crystalized ginger

This cake, at its best when warm, is full of dark molasses flavor and three kinds of ginger (fresh, ground and crystallized). It can be served with powdered sugar, whipped cream or even ice cream — a drizzle of caramel sauce is especially nice, too.

Triple Ginger Skillet Cake

unsalted butter (1

granulated sugar

240 milliliters molasses (not blackstrap)

(2-inch) piece ginger, peeled

all-purpose flour

baking soda

ginger

cinnamon

fine sea salt

180 milliliters whole milk

70 grams diced crystallized ginger

Turbinado sugar, as needed, for finishing

Powdered sugar, as needed, for finishing

Heat the oven to 325 degrees, and lightly grease a 12-inch oven-safe skillet with unsalted butter.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the remaining butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the molasses, and grate the ginger using a fine grater into the mixing bowl. Mix until well combined, scraping the bowl as necessary, 1 minute more. Add the egg and mix to incorporate, about 30 seconds more.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon and salt to combine. Add half of the flour mixture to the mixer and mix on low speed to combine. Scrape the bowl well.

Add the milk and mix to incorporate. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the crystallized ginger by hand.

Pour the batter into the prepared skillet, and spread into an even layer. Sprinkle the surface with turbinado sugar. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes.

Let cool for 12 to 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature, garnished with powdered sugar.

I don’t remember my mother at the stove.  When asked what childhood dish was my favorite, I’d stammer and come up empty.  And then, walking down the stairs in my Paris apartment, I got to the third floor and said out loud to no one: baked apples! My mother made baked apples. Her apples were big Cortlands or Rome Beauties, and she cored and stuffed them with raisins, because my father loved raisins. I also bake with Cortlands or Romes when I can get them, Fujis or Galas when I can’t. I’ll often stuff them with raisins, but I think they’re especially nice filled with bits of dried apple and candied ginger. And I like to baste them with apple cider and honey. They’re good hot or cold, but best served warm and topped with something creamy. Cinnamon (my mom always used too much) is optional.

Baked Apples

apples,

lemon

apple rings, cut into bits

honey

unsalted butter

apple cider

Heavy cream, whipped cream

Cinnamon,

Center a rack in the oven and heat to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil, and set a 9- or 10-inch glass pie dish on top.

Cut a small cap off the top of each apple, and set aside. Using a paring knife or corer, core the apples, making sure not to go all the way to the bottom. Cut away and reserve about 1/2 inch of peel around the tops of the apples. Rub the peeled portions of the apples with the lemon, squeezing a little juice into each opening.

Fill each apple with an equal amount of dried apple and ginger, if using, pressing down lightly as needed to push bits into the opening. Pour 1/2 teaspoon honey over the dried fruit in each apple. Cut the butter into 4 pieces, and top each apple with a pat. Pop the caps back on the apples. (It’s O.K. if they teeter). Transfer the apples, lemon wedges and a few of the reserved peels into the pie dish; pour in the cider or juice, and stir in 1 to 2 teaspoons honey. (The honey won’t blend evenly into the cider, and that’s fine.)

Bake the apples, basting occasionally with the cider and honey, until you can poke them with a skewer or the tip of a knife and not meet much resistance, 50 to 70 minutes. Since apples are so variable, check early and often, as you might need more or less time.

Let them cool for at least 15 minutes before serving moistened with a little pan sauce, and if you want, top with cold heavy cream, whipped cream or ice cream and dust with cinnamon. The apples are good warm or at room temperature. They’ll keep, covered, for 2 days in the refrigerator and can be reheated in a microwave.

It may be Thanksgiving, but to make pumpkin pie is a relatively thankless task. Always invited but often ignored, most pumpkin pies are too heavy to enjoy after a large dinner. Yet the meal is somehow incomplete without it.

Sometimes it's kinder to break up the union of pumpkin and pie. An ethereal custard covered with crunchy cookie crumbs and spicy-sweet ginger plays the pumpkin role with more grace. Traditional pumpkin-pie spices like cinnamon and nutmeg can be used or not, according to the impeccable taste of the cook.

Pumpkin Pots de Crème with Amaretti-Ginger Crunch

pumpkin puree

heavy cream

vanilla bean, split lengthwise

sugar

cinnamon,

nutmeg,

amaretti cookies

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, bring pumpkin puree cream and vanilla bean halves to a boil; set aside for 15 minutes, and then remove vanilla bean halves. In a medium metal bowl or the top of a double boiler, combine egg yolks and sugar. Place bowl over a pot of barely simmering water (make sure bottom of bowl doesn't touch water). Whisk constantly until mixture forms a ribbon when you lift the whisk, about 6 or 8 minutes. Be careful not to overheat, or egg mixture could curdle.

Whisk in hot pumpkin mixture, and cook over medium heat, whisking often, until mixture has consistency of thick cream, 40 to 50 minutes. Mixture should gently steam; be careful not to overheat. Add cinnamon and nutmeg, if using, and mix well. Strain into a pitcher or a bowl with a pouring lip.

Divide mixture among 10 to 12 teacups, ramekins or custard cups. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to 2 days. Just before serving combine amaretti crumbs and ginger, and sprinkle on top of each dessert.

For the best shortcakes, bake them just before serving. To make that an easy prospect, you can prepare and freeze them in advance: Prepare the dough through Step 3, freeze the shortcakes completely, then transfer them to an airtight container for up to one week. Bake the frozen scones whenever the mood strikes. They’ll take a few extra minutes to cook, but will be perfectly tender and fresh. They’re wonderful served straight from the oven, but if you plan to layer them with cream and fruit, let them cool to room temperature first. 

Lemon Shortcakes With Gingered Blueberries

granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling

baking powder

salt

unsalted

blueberries

25 grams chopped crystallized ginger

360 milliliters heavy cream, chilled

confectioners’ sugar (optional)

Heat the oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, the lemon zest, baking powder and salt. Add the butter and use your fingers to quickly flatten each piece of butter into the flour mixture. The butter should be pliant but not melty. If it starts to get too soft, refrigerate the mixture for a few minutes before moving on.

In another large bowl, whisk together the 1/2 cup/120 milliliters heavy cream with the lemon juice and egg until combined. Add the cream mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a fork until the dough is evenly moistened.

Tip the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper. Work it a few times, just to get the mixture to come together, but don’t overwork it. Pat the dough into a 5-inch square. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into two rectangles, then cut each rectangle crosswise into 3 pieces. Separate them on the parchment paper, slide the parchment paper onto a baking sheet and freeze for 15 minutes. 

Just before baking, brush the top of each shortcake with cream and sprinkle liberally with granulated sugar. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of one shortcake comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, smash 1/4 cup/35 grams of the blueberries. Add the remaining whole blueberries and crystallized ginger and toss to combine. Whip the cream to medium-stiff peaks with the confectioners’ sugar, if using.

To serve, split the shortcakes in half and top the bottom half with whipped cream and berries. Replace the top.

Learn how to make your own candied ginger with just 4 ingredients! It&#39;s perfectly sweet, citrusy, and tender!

Easy Candied Ginger

tsp salt

lime

Peel the ginger roots using a sharp kitchen peeler. Slice it into 1/4-inch thick slices. Some slices will be longer than others, but that&#39;s okay.

Transfer the sliced ginger to a large bowl and sprinkle with the salt. Stir to coat. Let it sit for about 30 minutes. The ginger will become slightly softer, and you should be able to slightly bend the slices without them breaking.

Rinse the ginger well. Fill a large pot of water and add the juice from half of the lime. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the ginger slices and boil for about 5 minutes. Drain the ginger and repeat this step once again.

Drain the ginger and transfer it to a deep plate or mixing bowl. Add the sugar and stir to coat. Cover with plastic film and let sit on the counter overnight or for at least 12 hours.

After 12 hours, the sugar will have melted and created a syrup. Add the ginger slices AND the syrup to a non-stick skillet. Heat over medium heat, stirring regularly, until the syrup starts to boil. Once boiling, keep stirring frequently until no more syrup remains (about 20 minutes).

Once no more liquid is in the skillet, remove from the heat and keep stirring using a spatula (or chopsticks). After 3-5 minutes, the sugar will crystallize, and you will see some powdered sugar forming. Now, you can transfer the candied ginger to a cooling rack and let it cool completely before transferring it to an airtight container.

Enjoy as a snack or in baked goods, salads, etc! Candied ginger will keep for up to 1 month stored in an airtight container at room temperature. After that, it tends to become a little bit firmer.

Shakira, the problem with using stevia, is that some recipies that call for candied ginger require the sugar for fermentation (i.e. ginger ale). Also, I do not think stevia turns into thick candy/syrup to make the crystalline coating that helps to preserve the ginger.  Remember, sugar is a natural perservative.

Why does this look so mouth-watering?!?
Can't wait to try this weekend. Thanks a lot!!!

The&nbsp;Dark ’n’ Stormy is a festive and fiery cocktail made with spicy ginger beer,&nbsp;warm dark rum and a refreshing hint of lime — a welcome wake-up call for your taste buds. This cookie recipe is no different. Cayenne joins the classic spice mix of ginger, cloves and cinnamon, and candied ginger, infused with dark rum, is mixed in, adding chewiness and sweetness. It’s all finished with a tart, refreshing lime-and-rum glaze. But perhaps the best part is that, unlike the cocktail, there is no limit to how many you should consume.&nbsp;

Dark ’n’ Stormy Cookies

60 grams dark rum

cloves

cayenne

kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)

lightly packed dark brown sugar

granulated sugar,

unsalted butter,

unsulphured molasses

eggs

powdered sugar

dark rum

lime juice

Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)

limes

NYT Cooking

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Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. Prop Stylist: Megan Hedgpeth.

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Heat oven to 350 degrees and line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Prepare the cookies: In a small bowl, combine the chopped crystallized ginger and rum, and cover with plastic wrap. Microwave for 90 seconds or until the rum starts to boil. Stir, cover again and set aside.

To a large bowl, add the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, ground cloves, cayenne and salt, and stir to combine. Set aside.

To a second large bowl, add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter and molasses. Use a wooden spoon to beat until the mixture becomes light in color, 4 to 5 minutes.

Add the eggs to the large bowl one at a time, mixing to incorporate each time. Add the dry ingredients in 3 batches, stirring after each to combine.

Strain any liquid from the bowl of crystalized ginger and discard, then add the ginger to the cookie dough and stir to evenly distribute.

Place about 1/2 cup granulated sugar on a plate. Roll 2 tablespoons of cookie dough in the sugar to coat it completely. Transfer to the baking sheet and gently press to slightly flatten. Repeat with the remaining dough, leaving 1 inch of space between cookies, with 8 cookies total on each baking sheet. Bake for exactly 12 minutes, and let cool on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Make the glaze: To a medium bowl, add the powdered sugar, dark rum,  lime juice and a big pinch of kosher salt. Whisk until smooth. Place the cooling rack on top of the parchment-lined baking sheet and line up all cookies so they touch. Dip the cookies face down into the glaze, then zest limes over to finish. Allow the glaze to dry fully before serving.

Wondering if anyone has suggestions for a non-alcoholic substitution for the rum?

Two comments regarding the cooking time: 1) at the header of the recipe it says 1 hour and 40 minutes! That’s a lot for a cookie. 2)Bake for exactly 12 minutes. C’mon. Any experienced baker knows that cookie baking time is highly variable due to oven, placement in oven, cookie sheets. Please give a visual readiness indicator.

Is there a non-alcoholic substitute for the run?

I don’t have a microwave - can I simmer in a pot on the stove ?

"Use a wooden spoon to beat until the mixture becomes light in color, 4 to 5 minutes."...is it OK to use a stand mixer?

Dip flat side into glaze by holding the edges of the cookies

@alison
I agree with you. Lining cookies touching would indicate pouring/drizzling icing over them. Since it says dip, then you would dip then place it face up on the rack and sprinkling garnish. Depending on how fast this icing dries, may have to do sprinkle each cookie before putting it on the rack.

Step 8 is confusing. We're dipping the cookies and then putting them back on top of the cooling rack, right?

https://vp.nyt.com/video/2025/11/24/155607_1_Dark-n-Stormy-Cookies-YT-VID_wg_480p.mp4

Jonathan Bang

Dark ‘n’ Stormy Cookies

“My main go-to cookie -- oh, my gosh, I thought you would never ask. The pignoli cookie is, like, Italian American. I’m also making peanut butter blossoms, you know that chewy peanut butter. I love a rainbow sprinkle. Put a rainbow sprinkle on my cookie. It’s called a cuccidati, which is a fig filled. I used to make those for my grandmother. And she would cry every time I made them. I have so many holiday cookie recipes in my purse.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “Hi, I’m Dan Pelosi. I’m a recipe developer, cookbook author. And this is my first time developing a cookie for Cookie Week with ‘The New York Times.’ I’m really excited, because today, we’re making my dark ‘n’ stormy cookie, which is inspired by the famous dark ‘n’ stormy cocktail. It’s really delicious. I’m not a huge drinker. But if I do order a cocktail, it’s typically the dark ‘n’ stormy This is a classic ginger cookie. It’s thick. It’s chewy. But much like ginger beer, it has a little bit of spiciness in the cookie itself. Plus, we’re infusing the sweetness of dark rum, both in the cookie and in the icing. And the icing also has plenty of nice lime juice in it. And we’ll top it all off with lime zest. It’s so delicious. Holiday cookies are at the heart of everything I do. I grew up in an Italian-American household. We start baking our holiday cookies right after Thanksgiving. We fill our tins. We keep them going all the way through January. Maria is bringing cookies to the other Maria’s house. It’s the most incredible Italian-American cookie experience. And I feel like I get to bring that to people through the work that I do, which makes me really excited. I’m so excited about this cookie. And I cannot wait to show you how to make it.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “The first thing we’re going to do, which might be my favorite part of the recipe, is we’re going to take some crystallized ginger -- which makes a delicious snack on its own. But we’re going to chop it up pretty finely. You want kind of small pieces in here. These are going to end up going into the cookie at the end and be these nice little chewy, gooey surprises. I have found crystallized ginger in the most magical places like the supermarket.” [LAUGHING] “It’s never where you want it to be, but it’s always there. As I was developing this cookie, I was trying to figure out how to get as much of that combo of rum and ginger, that spicy ginger flavor, into the cookie. And so I decided that taking some dark rum and infusing crystallized ginger by way of heating it up in the microwave was the way to go. You want to see some steam and some boiling, a little drama. The heating up the crystallized ginger allows it to absorb all of the rum and really brings that flavor into it. And then when you bake that into the cookie, it really adds that extra level. So this is really warm. It’s nice and steamy -- giving it a nice stir, pulling some of that liquid up. And then we’re just going to recover this, and let it sit for the time that it takes to do the rest of the recipe. So there probably won’t be very much liquid left. All right, girl, do your thing. While our ginger is marinating in the rum, we’re going to just mix all of our dry ingredients together.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “The most important ingredient and the thing that makes this cookie spicy and very dark ‘n’ stormy is the cayenne pepper. And you really taste it when you bite into this cookie. It’s really exciting. So now we’re going to mix our wet ingredients, some butter. This butter is nice and soft. We have two kinds of sugar, granulated -- which we have a little bit of. And we have more dark brown sugar because ginger cookie -- a very important ingredient, which is the unsulphured molasses. We are going to mix all of this with a nice, sturdy, wooden spoon. Nana always bakes with a wooden spoon. So I think that’s just going to get you the kind of resistance that you want. And we’re just going to stir all this by hand until it gets light and fluffy, which I know what you’re thinking. Why aren’t we using something electric to do this? I found that mixing by hand just makes a nice, thick cookie. Can you see the sheen of sweat forming on my forehead?” [LAUGHING] “It’s a workout. It sort of just starts to all come together. And you’ll notice there’s a little bit of a lighter color that comes Yeah, this is the consistency you’re looking for. It’s lighter. It’s brighter. It’s all coming together. It’s nice and thick. So now we’re going to incorporate one egg at a time. And this will just loosen up everything that we brought together.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “And then we’re going to add the flour in three little batches just until it’s incorporated. You don’t want to over mix. I think there’s something really nice and really honest about mixing it all by hand. Why does my hand hurt so much? Sign of weakness.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “That’s about combined. At this point, I’m going to throw in our magic ingredient, which is that boozy little bowl of crystallized ginger. You just don’t want any excess liquid getting into the dough, because it’ll just mess with the consistency -- gorgeous. Oh my gosh, it smells so good. We’re looking pretty good. So we have our dough that is totally ready to be formed into balls. We’re going to use a 2-tablespoon scoop. Or you can just use two tablespoons. And we are going to roll those into a plate of granulated sugar. And then we’re going to probably get around 24. Let’s see how we do. So I do a nice, even 2-tablespoon scoop. Toss them in my hand. And then I’m going to roll them around in here. When I plop them on the tray, I like to give them a little pat just to sort of say good luck, you got this, but also just to flatten them a little bit to help them shape as they bake.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “We’ve got 24 gorgeous little balls of dark ‘n’ stormy ginger cookie dough. I’m going to do eight cookies per sheet. You want them to be at least an inch apart. They will spread a bit but not too much. And these are going to bake for about 12 minutes at 350.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “I think they’re ready. Ooh, look at those crackly, gorgeous girls -- gorgeous! Mm, it smells so good. We’re going to let those cool a bit, transfer them. And we’re going to make some icing.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “This icing is so delicious, just the most perfect finish for the top of these cookies. We’re just simply going to pour the lime juice and the rum in here with a big pinch of salt. This is one of those things, because you’re not going to bake it, if you make it and you want to adjust the flavor a little bit, put a little bit more booze or less booze, by all means, go for it. You do want it to be kind of thick, though, because it will drip a little bit. And you don’t want to lose all the icing. So this is a really good consistency, a nice, thick ribbon. But that is just so pretty. Now, in order to ice the cookie, we’re going to take these crackly little beauties. And we’re just going to dip them face first into the icing. Toss it over. And that will just spread nicely. I’m just going to do a couple. And then I’m going to zest. Because you don’t want the icing to dry before the zest sticks. It looks kind of like an old-school gingersnap cookie -- gorgeous -- little bit of lime zest. Ugh, so pretty. And it also just gives a little hint of color. It’s like nature’s sprinkles -- so pretty. Let’s keep rolling. I always love holiday cookies, because they’re perfect for inviting people into the kitchen with you to make a mess and get creative. It just makes holiday baking that much more fun. Put those guests to work.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “When do we get to eat these? Anyone? Who gets to give me the thumbs up? I’m ready.” [LAUGHING] [MUSIC PLAYING] “I’m so excited. They’re ready. I’ve got the most beautiful plate of three, which is just to get my stomach started. They’ve got the perfect amount of cracks on the top -- the way that the icing just really highlights that. And then they’ve got the perfect texture on the inside. Oh, I’m so excited. I got to take a bite. There’s the little kick, that little bit of spice. You can eat as many of these as you want. Unlike a cocktail, you can just keep going, and going, and going with no repercussions. What I love about these, as well, is you can make the dough ahead of time. You can bake these a few days ahead. They’re only going to get better. They’re not a fussy cookie. I’m so excited about all of the Cookie Week cookie recipes, not only mine, but there’s so many other delicious recipes for you to make. And they’re all on nytcooking.com. I hope that you make them. I hope that you love them. And I hope that you share them with someone you love. No way! Oh, my God. I was writing about this in my dream journal. And here it is. Thank you. They’re all here? No. Oh, my gosh. Look at this. These are perfect. I’m so happy to be part of this little cooking family. You better cut, because this is going to get messy.” [LAUGHING] [MUSIC PLAYING]

This party-size dessert, with the distinct flavors of carrot cake and the unique squishy texture of butter mochi, is a mashup made in heaven. Butter mochi is a treat that’s on the table of just about any celebration in Hawaii and many families have their own safeguarded recipes. The gentle buttery flavor is quite versatile, lending itself to customization, like this generously spiced version that’s packed with toasted coconut, grated carrots and golden raisins. The tart cream cheese glaze gets showered in crystallized ginger and more toasted coconut, echoing their warm notes in the cake. Mochi’s going to be softest the same day it’s made, but keeps really well in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Carrot Cake Butter Mochi

90 grams shredded unsweetened coconut

rice

cardamom

(13.5-ounce) can/about 1⅔ cups full-fat coconut milk

eggs,

vanilla extract

freshly grated peeled ginger

carrots

golden raisins

cream cheese,

powdered sugar, sifted

lemon juice,

salt salt

¼ cup 40 grams chopped crystallized ginger

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David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

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Heat the oven to 350 degrees and arrange a rack in the center. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan then line with parchment paper. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, toast the shredded coconut for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until it starts to become lightly golden and fragrant. Immediately scrape into a bowl to cool completely. Wipe out the saucepan.

In the same medium saucepan, heat the butter over medium until it bubbles rapidly. Continue to cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until the bubbles become foamy and toasty brown flecks appear. Take it off the heat and use the spoon to scrape and release any browned bits off the bottom. Pour the browned butter into a medium heat-safe bowl and let cool slightly.

In a large bowl, whisk together the mochiko, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, ground ginger, cardamom and ½ cup/45 grams of the toasted coconut (reserve the remaining for the top). Make a small well in the center and set aside.

To the bowl with the browned butter, add the coconut milk, eggs, vanilla and grated ginger and whisk until evenly combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the well of the dry ingredients, and whisk thoroughly until no lumps or dry pockets remain. Using a flexible spatula, fold in the grated carrots and raisins until evenly distributed.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spread evenly and bake for 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes, until the top is crackly and golden brown, and the sides start to pull away from the pan.

Let cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then flip it over onto a cutting board, remove the parchment and flip again onto a wire rack so the top is facing up to cool completely, 30 to 45 minutes.

Prepare the cake:

In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon juice and salt, starting slowly until everything comes together, then whisking more vigorously until no lumps remain and the glaze is the texture of plain yogurt. (If the glaze is too thick, add a teaspoon of lemon juice at a time and whisk to desired texture.) Pour the glaze over the cooled cake and smooth it into an even layer, then top with the reserved toasted coconut and the chopped crystallized ginger.

Cut the mochi into squares and serve immediately. Store any leftovers in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Make the glaze: 

I love cakes that use mochi flour, so this felt like a wonderful match for a carrot cake. It was really easy to make, and the result was not only really beautiful to look at, but delicious to boot. My family keeps having two or three servings each time.
It's chewy with a little bounce to it, and it's surprisingly not as sweet as I would have expected. Would definitely make again.

I’m convinced the negative comments here are from people who either simply don’t like mochi or somehow messed up this recipe, because I made it pretty much as written (used sweetened coconut because it was all I had and decreased the sugar a bit to compensate) and got exactly what I was expecting! Chewy, spicy, carrot-y, all around terrific. Delicious on its own, but I bet it’d be even more incredible with a cup of tea.

I made this minus raisins minus icing and it was perfectly sweet for us! Thanks for the recipe

I made it as written. I’ve never had butter mochi but come to think of it, the pairing of butter and mochi doesn’t appeal to me. As others have posted here, it was hard to cut with the hard edges and the entire slab was the height of a brownie, a very low brownie at that. I wouldn’t call it a cake. The predominant note was the chewiness. I did not taste the carrots so I’m thinking I should have really packed the grated carrots in the measuring cup. In terms of taste, I primarily tasted the coconut. Also, the lemony glaze, which I found very good and I’ll make again for cookies calling for icing. But I didn’t like the chewiness at all. I agree with the comment that this was time consuming to make. Also, the ingredients were not cheap collectively.

Made this for Easter brunch and overall it was good! Next time I would skip the lemon in the cream cheese frosting (cream cheese has a bit of acidity by itself anyway) and sub milk because I think the citrus flavor clashed a bit with the mochi.

It's okay.  So why all the rave reviews? Maybe they are all Tootsie Roll fanatics.  It's very "chewy".  The icing is heavy too.  I used the special recommended rice flour too.  So, I made it once...and I'm done.  I'll take a traditional carrot cake over this heavy dish every day...and twice on Sunday.

This recipe requires further research and development in the test kitchen. Fresh from the oven, the texture was already akin to tough rubber.

And the flavor profile is overly complex. Cinnamon, coconut, ground ginger, grated ginger, cardamom, and carrots — it sounds intriguing on paper, but in reality, the flavors did not harmonize well.

As for the cream cheese lemon glaze, I had my doubts. Do carrot and lemon complement each other? Trust me, they do not.

Delicious. Left out most of the ground ginger based on comments about it being "too gingery," this was a mistake. Will use recipe amounts of both next time. The tang of cream cheese in the glaze was delicious but it took the sweetness level nearly over the top. Left out raisins because I don't like them. For fellow high altitude dwellers: at 5Kft, reduced sugar for the cake by about 20 g and baking powder to 1.5 tsp = perfect rise and texture.

Loved the recipe and it was a hit but I did have to double the frosting recipe, FYI!

Really delicious, everyone had seconds! The glaze is an absolute must.

I baked this recipe in two 8-inch cake rounds for about 50 min around 365 F (poor temp control on my oven). The top was quite dry and crackly, and the edges were tough to cut – but the inside was delightfully and perfectly chewy. The raisins add great texture as well.

I used a generic glutinous rice flour instead of Mochiko. When weighing it out, I realized it was way past 3 cups at 440g. I stopped there, and next time I'd measure by volume rather than weight if not using Mochiko. Despite this hiccup, it turned out quite well!

I used sweetened coconut instead and cut the sugar down to 1 cup and 1/4 cup. I also frosted half only (for those that like less sweet). Didn’t have powdered sugar so did a maple ginger frosting instead. Delicious!

@Kristin in AK i’ve had good luck with soaking dried fruit in warm water (or juice, liqueur, etc.) to soften it up. somehow there always seem to be two overly dried figs left in the package from whatever recipe i tried last.

Nice Mochi texture. Love the ginger bite on top - could have used more. Mine were a little tough at the edges - even after the shorter end of the cooking time in a glass 9x13. These are pretty thin - like a brownie rather than a cake - I might try in a smaller pan for a petit four effect next time. My golden raisins had aged to brown in the cabinet and the store was out - I should have omitted them or subbed with apricots - next time. Would have been plenty sweet without them.

Mine was done in 40 minutes. The time in the recipe does seem quite long.

This is going to be my new potluck dessert. I got rave reviews when I brought this to work for a birthday.

I made this for Easter and it was a huge hit!! Multiple family members told me multiple times how good it was (this from Boomers not known to have adventurous palates). I accidentally made the following changes to it (due to forgetting or not having things):

only about 1/2 tsp cinnamon 
heaping 1/2 tsp cardamom 
no golden raisins
no candied ginger

With this spice balance the cardamom was really the star, but not overpowering.

The minute I saw this recipe posted I gasped, pretty much sprinted to the grocery store, and whipped it up for a party my roommates and I hosted this evening. Two of my favorite desserts in one?! Incredible. It was a giant hit and guests took seconds and thirds! Thank you, Vaughn, for this delightful recipe!

@Texas Annie
A one pound box Koda Farms Mochiko is 454 grams, so the recipe uses the entire box.

@J Mochiko is a brand of glutinous rice flour

@Georgette P.-1 tablespoon of flaxseed w 3 Tbsp of water, let it set up. So, 1 tablespoon equals one egg.

Delicious chewy. Used dates instead of golden raisins. The dates were chopped fine and mashed into the heated butter. I used half sugar and was quite sweet. Overall delicious snack without the glaze.

@CA. mochiko is the rice flour, many brands produce it.

So the parchment stays put on the bottom of the pan and thus doesn't slide around when you're trying to even out and smooth the batter before it goes into the oven.

@J just remember to look for sweet rice flour. It makes a difference.

ooh it's gluten free. anyone know how to make this egg free? I know, I know. i wish I could do eggs.

Can plant based butter be used without compromising the uniqueness. I use Melt brand butter in cooking and baking but this seems like a unique blend resulting in a different textured cake.

Glutinous rice flour, sweet rice flour, and mochiko are generally the same product.

Made this last night (sans raisins) and it was AWESOME. The chewy texture is addictive and Is great room temp or straight from the fridge.

@JuliaI felt exactly the same when I saw the recipe. As soon as I get my hands on some Mochico I will be making it. Thank you, Vaughn!!!

https://vp.nyt.com/video/2026/03/27/164621_1_Bake-time-Carrot-Cake-Butter-Mochi-YT-VID_wg_480p.mp4

Matthew Young

[SENSUOUS MUSIC] “Hello, everybody. I’m Vaughn. Welcome back to another episode of ‘Bake Time.’ I’m very excited because the fog is lifting. The seasonal depression is dissipating. The flowers are blooming. And I’m just ready to bake up some happy. So today, for ‘Bake Time,’ I’m going to be making carrot-cake butter mochi. What is butter mochi? It is this dessert that’s just chewy and dense and sticky and springy, but it’s not heavy. The glutinous rice flour makes it very chewy, which I really, really love. I made more of a cream-cheese-style glaze. It’s got lemon juice to cut it. It’s really, really good on top of it. Butter mochi is kind of a descendant of a Filipino bibingka, which is in this category of snacking cakes. And it is something that’s pretty ubiquitous for parties, celebrations, get-togethers in Hawaii. There are a lot of really great Hawaiian chefs and authors who have written about butter mochi. We have a couple recipes on New York Times Cooking that I was able to go off of. And I just really wanted to do right by this treat that is so integral to a specific culture. So I thought about the work of Chef Sheldon Simeon, who is a Hawaiian chef. And he has really riffed on butter mochi, it seems, and so I chatted with him.” “I’m excited to talk about butter mochi because it’s definitely a heated debate in people’s recipe books in Hawaii.” “And it was really great. He had a lot of amazing things to say about how not only this thing that is very ever-present in Hawaiian culture, but is also evolved from this beautiful melting pot of different cultures that exist in Hawaii.” “It is one of the quintessential desserts at a Hawaii party, at a potluck. It’s a mash-up between cultures. I see Filipino aunts making these glutinous rice desserts, sitting around the table, and wrapping them in banana leaves. We still celebrate, in Hawaii, the pounding of mochi during the New Year’s. I don’t want butter mochi to be just a trend. I think it’s a dessert that is deserving on the family table, or even at the highest of culinary arts.” “In the Venn diagram of carrot cake and butter mochi, where does this exist in the middle? How much of its DNA is carrot cake, and how much of its DNA is butter mochi? To me, it was more important to have the flavors of carrot cake, but still be butter mochi as a treat. I had a ton of fun working on this recipe, and I’m very excited to show it to all of you. So let’s get going. [SIGHS]: The moment of truth, peeling and grating.” [PLEASANT MUSIC] “So that’s 2 cups of carrots. Peel and grate some ginger. O.K. Woo! I’m going to toast up some coconut just toasty enough to where it releases its oils a little bit and starts to get some better flavor. So I just have this over a medium-low heat, and I’m going to stir constantly because I just want to make sure that no one shred of coconut is actually making contact with the bottom of the pan longer than any other one. This is a cup of coconut. Half of it’s going to actually go in the batter, and then the other half we’re going to reserve for the topping. Once I started to see most of it get really nice and lightly golden brown, that’s when I took it off because I didn’t want it to burn. Now we’re mise’d. I’m going to butter and line my pan, lay my parchment down here, and just like I always do, get all of the air bubbles out. Grease it up like a pig at the county fair. Now I’m going to brown the butter. I tested this recipe without the brown butter, and it was good. It was just lacking a little bit of depth. I think this brings that nice little nutty toastiness to the actual butter mochi itself. It’s very vigorously bubbling right now. All that water is trying to escape. And then what you’re left with is basically the fat or the clarified butter and the milk solids, and then that fat is going to toast the milk solids. My first tests scared me a little bit with how wet they were. I brought it over to my friend’s house. Test 1’s raw. [CRINGES]: O.K., troubleshooting. This is just the first test. I underestimated how underbaked it would be. The second test -- I think it looks good. Clean. After that, I really got my wits about me. This looks, already, so much better. I am trying to mitigate the amount of moisture that I actually put into this, so I’m not adding any moisture back into the butter. Science. We’re going to mix all of our wet ingredients and our dry ingredients together separately. The wet goes into the dry. Bing, bang, boom. We bake. So, into the brown butter, I’m going to add some full-fat coconut milk. Very important that it’s full-fat. Two eggs, vanilla. Add my ginger. And then I’m just going to whisk it, making sure that I break up those yolks and that everything is very, very evenly mixed together, very homogeneous. You want it to look like a custard. That’s basically what it is. It’s like a coconut milk custard. This is my glutinous rice flour, Mochiko. There’s blue-star Mochiko, which is the one that I always see in my Japanese grocery store or H Mart. I am going to add a little bit of sugar in here. Now, sugar is a wet ingredient, but here I’m going to add it with a dry just so that the sugar gets nicely broken up as I’m mixing it. A little bit of cinnamon, some ground ginger. I like when recipes have both freshly grated and ground ginger in it because I feel like it just really reinforces that punchy, spicy vibe. And then this is just a little bit of ground cardamom, some baking powder. It doesn’t rise too totally much in the oven, but it does need a little bit of baking powder to give it some activation. Some kosher salt, and then I’m going to mix this together. I’m going through and really distributing all those spices, the baking powder, the sugar. I like to add the coconut separately just so, sometimes, I can make sure that everything else is more evenly distributed. Make a little bit of a divot or a well in the center. Pour my wet ingredients into my dry. You see those little toasty brown flecks left in there? That is flavor. That’s all flavor, baby. Take you to Flavor Town. That’s from the brown butter. So, sometimes that can sink to the bottom of the wet ingredients, and you want to make sure that you get all of that in there. So I’m going to give this a nice whisk. It really only takes a second to get it all incorporated, but you want to make sure it’s really, really smooth. And then, right as we start to see some of those last little pockets of dry ingredients start to dissipate, you’re almost there. But I do want to make sure that it’s really well mixed. My carrots. I love golden raisins. I think golden raisins are fantastic because they just have a little bit more punch to them, in my opinion. This just goes into our prepared 9-by-13.” [PLEASANT MUSIC] “So it’s in the corners, and it looks gorgeous. Into the oven we go. And we need a towel that says ‘mochi.’” [CRICKETS CHIRPING] “So this is a standard cream-cheese glaze, one that you might find on a cinnamon roll recipe, for example. I brought it into the office, and everybody was like, basically, this is a vessel for this frosting. I’m very excited to report that people liked it. I’ve always liked to sift powdered sugar whenever I’m making frosting, just to -- lump control. Just take this whisk and work the powdered sugar in there. It’s going to take a minute to get it going. But then, once you start to actually get the cream cheese and the powdered sugar workable, it will thin out pretty easily. A little bit of salt. I’m going to add probably 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, but I’m going to start with just 1. I cheeked it, so there’s no seeds in there. And then you use the whisk. You can see that it’s already gotten a lot thinner. The more you agitate cream cheese, it actually becomes thinner. I’m held at a V shape there. I want it to drizzle down into itself a little bit more, as more of a glaze, so I’m going to add just a tiny bit more lemon juice. Yeah, that’s good. I mean, the frosting’s done. All we got to do is frost. [SCOFFS] Ooh, ah. I’m seeing that it’s pulling away from the edges, and the cake tester is clean.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “So I’m going to let this cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, and then I’m going to flip it out onto a wire rack to cool completely. All right, y’all. We’ve got this cooled cake here. And it’s so sturdy that, honestly, I can just pick it up and move it to wherever I need it to go. Obviously, be very careful, but it’s all about confidence. Basically, all I’m going to do is spread this all over. Oh, man.” [PLEASANT MUSIC] “I’m not going to be too precious about it, but I just really want to make sure that it’s even. Sprinkle it with some toasted coconut, and it gets a really generous amount of it on there. Some chopped, crystallized ginger, which just adds like an extra bit of chew. And also, it just really reinforces that spiciness that you already get in the cake.” [PLEASANT MUSIC] “Oh my god, this looks so good. So I cut it just into 12 even squares. Since this is a 9-by-13, it’s about 3-inch squares. I think that this is an appropriate size for a serving of cake. But if you’re serving it at a potluck, for example, or big gathering with a lot of people, this would feed, easily, 20-plus people. You could cut each of these into bars. You could cut them into smaller squares. I don’t really eat it with a fork, usually, but I guess I got to be ladylike in public and do it.” [PLEASANT MUSIC] “Mm, mm! It’s like all the things you love about a carrot cake, which is the flavor -- you still get those bits of carrot in there -- and all of the textures you love about butter mochi. And I love how coconut-y it is. I love that little pop of spice from the ground ginger, the freshly grated ginger, the crystallized ginger on top. It all works super well together, and it’s really balanced. And then that cream-cheese frosting is something else. I’ll tell you what, it’s really good. I honestly probably would have added even a little bit more lemon juice to it to give it a bit more tang, but I liked the consistency I was at with this one. You know how, when you’re eating marshmallows, you’re just like, this is so fun to eat because it’s chewy and sticky, but also really soft and supple? That’s exactly what this is.” “It is one of those dishes that just makes you feel good. That’s why we live here in Hawaii, man. Trying to make everyone feel good, and striving for that Aloha spirit at all times.” [PLEASANT MUSIC] “I cannot wait for people to experience making butter mochi for the first time if they haven’t. It is just a really fun and easy and crowd-pleasing dessert. If you make it, share it with me -- baketime@nytimes.com, tag on Instagram. You’ll probably be featured in my newsletter/you could end up like one of these people, who made the March monthly bake, the Guinness chocolate cake. And you’ll get your photo immortalized in a YouTube video. Who doesn’t want that? Sign up for my newsletter, also called ‘Bake Time,’ because you will get this recipe for free. All of our monthly bake recipes are free if you subscribe to the newsletter. And you do not have to be a New York Times Cooking subscriber to subscribe to the newsletter, but you should be. For this recipe and a bunch of other great recipes, including other fantastic butter mochi recipes, head to nytcooking.com. Download the app. Sign up for the newsletter. Do all the things. We’re a real multimedia experience here. It’s warm outside. Let’s have a party. Let’s eat this butter mochi.” [LAUGHS] [PLEASANT MUSIC]

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