Mochi Butter Buns with Okinawan Sweet Potato Swirl
Japanese, Fusion • Dessert • Gluten-Free · Soy-Free · Allium-Free · Sesame-Free · Vegetarian
Colors:
Tastes:
🍬
Techniques:
🔥
Tested by 
•Cooked and tested by the Valentiful team
Rating:
Yield: 815 g Purple Sweet Potato Jam · 1775 g Mochi Butter Cake Batter
Serves: 28 (3oz bun)
Time: Active 1h 5m · Inactive 1h 45m · Total 2h 50m
Equipment: No equipment specified
Ingredients
420 g Sweet Potatoes (purple)
1 stick Butter (Unsalted Butter)
178 g Evaporated Coconut Milk or Evaporated Milk (1/2 of a 12 fl oz can)
190 g Sweetened Condensed Milk or Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk (1/2 of a 10 fl oz can)
3 g Salt (Kosher Salt) (1/2 tsp)
227 g Butter (Unsalted Butter), melted (1 cup)
454 g Rice Flour (Sweet Rice Flour) (1lb box)
424 g Sugar (Granulated Sugar) (about 1 7/8 cups)
12 g Baking Powder (1 Tbsp)
6 g Salt (Kosher Salt) (1 tsp)
6 Large Eggs
10 g Vanilla (Vanilla Extract) (1 Tbsp)
366 g Coconut Milk (12.5 fl oz can)
20 g Coconut Oil or Neutral Oil (to grease silicon molds)
Instructions
BOIL AND PEEL THE SWEET POTATOES: Place whole sweet potatoes in a pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Cook over medium-high heat until tender, about 15–25 minutes. Drain water. Let potatoes cool off so you can peel them by hand, about 5 minutes
BROWN THE BUTTER: Place butter in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat while stirring frequently. Continue cooking until milk solids turn golden brown and smell nutty, 6–8 minutes. Immediately transfer browned butter to a medium mixing bowl.
BLEND JAM: Add peeled sweet potatoes to bowl with browned butter. Add the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, and kosher salt. Blend with immersion blender until smooth, about 5 minutes.
CHILL JAM: Transfer jam to quart container that will fit in the fridge, so you can chill it while preparing the mochi cake batter.
MELT BUTTER: Melt butter (using the same saucepan as before, or the microwave), then transfer to large mixing bowl. Set aside to cool slightly.
MIX DRY INGREDIENTS: Add mochiko, sugar, baking powder and kosher salt. Whisk until evenly combined.
MIX WET INGREDIENTS: Add eggs, vanilla, and coconut milk to the bowl with the melted butter, and whisk well.
COMBINE BATTER: Add dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients. Whisk until smooth, about 2 minutes.
CHILL BATTER: Refrigerate batter at least 20 minutes.
Chef Note: Chilling the batter firms it up so it can “hold” the swirl. If the batter is room temp/loose when you put the sweet potato mixture in, the bottom will fall out. It will still be delicious, but not presentable.
PREP MOLDS: Lightly grease silicone muffin molds with coconut oil or neutral oil.
PREHEAT OVEN: Preheat to 350 °F (for convection ovens) or 375 °F (for still ovens), and place the rack in the center position.
FILL MOLD WITH BOTTOM LAYER OF CAKE BATTER: Scoop 1 oz (30 g) mochi batter into mold, and press a shallow indentation using back of scoop.
ADD THE JAM FILLING: Add 1 Tbsp (14 g) sweet potato jam into indentation, pushing the jam slightly toward one side.
FILL MOLD WITH TOP LAYER OF CAKE BATTER: Add 1 oz (30 g) mochi batter on top, ensuring that the top batter touches the bottom layer of batter.
• If the batter layers don't make contact your bun won’t hold together.
FINISH WITH A SWIRL OF JAM ON TOP: Add 1/2 Tbsp (8 g) sweet potato jam on the very top and swirl it decoratively with an offset spatula, knife, or skewer.
• The batter will rise so filling a 3oz mold with 2 1/2 oz of batter will be just about perfect.
BAKE THE BUNS: If using convection, bake for 30 minutes. Or if using a still oven, bake for 50 minutes, rotating halfway through. Remove when lightly golden.
LET COOL TO FINISH SETTING: After removing buns from the oven, leave them in the molds to cool slightly so they can finish setting up, about 10 minutes.
REMOVE BUNS FROM MOLDS: Run an offset spatula around the rim, and invert molds to release buns. Enjoy!
Serving & Keeping
Serve: Warm
Make ahead: You can make both the batter and the jam the day before they both work better when they are sufficiently chilled/firm. Keep batter and jam refrigerated as use within one week.
Keeps: Mochi butter buns are THE BEST right out of the oven. You can store overnight at room temperature, but I recommend refrigerating them to preserve freshness if you want to keep them longer. They store 3-4 days in the refrigerator, and will be more delightful if you give them time (~1 hour) to come to room temperature again before serving.
Leftover Ideas: This recipe yields enough purple sweet potato jam for ~36 buns. Try it on toast and/or ice cream. Or freeze it for the next time you make mochi buns.
Serving & Keeping
Serve: Warm
Make ahead: You can make both the batter and the jam the day before they both work better when they are sufficiently chilled/firm. Keep batter and jam refrigerated as use within one week.
Keeps: Mochi butter buns are THE BEST right out of the oven. You can store overnight at room temperature, but I recommend refrigerating them to preserve freshness if you want to keep them longer. They store 3-4 days in the refrigerator, and will be more delightful if you give them time (~1 hour) to come to room temperature again before serving.
Leftover Ideas: This recipe yields enough purple sweet potato jam for ~36 buns. Try it on toast and/or ice cream. Or freeze it for the next time you make mochi buns.
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