Hello, my lovely readers! Thanksgiving is here today, and to celebrate, I wanted to share a wonderful warm dessert recipe with you. This is a great dessert to serve not only on Thanksgiving but also on other holidays like Christmas and New Year’s, if not throughout the whole chilly season. That is, the pumpkin butter mochi recipe! This is a Hawaiian dessert recipe with kabocha, and it is not only easy to make but also so delicious and wonderful!
With no further ado, let me introduce you to what a pumpkin butter mochi is.
Introduction to Pumpkin Butter Mochi
Pumpkin butter mochi is a variation of Hawaiian butter mochi. There are many different kinds of butter mochi, such as banana, matcha, and chocolate.
🌺 About Hawaiian Butter Mochi
Butter mochi originates from Hawaii and is a Japanese-American fusion dessert. Like Japanese mochi, it uses glutinous rice flour and is infused with a rich buttery flavor like cake. The result is a chewy, buttery, rich, sweet butter mochi. It is said that this cake is always present at a celebration in Hawaii.
They are usually baked in a large shallow pan and cut into square shapes to be shared by a big group. When they are out of the oven, the top is crisp, and the inside is pillowy and chewy.
I’ve tried baking a cake, and I could certainly say it is very easy to bake a butter mochi! As there is no gluten in the rice flour (even when it says “glutinous” rice flour), the dough is so easy to work with. You only have to mix all the ingredients and put it in the oven.
🎃 About Kabocha Pumpkin
Kabocha pumpkin, or kabocha squash, is a small pumpkin with green bumpy skin that is a popular ingredient in East Asia. The pumpkin has a creamy and dense texture and sweet and nutty flavors. Kabocha makes a great ingredient for the fall and the winter for its comforting flavors, like this kabocha squash bake.
We are going to use this kabocha to make the pumpkin butter mochi. If you can’t find a kabocha pumpkin, a regular pumpkin puree in a can could work too!
Tips for Making Pumpkin Butter Mochi
🔥 Use Ovenware for Liquid Batter
Unlike making mochi (rice cake) or cake that looks like a thick batter, butter mochi has a runny, liquid batter. So to make this pumpkin butter mochi, you need ovenware that is suitable for a liquid batter. It should not have any holes! Also, it’s recommended to use wide and shallow ovenware. I used a 23-cm (9-inch) diameter round cake tin for this recipe.
Adding Pumpkin for Pumpkin Butter Mochi
To make this delicious pumpkin butter mochi, you can use either pumpkin powder or pumpkin puree.
I often use pumpkin powder to make pumpkin butter mochi or other pumpkin rice cake recipes!
Pumpkin Powder
I have 100% kabocha pumpkin powder I bought from Korea. I have pure kabocha pumpkin powder at all times with me because there are many recipes that you can use with the pumpkin powder!
You can also find pumpkin powder on Amazon, like this Z Natural Foods Organic Pumpkin Powder. It is versatile, 100% pure, healthy, and easy to use in recipes! 🥰
Pumpkin Puree
You can also use pumpkin puree for this recipe, which you can either buy at a store in a can or make it yourself at home. If you can find seasonal pumpkins at a grocery store, that’s great! You can microwave the pumpkin for about 10 minutes to cook. Microwave for longer if needed.
If the pumpkins are not in season, using pumpkin puree is a great way to use a recipe with pumpkins. They usually have consistent quality and sweetness in check, so pumpkin puree in a can is also a good choice for the recipe. They also have a very long shelf life! So I usually buy a pack of pumpkin puree cans and make a lot of pumpkin recipes throughout the year.
Variations and Substitutions for Pumpkin Butter Mochi
There are many variations of the butter mochi. But even within the pumpkin butter mochi, there are many ways to make the pumpkin butter mochi. Let’s take a look!
1. Making Vegan Pumpkin Butter Mochi
There are cream, milk, and eggs for the butter mochi recipe like any other cake recipe. You can totally substitute regular cream and milk for any type of plant-based cream and milk. The only tricky part here is the eggs; there are 4 eggs in the recipe, which helps with the pillowy texture of the butter mochi. But fear you not! I have the vegan version for all of my fellow vegan friends. I have a perfect egg substitute for the vegan pumpkin butter mochi in the recipe below—that is, chickpea flour!
2. Adding Toppings
Add toppings that will go great with vegan pumpkin butter mochi. You can add the slices of kabocha pumpkins to the pumpkin butter mochi! There is a type of rice cake called yeong-yang tteok in Korea where you add a variety of other toppings like beans, sweet potatoes, chestnuts, and dried fruits. So I added slices of sweet potato and some sweet peas to decorate the pumpkin butter mochi. The orange and green colors went very well with the yellow pumpkin butter mochi.
3. Using different Cake pans
To make it more fun, I used a round cake tin to make the pumpkin butter mochi! When the butter mochi is out of the oven, it sizzles and makes a beautiful crispy top, which is beautiful on its own. It looks better as a “pumpkin cake” to me, and it worked alright! So you could try that as well. 🥰
How to Serve Pumpkin Butter Mochi
1. Serve It with Tea or Coffee
Try this pumpkin butter mochi with a cup of coffee or tea. Coffee goes well with nearly any dessert, surprisingly enough! But as this is a type of pumpkin mochi, a dessert with a Japanese touch, I recommend it with a cup of green tea. The nutty and deep flavor of pumpkin goes well with the earthy green tea. I have a whole lot of green tea or matcha recipes on my blog if you want to check them out!
2. Serve It with Bean Paste & Whipped Cream
You can serve this pumpkin butter mochi with some whipped cream, or even better, the bean paste—aka anko in Japanese. Anko is a bean paste that can be made with either azuki beans or white beans. I shared my azuki bean anko recipe here on my blog, as it is difficult to find good anko outside of Korea or Japan. If you can get your hands on Anko, it is so great with the pumpkin butter mochi!
Depending on the pumpkin you are using, the mochi can get more bright orange! I love the vivid color.
Pumpkin Butter Mochi | Easy Hawaiian Kabocha Dessert Recipe
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Prepare a big bowl and mix all the dry ingredients.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- In a separate big bowl for baking, prepare wet ingredients. Make sure the butter is melted and mix in with the cream. Add the rest of the wet ingredients and mix well.
- Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix while you are adding the wet ingredients, so they are all well incorporated. Do not worry about overmixing.
- Once all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, pour the mixture into ovenware or a cake tin. I used a 23-cm (9-inch) cake pan, which I greased with butter beforehand. Make sure you are using a cake pan with no hole as the batter is liquid.
- Bring the cake pan into the oven. Bake for 1 hour.
- After an hour of baking, take it out of the oven. Cool it completely before taking it out of the pan. The cake will shrink and harden as it cools down.
- Take the cake out of the pan and place it on a plate.
- Serve it with Anko or whipped cream. Enjoy!
Summary of Pumpkin Butter Mochi
I hope you enjoyed the pumpkin butter mochi recipe! This soft, pillowy, chewy butter mochi has a texture that cannot be compared with anything else—it’s something in between the rice cake, mochi, and plump pudding. The crust on top creates a crispy texture that makes an interesting addition to the butter mochi. Not only that, this pumpkin butter mochi has a gorgeous color and taste of pumpkin too. All of these combined together make it the best fall dessert recipe.
I will see you again with another delicious post! Until then, I wish you a great holiday.
My Other Recipes You Might Like
Banana Butter Mochi Recipe | Easy Hawaiian Dessert
Try this sweet, soft, chewy butter mochi recipe that is perfect for any celebration! With ripe banana and coconut cream, it uses less sugar and fat, too. 🍌🥥
Vanilla Matcha Latte Recipe | Japanese matcha Drink Recipe
This vanilla matcha latte recipe is a beautiful green tea matcha drink recipe! You’ll fall in love with the earthy, round, slightly bitter, and sweet flavors.💚
Easy Korean Mugwort Rice Cake Recipe | Jeolpyeon with Honey!
Out of many Korean mugwort rice cake recipes, this is the easiest one to follow! Dip it with honey, sesame oil, or date syrup. So chewy and yummy. Learn more.
Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you if you choose to purchase the recommended product. The support allows me to research and continue working to provide the best information for you. Please rest assured that I only give my honest opinions and recommendations.
Leave a Reply