Butter mochi is a Hawaiian baked dessert made with mochiko sweet rice flour, butter, coconut milk, sugar, and eggs. It bakes up with crisp, golden edges and a dense, chewy center, like mochi and cake in the same bite. Pixlcat ships gluten-free Hawaiian-style butter mochi nationwide, baked to order, and this page carries the exact recipe our kitchen uses, so you can bake it the café way at home.
Naturally gluten free · Baked to order · Ships Mon–Wed nationwide · Free shipping on orders $50+
Watch it made
Six minutes, start to finish. This is the recipe below, made in the Pixlcat kitchen.
The Pixlcat butter mochi recipe
Most butter mochi recipes bake one big pan and cut it into squares. Ours never touches a pan of squares. Each piece is portioned on its own, so every single piece gets crisp edges all the way around and the same dense chew in the middle. That is how we bake it at the café, and it is the only way we sell it.
The method has one step home recipes skip: the batter gets warmed in a double boiler before it is portioned. Warm batter pours clean, bakes even, and sets with a fine, tight crumb.
Ingredients
- Mochiko rice flour — 1½ cups
- Sugar — 1⅓ cups
- Coconut milk — 1 cup
- Condensed milk — ¾ cup
- Eggs — 2 large
- Butter — 4 tbsp, melted, plus more for the pan
- Vanilla extract — 1 tsp
- Baking powder — ¾ tsp
- Salt — ½ tsp
- Baking soda — ¼ tsp
Method
- Heat the oven to 375°F. Convection is ideal.
- Melt the butter, then stir the wet ingredients together with it: coconut milk, condensed milk, eggs, and vanilla.
- Whisk all the dry ingredients into the wet mixture: mochiko, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
- Set the batter over a double boiler on the stovetop and warm it, stirring, until it turns smooth and runny. Take it off the heat.
- Brush your baking pan with melted butter.
- Portion the batter at 62 g per piece, about ⅓ cup each.
- Bake 10 minutes, rotate the pan, and bake 10 minutes more.
- Raise the oven to 400°F and bake 2 to 5 minutes more, until the internal temperature reads 215–220°F.
- Cool, then serve at room temperature. Butter mochi is never served hot.
Total bake time: 22 to 25 minutes.
Recipe notes
- Mochiko is sweet rice flour, and it is what makes the chew. Regular rice flour will not give you the same texture.
- The 62 g portion is the café size. Bigger portions bake thicker and need more time; smaller ones crisp faster.
- Done looks like this: flat, level tops, evenly golden with a darker crisp rim, and a center that feels dense and slightly springy, never fluffy like cake.
The chocolate version
Same batter family, chocolate, baked by Memphis and Manu in the Pixlcat kitchen. Watch the boys prove the recipe really is easy enough for anyone to make, then taste the real thing below.
Rather have us bake it?
You just read the recipe, so you know exactly what goes into a box.
The Pixlcat Tasting Box — $39
Six pieces, baked to order and shipped Mon–Wed, nationwide. Free shipping on orders of $50 or more, so a second box ships free.
Keeps 3 days at room temperature, 4 days refrigerated, 2 months frozen. To reheat: microwave 15–20 seconds, toaster 2 minutes, or oven at 300°F for 5 minutes.
What people say
Rated 4.78 out of 5 from 9 reviews of the Pixlcat Box.
“Blown away!! Haven’t had a good gf sweet treat like this in sooo long”
★★★★★ Lanen
“Great butter mochi, taste was excellent moisture good”
★★★★★ Jennifer Reedy
“Product arrived quickly and tasted amazing! Great customer service and great quality. Will definitely buy the bigger version next time.”
★★★★★ Greg
Butter mochi questions
What is butter mochi?
Butter mochi is a baked Hawaiian dessert made from mochiko sweet rice flour, butter, coconut milk, sugar, and eggs. Unlike steamed mochi, it is baked, which gives it crisp edges and a texture between mochi and cake: dense, chewy, and rich.
Is butter mochi gluten free?
Yes. Butter mochi is made with mochiko rice flour instead of wheat flour, so it is naturally gluten free. Our kitchen is a gluten-free, nut-free kitchen: no wheat, peanuts, or tree nuts on site. Pixlcat is not certified gluten free.
What does butter mochi taste like?
Rich and buttery with coconut underneath, lightly sweet, with caramelized notes at the crisp edges. The center stays dense and chewy, closer to mochi than to cake.
How is Pixlcat butter mochi different?
Pixlcat is the world's first butter mochi café. Our pieces are baked one by one, never cut from a slab, so every piece has crisp edges all the way around. Six flavors run from Classic to Ube White Chocolate and Black Sesame, and every box is baked to order.
How long does butter mochi keep?
3 days at room temperature, 4 days refrigerated, 2 months frozen. Reheat in the microwave for 15–20 seconds, in a toaster for 2 minutes, or in a 300°F oven for 5 minutes. Serve at room temperature.
Where can I buy butter mochi?
Order the Tasting Box here for nationwide shipping, visit our San Francisco café, or find us at farmers markets in San Francisco and the Boston area. See the locations page for current market days, and the FAQ page for more answers.
