You can see how I make some other shapes in this post.

Tools you need

Cake Tools 36 Piece Fondant Cake Cookie Plunger Shape Decorating Mold

To decorate your songpyeon, you need cake tools. An icing plunger tool works just perfectly for stamping out some pieces of rice cake. I love this set because this has a lot of themes that I need – flowers, hearts, butterflies, and even snow for the winter!

Coloring you need for Rice Cake Recipe

Using natural pigment powders, such as purple sweet potato powder, in your food provides several advantages over chemical pigments. First of all, natural pigments are derived from real food sources, like fruits, vegetables, or herbs. They contain no synthetic additives, preservatives, or harmful chemicals that may be present in some chemical pigments. This makes them a healthier option for consumption. And natural powder comes from colorful fruits and vegetables that are rich in essential nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Using purple sweet potato powder, for example, not only adds a vibrant hue to your food but also introduces beneficial compounds like anthocyanins, which have antioxidant properties. Lastly, they can contribute subtle flavors to your dishes, enhancing the overall taste of the food.

Starter Bundle 4 Pack – 3 Powders (Blue, Pink & Purple) & Rose Petals Bloom

This starter bundle of 4 packs that have blue, pink, and purple colors as well as rose petals is a great way to start naturally decorating your food!

Anthony’s California Spirulina Powder

For the green color in my food, I use just a tiny bit of spirulina powder and it gives a beautiful vibrant green pigment and extra nutrition! In this rice cake recipe, I use both mugwort and spirulina powder. I usually buy my mugwort powder from Korea, and I love the smell and taste of it as I grew up eating it. But if you struggle to find mugwort powder from where you live, you can substitute it with spirulina powder.

Kreamy Vegan

Flowers on Songpyeon

Add a little flower on your songpyeon to make it more fun!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

White songpyeon ingredients

• 200 g Rice flour
• 2 g Salt
• 160 ml Hot water 2/3 cup

Green songpyeon ingredients

• 200 g Rice flour
• 2 g Mugwort powder
• 1 g Spirulina powder
• 2 g Salt
• 180 ml Hot water 2/3 cup

Yellow dough (for decoration)

• 50 g Rice flour
• 1/8 tsp Turmeric
• 20 ml Hot water

Pink dough (for decoration)

• 50 g Rice flour
• 1 g Beetroot powder
• 20 ml Hot water

Fillings

• 1/2 cup Sesame seeds Roasted and half-ground
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 2/3 cup Roasted soybean powder
• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 tbsp Date syrup

Method

 

How to prepare dough

1. Mix salt and rice flour. To make green songpyeon, add the mugwort and spirulina powder now.
2. Bring the water to a boil, and put hot water bit by bit on the rice flour. Mix the rice flour thoroughly with a spatula as you put hot water so every part of the rice flour gets moisturized.
3. Knead the dough for 10 minutes once the flour gets clumped. Put the dough inside a container and let it rest for 20 minutes. In the meantime, make fillings.
4. Shape the dough into a songpyeon. To do so, please find detailed instructions below.*

How to make fillings

1. Roast the sesame seeds in a pan or put them in the oven for 15 minutes at 160 Celsius or 320 Fahrenheit. It will turn into a golden color.
2. Cool the sesame seeds and grind them until half of the sesame seeds are broken and half of them are intact.
3. Mix the sesame seeds, sugar, soybean powder, salt, and 1/4 of a teaspoon.

How to shape & decorate Songpyeon

1. Divide the dough into 20 grams each.
2. Roll the dough into a ball.
3. Flatten the ball into a small disk, and place a small amount of your desired filling. Usually, a 1/3 teaspoon will work.
4. Carefully fold the dough over the filling to encase it, then pinch the edges together to seal it.
5. Dip your fingers in some water if the dough starts to crack.
6. Shape it into a half-moon shape.
7. Take a small piece of purple or pink dough to make flowers. Take the flower-shaped plunge cutter tool, and make flowers.
8. Put the pink flower on your white songpyeon.
9. Take a small piece of dough, and add a dash of turmeric to make yellow dough. Take a very tiny dough and make it into a ball. Put it on the center part of the flower. 
10. Repeat the same process for the green songpyeon. I like to put white flowers on the green songpyeon for a beautiful contrast of the colors, so make white flowers with a plunge cutter and put a small yellow ball in the center of the white flower.

And there you have it, beautiful decorative songpyeon. Try this rice cake recipe. If you serve this on the table, people will be amazed at your cooking skill that you make not only delicious songpyeon but a beautiful one. I can’t wait to surprise my parents when they visit me in Norway this Sunday. Wish you all a wonderful Cheuseok with your friends and family!

Did you enjoy this decorative songpyeon recipe? Then you would love my blog post on how to shape rice cakes into flowers, leaves, and even pumpkins!

Decorative Rice Cake Recipe Part 2 | Flowers, leaves, pumpkin shapes