Notes on Mochi Cornbread

A behind-the-scenes look at how a scribbled idea turns into a chewy cake

Aug 25, 2025

∙ Paid

Two weeks ago, I scribbled the words “mochi + cornbread?” on a cooking to-do list. That’s how most things in my kitchen begin: a hunch, a craving, a little boop of curiosity. What follows is the process of how I go from idea to reality. A behind-the-scenes glimpse at my kitchen research and development process.

Hatching an idea

My creative process in the kitchen is like a stream of consciousness, or maybe more like a game of whack-a-mole? Either way, ideas will manage to crawl and fight their way through the layers goop that take up space in my brain until they finally make it to the surface.

I know they’ve have made it out of the funhouse and into my to consciousness when I instinctively reach for a yellow legal pad (the kind our mom always used) and furiously jot down the dish before I lose it. Luckily, when one idea escapes anywhere from two to five others usually follow on its heels.

Turns out mochi in the form of cornbread is not something I invented (duh). A quick Goog search brought me to a recipe by Frankie Gaw, a food creator and James Beard Award winner I greatly admire for his ingenuity and all around excellent vibes.

His recipe for mochi cornbread felt like it would be just the right starting point for my research.

My thinking

This thing was going to need to be chewy. Like chewy enough to really scratch that itch - that primal need humans have to work their jaws (probably related to our ancestors chomping on raw meat, and roots, and stalks etc). Give me a cake I can really gnaw on, I always say.

So now I’m chasing that white whale of chewiness, and this mochi cornbread needed to fit the bill.

A few things from Frankie’s recipe were non-negotiable. The idea to brown the butter giving cornbread some nuttiness, felt essential. BUT most butter mochi cakes use either coconut milk or condensed milk and I had neither. SO I worked with the alternative I had at home, which meant whole milk and some labneh. My thinking is that combo would help make up for the fat and moisture issue.

The addition of sweet, jammy fruit was always part of my plan, inspired by a peach cornbread I made last summer that I still think about.

But first, the research

Mochiko (glutinous rice flour made from short-grain rice grown in Japan) is one of those magical single-ingredient game changers. It transforms texture into chewy and bouncy.

I don’t always do a ton of research before I try new recipes, but in this case I wanted to better understand the star ingredient. So I scanned a few mochi cake recipes, and dove into the science of why humans love chewy textures so damn much. Turns out chewing increases blood flow to the brain, which boosts oxygen and energy delivery. So that checks out.

The execution

I must admit, I’m not great at following recipes to the letter. When I’m riffing, as I was here, I intentionally like to keep it loose. What do I mean? I use the foundational ingredients as they are intended but leave space for new ideas to flood in as well.

At one point, I thought about infusing the butter with cardamom (that’s happening next time) or macerating the fruit to use as a bottom layer for a bigger, dramatic reveal.

But in the end, I reeled myself back. I wanted to get my head around a proof of concept first: Mochi Cornbread, just as I’d originally imagined it. That was the goal, so I baked.

The result

I’ve now made a few versions. With fresh strawberries, frozen strawberries, and various stone fruits, and grapes. One had miso for savory depth, another used tahini for a nutty edge. All have been fantastic, each in their own way.

Below, I’m leaving you the base recipe and a few notes on my variations. Consider this your starting point. Bake your own version, tweak it, follow your instincts. Wrap your head (and hands) around it, and see what journey it takes you on.