⏱ Active: 30 min 🌡️Chill: 2 hrs (ganache) 🍡Makes: 8 Japanese-inspired
Chocolate mochi is a daifuku, the Japanese rice cake with a sweet filling made with cocoa in the dough and dark chocolate ganache at the centre. The dough is glutinous rice flour, cocoa, sugar and milk, microwaved in stages until it becomes the characteristic soft, stretchy mochi texture. The ganache, dark chocolate, cream and a little butter is chilled until firm, rolled into balls and wrapped in the cocoa mochi dough. The result is a mochi truffle: chewy on the outside, rich and molten in the centre, dusted in cocoa powder.
Two things define this recipe. The glutinous rice flour, not regular rice flour, not plain flour, nothing else, which is what produces the distinctive stretch and chew. And the translucency test: undercooked mochi looks milky and pale; properly cooked mochi looks slightly translucent and glossy. That visual shift is the only reliable doneness check and it takes another 30 seconds in the microwave if it hasn’t happened yet.
Ingredients
For the chocolate ganache filling, make first
- 120g (4oz) dark chocolate (52–70% cocoa), finely chopped, good quality chocolate makes a significant difference here. Valrhona, Callebaut or any chocolate you would eat on its own. Dark chocolate (52–70%) gives a rich, slightly bitter contrast to the sweet mochi dough. Milk chocolate produces a sweeter, less complex filling, works well, slightly less dramatic.
- 80ml (⅓ cup) heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, keeps the ganache from setting rock-hard in the fridge, giving it a slightly yielding texture even when cold. Without it the ganache becomes too firm to bite through pleasantly inside the mochi.
For the chocolate mochi dough
- 120g (1 cup) glutinous rice flour (mochiko or shiratamako), this is non-negotiable. Glutinous rice flour has a completely different starch structure from regular rice flour, it gelatinises during cooking to produce the stretchy, chewy texture that defines mochi. Regular rice flour, plain flour, or any other flour produces a completely wrong result. Find it at Asian grocery stores under “mochiko,” “glutinous rice flour” or “sweet rice flour.” Koda Farms Mochiko is widely available.
- 2 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder, Dutch-processed (alkalized) cocoa produces a deeper, darker, more consistent chocolate colour and flavour than natural cocoa. Valrhona or any quality Dutch-process brand. Also used for dusting.
- 50g (¼ cup) white sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch, adds structure and makes the dough slightly less sticky and easier to handle
- 160ml (⅔ cup) whole milk, produces a richer, softer dough than plain water. The fat in whole milk gives the mochi a more supple, yielding texture.
- 1 teaspoon neutral oil, a small amount keeps the mochi soft even after refrigeration, without it, the dough stiffens noticeably when cold
For dusting
- 3–4 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder, for the work surface, hands and the finished mochi. Be generous, mochi sticks to everything when warm. Cornstarch can be used instead for a lighter colour finish.
Step by step
- Make the ganache, do this first. Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan or microwave until just steaming, do not boil. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Leave for 60 seconds without stirring. Then stir from the centre outward in small circles until completely smooth and glossy. Add the butter and stir until fully melted and incorporated. Cover with cling film pressed directly onto the surface and refrigerate for at least 2 hours until firm enough to roll. The ganache must be cold and firm before wrapping. Warm or soft ganache deforms as you try to wrap the mochi around it, spreading into the dough rather than staying as a distinct centre. Make it first and give it the full 2 hours, overnight in the fridge is even better.
- Portion the ganache into balls. Once firm, use a small spoon or melon baller to scoop the ganache into 8 equal portions (about 15g each). Roll each portion quickly between your palms into a smooth ball. Work fast, the heat of your hands softens the ganache quickly. Place the balls on a parchment-lined plate and return to the fridge while you make the mochi dough.
- Make the mochi dough, microwave method. Combine the glutinous rice flour, cocoa powder, sugar and cornstarch in a microwave-safe bowl. Whisk to combine with no lumps. Add the milk and oil gradually, whisking until completely smooth. Cover tightly with cling film and poke 3–4 small holes in the top. Microwave on high for 2 minutes.
- Stir and test, then continue cooking. Remove from the microwave carefully, the bowl will be hot. Peel back the cling film and stir the dough firmly with a silicone spatula, scraping from the bottom and sides. The dough at this stage will be thick and partly cooked. Look at the colour, it should be going from milky and pale to slightly translucent and darker. If still mostly pale, re-cover and microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until the dough is uniformly glossy, slightly translucent and pulling away from the sides of the bowl cleanly. The translucency test is the only reliable doneness check. Undercooked glutinous rice flour tastes raw and starchy and never sets to the right texture. Properly cooked mochi dough looks slightly shiny and darker, not milky white. Different microwaves vary in power, what takes 2 minutes in one may take 3 in another. Trust the colour, not just the timer.
- Cool the dough. Dust a clean surface generously with cocoa powder. Transfer the hot mochi dough onto the cocoa-dusted surface. Dust more cocoa powder on top. Leave to cool for 10–15 minutes until comfortable to handle, warm enough to still be pliable but cool enough not to burn your hands or melt the ganache on contact.
- Divide and shape. Divide the cooled mochi dough into 8 equal pieces using a cocoa-dusted bench scraper or knife. Take one piece and flatten it into a disc about 8–9cm across, slightly thinner in the centre than the edges, the thinner centre wraps around the filling more easily. Work quickly, mochi dries out and cracks if left exposed for too long.
- Wrap the ganache. Remove one ganache ball from the fridge. Place it in the centre of a flattened mochi disc. Lift the edges of the mochi up around the ganache, stretching gently, and pinch firmly at the top to seal. Press the seam together firmly, it is the weakest point. Place seam-side down on a cocoa-dusted surface. Roll gently between your palms to smooth into a round ball. Dust generously with cocoa powder. Repeat with the remaining pieces. If the mochi tears while wrapping, it has either cooled too much (becoming stiff and inflexible) or is too thin in patches. Work faster next time and flatten the edges thinner than the centre. A small tear can be patched by pressing a tiny piece of mochi dough over it and smoothing with cocoa-dusted fingers.
- Serve or store. Serve at room temperature within 2 hours of making for maximum chewiness and a slightly soft ganache centre. To store: wrap each individually in cling film and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Bring to room temperature for 15 minutes before eating, cold mochi is noticeably stiffer and the ganache is harder. Do not freeze, the texture degrades significantly.
Claire’s note
Three things that make the wrapping stage much easier.
First: cocoa powder on everything, the surface, your hands, the tops and bottoms of each disc. Mochi sticks to itself, to the board and to your palms with remarkable tenacity when it is warm. More cocoa powder than feels comfortable is the right amount.
Second: keep the ganache balls in the fridge until the exact moment they are needed, take one out, wrap it, put the next one back in. Warm ganache on warm mochi is a recipe for everything collapsing.
Third: work faster than you think you need to. Mochi dough that sits exposed for more than a few minutes begins to dry out at the surface and cracks when stretched. Shape quickly, wrap quickly, and move the finished pieces to a cocoa-dusted plate rather than leaving them on the work surface.
Serve with
Chocolate mochi is a dessert or a sweet snack, eaten on its own with green tea or Japanese hojicha (roasted green tea), which cuts through the richness of the ganache beautifully. For a full Japanese dessert spread alongside: milk mochi for the classic plain version, Japanese matcha souffle cheesecake, and the full Japanese recipes collection.
Add chocolate mochi to your weekly meal planner as a weekend baking project, the ganache is made one day ahead, the mochi assembled the next. Makes 8, keeps 24 hours, and impresses every time.
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Chocolate Mochi
- Total Time: 120 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Japanese-inspired chocolate mochi, a chewy rice cake filled with dark chocolate ganache.
Ingredients
- 120g (4oz) dark chocolate (52–70% cocoa), finely chopped
- 80ml (⅓ cup) heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 120g (1 cup) glutinous rice flour (mochiko or shiratamako)
- 2 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 50g (¼ cup) white sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 160ml (⅔ cup) whole milk
- 1 teaspoon neutral oil
- 3–4 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder (for dusting)
Instructions
- Make the ganache: Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until just steaming, pour over chocolate.
- Stir until smooth and glossy, add butter, mix until melted. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Portion the ganache into 8 equal balls (about 15g each) and place in the fridge.
- Make the mochi dough: Combine glutinous rice flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and cornstarch in a bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Add the milk and oil, whisk until smooth. Microwave covered for 2 minutes.
- Stir the dough; if still milky, microwave in 30-second bursts until glossy and slightly translucent.
- Cool the dough on a cocoa-dusted surface for 10–15 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 8 pieces, flatten each into a disc.
- Wrap a ganache ball in each disc of mochi, sealing the edges.
- Serve immediately or store in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
Notes
Dust generously with cocoa powder to prevent sticking. Work quickly to avoid drying out the mochi.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Microwaving
- Cuisine: Japanese
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 piece
- Calories: 200
- Sugar: 12g
- Sodium: 50mg
- Fat: 10g
- Saturated Fat: 5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 24g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 2g
- Cholesterol: 10mg
