Daifuku Cake

From: Kristina Arden

On Apr 12, 2007

Actually, daifuku is not a cake.

From: Roosie

On Jun 6, 2005

This was my first experience with mochi- making or eating it and it wasn't altogether a bad one, though I did have some difficulty with the recipe. I would have liked some more descriptive directions- for example, how soft the beans should be when they're cooked, how smooth the bean paste should be, how wet the bean paste should be, what the consistency of the mochi dough should be when it is ready... anko and mochi aren't things that the average chef really knows how to make and a little more guidance would really be beneficial. The flavor to the anko was a little off with just the beans and sugar- I added a pinch of salt, which helped a lot and about a tsp of raspberry vinegar just for a little flavor/tartness boost. I think the salt is essential, though- it just didn't taste right without it. I almost never add salt to baked goods or desserts, even when they call for it, but this needs it. I think I drained off too much water when I drained the beans ("drain off excess water" was a little to vague), so I had to add a little more water until the anko was more or less the consistency I thought it was supposed to be. I ended up adding more mochiko (by the way, the recipe calls for just "rice flour", but I assume you meant mochiko and I don't know if it would work with regular rice flour) because my dough was just too sticky. I've looked at a few other similar recipes for mochi and daifuku and all of them call for at least a ratio of 1:1 for water and mochiko and most call for more flour than that. I found the mochi to be not quite sweet enough- we usually enjoy our desserts to not be overly sweet, but this was a little too plain. I think that a good thing to do might be to "flour" the surface you make the mochi balls on with powdered sugar instead of more mochiko. You also did not mention that the anko and mochi dough must be allowed to cool before you can make the balls. I was really nervous about the consistency of the dough because I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be useable hot or warm or what. As it was, it was too sticky at first, I let it cool and it was still too sticky so I put it back on the stove and added more mochiko (about 1/3-1/2 cup) and then let it cool again and it worked better. In the end, they turned out okay, but I had to use a lot of instinct and trial and error, and I really think that a good recipe should provide detailed instructions. Mine didn't turn out quite as pretty as the ones in the pic (no strawberries in mine either! ) but they taste pretty good and look good enough for me. I made 12 mochi balls as the recipe instructed and I ended up with leftover anko, but I think it’s tasty, so that's fine by me. I think that if you wanted, you could add some spicing to these (cardamom struck me as a flavor that would pair well with the anko or the mochi) or try using fruit juice or fruit puree instead of the water in the mochi recipe. All-in-all, I think this recipe has lots of potential, but needs some tweaking and some elaboration in the steps. Thanks.

From: Chef #326700

On Jul 3, 2006

I found the directions too vague. The consistancy of the dough posed problems because I didn't know how to guage when the dough was ready. I also didn't know I was supposed to let the dough cool before making the balls. In all, the bean paste turned out nicely. I did add a pinch of salt to it. The dough didn't work out. Too much rice flour sprinkled during the ball-making process created a grainy texture in the final product. I have left over bean paste and will try again, but maybe find a better dough recipe. Iam looking for the chewy, stretchy texture. I will try the suggestion to use sugar powder to "flour" the my work surface but will then cut back on the amount of sugar in the dough and bean paste.