if i'm home on a lazy sunday, this happens most often around 4 or 5pm, more than likely i am in yoga pants and have probably been hanging out with netflix for more than a few hours. deep down i know i should be planning dinner but why lie to myself I have dessert brain and the cake fever can set it in suspiciously fast.

i find myself needing cake like i mean r e a l l y NEED it. 

doesn't have to be a whole dang cake but come on.. we are making a whole cake because that's what we do here. on the general i'm not picky about my sunday cake. i'll settle for a slice of whatever and most definitely a cupcake would do. chocolate buttermilk ? dare i mention red velvet.. that's not still a thing right? (for me it always will be a thing) carrot cake.. yep, that could be good. 

all cakes welcome.

i'll look through my pantry to see what i have to work with.. flours, powders, sugars. peek in the fridge.. sticks of butter? any leftover buttermilk? i hope i have an egg or two. cocoa powder? oh, chocolate chips.. i could melt those. hrm.. ideas.

when i find a box of sweet rice flour tucked away my go-to is this mochiko cake recipe. my mom has been making a version of this cake ever since i was little so to me it tastes like home but this isn't my mama's recipe.

brown butter will be the secret, not so secret weapon.

mochiko- that's a fun word. if you think it might have something to do with mochi you wouldn't be wrong.

this sweet rice flour is used in a multitude of filipino, thai and other asian desserts. a unique squishy texture since sweet rice is a sticky glutinous rice you'll usually find it has a nice chew to it.

although it is sort of deceiving, sweet (glutinous) rice flour is actually, ahem.. GLUTEN FREE! it really refers to that lovely chewy texture i was talking about.

tricky tricky.

wheat and i still get a long but it's good to have a few recipes to count on for friends and family that are intolerant to the gluten.

let's get started!

first thing we need to do is brown that butter and give it a chance to cool. grab a small light metal colored pan or pot and brown baby brown over low heat. you'll hear crackles and pops, once you see brown golden flecks and your kitchen smells like heaven you'll know it's ready.

you could also go the christina tosi method and brown butter in the microwave. if you have ever burned your butter on the stove top you should give this method a try. it is almost impossible to burn butter using a microwave so the odds will forever be in your favor.

let's gather the dry ingredients.

while the butter is browning, whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and set aside.

transfer the brown butter into the mixer bowl and let cool.

pure magic right there. heart eyes so hard!

sugah sugah.

once the butter has cooled, mix in the sugar. 

it should still have a coarse yet creamy consistency. warning the smell will be super intoxicating. 

crack a couple eggs and mix together.

scrape down the mixing bowl when necessary.

i like to add the eggs in batches, it incorporates more consistently together this way.

lots of eggs in this cake recipe!

mix thoroughly.

don't forget the vanilla extract (splurge on the good stuff to boost the flavor, you won't regret it)

now to alternate between wet and dry ingredients.

you want to start with the dry ingredients.

mix for a short time.

then slowly add the coconut milk.

keep working back and forth between the two until you've used up both sets of materials.

make sure to finish with the dry ingredients.

prepare your baking dish. i used an old casserole dish that belongs to my mom but you can use a pyrex or just a regular 9x13 cake sheet. seriously though..bouncy cake is around the corner.

 pour the mochiko cake batter into the prepared baking dish, make sure to get it ALL!

pop the cake into a preheated 350° oven and set a timer for 60 minutes.

we'll leave the dirty dishes for the cleaning fairies.

where's that cake?!

oh, there you are.

hello beautiful.

spongy, dense with a slight chew.

this is such a great lowkey sunday cake. super easy, minimal but with a slightly elevated flavor and texture combination. let's not forget that this is also accidentally gluten free, fear not my gluten intolerant folks.

i hope this cake goes good with your netflix weekend, happy eating!

xox

rita

brown butter mochiko cake

sweet sticky rice flour cake.