Inspired by our travels to Maui, this chocolate butter mochi cake features a chewy brownie topped with peanut butter frosting and a generous amount of rainbow sprinkles.
Looking for a gluten-free brownie alternative? Or maybe you’re searching for a super moist and chewy chocolate cake?
Try this easy to make chocolate butter mochi cake!
Tin Roof Chocolate Birthday Bibingka
This fun and festive chocolate butter mochi cake was inspired by the Birthday Cake Bibingka dessert sold at Tin Roof in Maui.
It consists of chocolate mochi cake topped with peanut butter frosting and a whole lot of rainbow sprinkles!
I fell in love with this chocolate treat during my babymoon vacation in Maui last October 2019. I’ve been thinking about these since then!
What is bibingka?
Bibingka (pronounced bee-bing-kah) refers to a wide range of Filipino foods made with rice flour and coconut milk.
There are many variations of bibingka, ranging from bibingka with salted egg to bibingka made with cassava.
Bibingka is most popularly eaten during the holiday season around Christmastime. It is often translated into “sweet coconut rice cake.”
You can find “bibingka mix” at Filipino and Asian supermarkets.
It’s a mixture of rice flour, sugar, and baking powder. It is similar to a pancake mix or an all-purpose baking mix like Bisquik.
The mixture of ingredients serves as the base for many desserts, baked goods, steamed goods, and other sweet treats.
Gluten Free Brownie Alternative
Is butter mochi a cake or a brownie? It’s a little bit of both.
This gluten-free brownie alternative uses glutinous sweet rice flour instead of all-purpose flour.
The lack of gluten creates a soft, chewy, and spongy cake like texture.
Chocolate Bibingka Ingredients
Mochiko
Mochiko is the Koda Farms brand of sweet rice flour. Other brands label the same product as glutinous sweet rice flour.
If you opt for a different brand, be sure to use SWEET rice flour, not regular rice flour.
Sweet rice flour is made from glutinous rice or sticky rice. Its high starch content gives mochi butter cake that iconic chewy texture.
Whereas, regular rice flour is made from medium or long-grain rice.
Cocoa Powder and Chocolate Chips
Unsweetened cocoa powder and chocolate chips gives these butter mochi cake its chocolate flavor.
I recommend the unsweetened cocoa powder from Trader Joe’s. Recipe calls for semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips.
Butter
The unsalted butter is melted along with the chocolate chips. After slightly cooling, the liquid chocolate butter mixture is added to batter.
You could substitute margarine or other butter alternatives. But, this recipe tastes best with real deal butter!
Evaporated Milk
Evaporated milk is shelf stable milk that has been cooked to remove much of its water content. It is sometimes called “unsweetened condensed milk.”
Evaporated milk is slightly sweeter and thicker than regular milk. Whole milk or 2% milk may be used in place of canned evaporated milk.
Coconut Milk
Use full-fat canned unsweetened coconut milk. Check the label to ensure coconut is the first ingredient.
Do not use light coconut milk. Do not use the refrigerated coconut milk sold in cartons. These lighter coconut milks will not produce the same creamy results.
However, if you’d like your butter mochi even creamier… use canned coconut cream. (Stay away from cream of coconut which is a different product loaded with sugar.)
How to mix chocolate butter mochi cake
All you need are a couple bowls and good old fashioned whisk and spatula to mix this chocolate butter mochi cake batter together.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients: sweet rice flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
- In another bowl, combine wet ingredients (coconut milk, evaporated milk, and eggs). Pour into mixing bowl filled with dry ingredients.
- Melt together chocolate chips and butter in the microwave until smooth. Cool slightly. Then pour into mixing bowl with remaining batter ingredients.
- Once batter is thoroughly mixed together, pour in prepared baking pan. Bake for about an hour until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean!
Butter Mochi Cake Puffs Up During Baking
Do not be alarmed. The chocolate butter mochi cake will puff up and rise during baking.
This is normal. Once you take it out of the oven, the cake will settle and fall. Once again, totally normal.
Don’t worry if the chocolate mochi cake cracks on top. You will be covering it with peanut butter frosting!
Peanut Butter Frosting
The frosting is a simple mixture of butter, peanut butter, and powdered sugar.
For best results, use a self-stable homogenous smooth peanut butter like Jif or Skippy.
Natural peanut butters that require stirring before use may separate in this recipe.
I use the same peanut butter frosting for these Peanut Butter Cupcakes.
Rainbow Sprinkles
Choose your favorite rainbow sprinkles to make these chocolate butter mochi cake bites super fun and festive.
Go the traditional route with these rainbow jimmes like the one photographed above.
Opt for these pastel rainbow sprinkles made without artificial coloring for a more subtle looking cake. Rainbow nonpereil sprinkles also work.
Can you make this butter mochi in a different size baking pan?
Yes! Bake the recipe in one 8-inch square baking pan or one 9 x 13-inch baking dish.
Bake batter in standard aluminum/metals baking pans or glass baking dishes.
The 8-inch square pan will create a thicker chocolate butter mochi cake, while the larger 9×13-inch dish will result in a thinner cake. Regardless of the pan size, the butter mochi will be chewy.
The 8-inch square pan will create a thicker chocolate butter mochi cake, while the larger 9×13-inch dish will result in a thinner cake. Regardless of the pan size, the butter mochi will be chewy.
Making a large batch for a party
Double the recipe to make a large batch of thick mochi cakes. A doubled version will use one 1-pound (16 oz) box of mochiko flour, one 12-oz can evaporated milk, and one 14-oz can coconut milk.
Chocolate Butter Mochi Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
Ingredients
Chocolate Butter Mochi Cake:
- 142 grams (about ¾ cup) semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
- 85 grams (6 Tbsp) unsalted butter
- 227 grams (about 1 ½ cup + 3 Tbsp) Mochiko sweet rice flour
- 300 grams (1 ½ cup) granulated sugar
- 20 grams (¼ cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 6 grams (½ Tbsp) baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 large eggs, room temp
- 6 fl oz (¾ cup or 177ml) canned evaporated milk, well shaken
- 7 fl oz canned coconut milk, full fat, well shaken
Peanut Butter Frosting:
- 57 grams unsalted butter, softened, room temp
- 135 grams smooth peanut butter*
- 128 grams confectioners sugar
- 1 Tbsp milk
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- pinch kosher salt
- rainbow sprinkles, as needed for topping
Instructions
Chocolate Butter Mochi Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line square 8-inch baking dish with parchment paper. Generously butter parchment paper. Set aside. *Alternatively, use a 9×13-inch glass baking dish for a thinner cake. No need for parchment. Generously butter dish and set aside.
- Place butter and chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30 second intervals on 50% power until ingredients are melted and mixture is smooth. Stir often to ensure even melting. Set aside to cool slightly.
- In a large bowl, whisk together sweet rice flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, evaporated milk, and coconut milk. Pour liquid mixture into dry ingredients. Whisk or stir together until there are no longer any dry steaks of flour and mixture is smooth.
- Pour in slightly cooled chocolate butter mixture. Stir until well distributed. Pour mixture into prepared baking pan. Bake in the center of oven for 50-55 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Allow mochi butter cake to cool before unmolding.
Peanut Butter Frosting:
- Use electric hand mixer to beat together butter and peanut butter until smooth. Add confections sugar, milk, vanilla, and salt. Mix until thoroughly combined and frosting is smooth and creamy.
Assembly:
- Spread peanut butter frosting over cooled chocolate butter mochi cake. Immediately top with sprinkles. Slice into desired portions. Enjoy immediately!
Notes
Ingredient Notes:
- I recommend using Koda Farms Mochiko. Otherwise, look for glutinous sweet rice flour or sweet rice flour. DO NOT USE plain rice flour.
- Whole milk or 2% milk may be used in place of evaporated milk.
- Use milk chocolate chips for sweeter chocolate mochi cake.
- Use any kind of unsweetened cocoa powder. Natural or Dutch-process cocoa powder will work.
I feel as though I myself am in Chef school with your recipes without all the pressure you endured. Thank you for your insight and thoroughness in providing these recipes and comment posts. Enjoying each one and hope to cook many of them with your help. You are the BEST!!!
If I double the recipe and use a 9×13 glass baking pan, do I add all to one pan or into 2 pans? I am assuming that if I double it and just use one glass pan, it will be a thick cake (which I’m hoping for!).
Yes, you can double the recipe and pour everything into one 9×13-inch pan. You’ll end up with a thicker cake.
How long would you bake cupcakes? And would you recommend?
If I double the recipe..what pan size can I use and how long do I bake it?
About 45min to An hour depends on the oven you can tell when it’s almost done by th strong chocolate smell in the air
Hi! My daughter is allergic to peanuts. Do you have an alternative recipe for the icing? Chocolate maybe?
Yes, you can try this chocolate buttercream recipe or this brown butter frosting.
Credit to also Sheldon the chef at Tin Roof. This is in his cookbook.
Yes, this recipe was inspired by the ones I ate at Tin Roof, as I had mentioned in the blog post as well as the recipe card. I posted this recipe August 2020. Cook Real Hawai’i (Sheldon Simeon’s cookbook) was published and released seven months later in March 2021. The two recipes are not the same.
I wasn’t sure what to expect, we’ve never had a mochi cake. I was worried it would be like eating rubber or something. But the texture was lovely. Crispy on the top and edges. Pleasantly chewy inside, similar to a marshmallow. Everybody loved it, especially our brownie fans. The only substitution I made was adding some coconut oil in place of the butter because I ran out. And my family is not crazy about peanut butter so I topped it with ermine frosting with coconut extract. I made it in a 9×13 for extra crust. Easy to make and so yummy. We couldn’t stop eating it. Thanks!
Nutritional info?
I do not calculate nutritional information for any of the recipes shared on this site.
I LOVE a good mochi cake and am hoping to make one in a bundt pan. Do you think I could probably double it and do that? Thanks!!
That sounds like a good idea! Unfortunately, I have not tested this recipe in a bundt pan. However, I imagine that it would take a long time for the batter to a bake in a bundt pan. The edges may overcook and dry out before the center has a chance to set.