I got a super good question last week about how mochi would come out in different pans. Once that question was posted, I knew I had to do an experiment of my own! Baking mochi in a cupcake pan would yield single servings of mochi…and with that…plenty massive crust pieces. A lot of my coworkers enjoy the edge pieces so I had to give this a try.

I made a butter recipe that is made for a 13 x 9 pan. I followed this recipe from ‘Ono Kine Grindz: Butter Mochi!

Mini Cupcake Pan – I tried to not fill each too full in case the mochi rises.

Finished Product – Mini Cupcake Pan
350 Degree Oven – 35 Minutes (this was with a cupcake pan and a 9 x 9 pan as well)

Look at how brown and crusty each piece was! I made it the night before and served it up to the office guinea pigs…and guess what? All the crust loving folks loved the mini cupcake version of the mochi! To me…it’s like all crust but still has a bit of softness inside.

Caveats: Even though it’s butter mochi, the mochi pieces definitely stuck onto the pan. I had to really scrape each piece out…and then I had to let the pan soak before I could get out all the crust residue. Was it worth the trouble? I wouldn’t say so….

Cupcake Pan – I filled this one up a bit more than the mini cupcake pan. It worked out okay!

Finished Product – Cupcake Pan
350 Degree Oven – 43 Minutes (this was with a mini cupcake pan and a 9 x 9 pan as well)

I enjoyed this version a bit more. It has the nice brown edges but still remains nice and soft inside…and it’s a bigger piece! The mini cupcake pan has too small servings…haha

9 x 9 Pan: Leftover Mochi Batter after Cupcake and Mini Cupcake Pan

Finished Product – 9 x 9 Pan
350 Degree Oven – 43 Minutes (this was with a mini cupcake pan and a cupcake pan as well)

That’s another caveat to this recipe, I had leftover batter so I had to use another pan. Thankfully I have this smaller pan, the pieces came out good but a bit thin for my taste.

Another picture of the mochi pieces. Do you see how the mini cupcake mochi is separated? I feel like it gets a bit dry so as I tried to take the mochi pieces out of the pan, the top crust separated from the bottom piece. If I had to make this mini cupcake version again, I would start checking the doneness earlier. I would probably start checking at 20 minutes with a toothpick.

So what do you think? Do you think you would try any of these options? I wish I had more than one cupcake pan, then I would make this recipe again. I don’t want to wait 40 minutes each batch to make it then have to wash the pan and start it over again!