My husband, Bernard, and I were hankering for sake and couldn’t think of a better restaurant than Village Sake in Fairfax, CA. We were excited to have some delicious small plate pairings with their extensive sake selections!
We started out at Sake Bin, the restaurant’s adjacent sake bar. After a couple of cold daigingo’s (konteki, Kubota junmai) and a warm daishichi paired with wagyu beef tartare and snapper tartar, our appetites were ready for our meal.
Village Sake did not disappoint! We ended up getting soft shell crawfish roll, clam and kimchee hot pot, and salt and pepper prawns – revisiting some of the daigingo’s we tasted earlier and dewazakura izumi judan and a bushido on tap.
Our evening ended with a coconut mochi cake paired with a cardamom gelato and kinako caramel – and THIS was the dish I could not wait to recreate! The cake was light, moist, full of flavor and had that unmistaken mocha bite, spongy but forgiving. Paired with the gelato, it was a wonderful dessert to share to at the end of our tastings.
The mocha cake reminded me of a cake I ate growing up…a Filipino dessert called bibingka, which is more dense. So this dessert not only brought back memories of my childhood, it inspired my tastebuds. I added the citrus component for some brightness. And the best part? It is incredibly easy to make!
Shall we?
Here is what you will need:
1 1/2 cup Sweet Rice Flour (I use Hoda brand Mochiko)
1 cup Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
3 large Eggs
1 (13.5-ounce) can Coconut Milk (full fat)
1 tsp Orange zest
1 1/2 tsp pure Vanilla Extract
Let’s get baking!
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and baking powder.
In a separate bowl, whisk eggs until blended.
Add coconut milk, orange zest and vanilla, and whisk until combined.
Add coconut milk mixture to flour mixture and whisk until combined.
Pour batter into an 8x8-inch baking pan.
Bake about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.
Notes:
This recipe is gluten free with the use of rice flour!
If you cannot find Mochiko, Bob’s Red Mill makes a Sweet Rice Flour. Do not use regular Rice Flour as this will not give you that mochi texture and bite for this recipe.
I used orange zest, but you could also use the zest of lemon, grapefruit, yuzu, mandarin – pretty much whatever citrus you have on hand.
You can also use almond extract instead of vanilla extract, however, if doing so, use only 1/2 tsp.
To highlight the coconut, you could sprinkle shredded coconut on top and/or a dusting of granulated sugar on the top of the batter before baking.
The cake stores best in an airtight container – and best if you cut as you serve and eat as needed.
Enjoy!