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Home / Recipes / Mochi

Sakura Mochi Recipe: Easy Pink Cherry Blossom Rice Cakes

Last Updated: Dec 28, 2022 · Author: Juliet Huang · Jump to Recipe

Sakura mochi is an exquisite traditional Japanese dessert usually eaten in Spring. That’s when cherry blossoms bloom. It is also well-known for fans of Genshin Impact as a food item that restores health in the video game.

The revival qualities may be debatable in real-life, but the sweet pink delicacy is easy to make and a visual delight for tired eyes.  In this article, we’ll teach you how to make these pretty pink cherry blossom rice cakes at home based on time-tested traditional recipes. 

Adorable pink sakura mochis
The perfect light Japanese snack your tastebuds will appreciate! | Image from the_blurblursotong
Jump to:
  • What is sakura mochi made of?
  • What does it taste like
  • When is it eaten
  • How to eat 
  • Calories
  • Sakura mochi ingredients
  • How to make sakura mochi
  • Cooking Tips
  • How to store
  • Sakura Mochi Recipe | Cherry Blossom Rice Cakes
  • Sakura Mochi Recipe (Kanto Style)
  • Conclusion

What is sakura mochi made of?

Sakura mochi is a confectionery (or wagashi in Japanese) of sticky glutinous rice filled with sweet red bean paste, then wrapped in a salty pickled cherry blossom leaf. 

Cherry blossom rice cake on red plate
Cherry blossom rice cake wrapped in a salty pickled cherry leaf. | Image from sacresucre24

There are two different styles of making it. The Kansai style in Western Japan uses coarsely broken rice called domyojiko. This glutinous rice is dried and broken into smaller pieces. The recipe for Kansai style sakura mochi is in the first recipe box. 

Eastern Japan practices the Kanto style, which uses shiratamako, a sweet glutinous rice flour. As a result, the final presentation looks like a rolled-up mini pancake. This recipe is in the second recipe box further in the article. 

What does it taste like

Sakura Mochi is a pleasant mix of contrasting flavours. Outside, the papery leaf is mildly salty, juxtaposing the sticky rice that wraps around the red bean filling.  It is not very sweet. The wagashi tastes just slightly honeyed and with rich, earthy undertones on the inside. 

When is it eaten

​​In Japan, many people traditionally associate this pink cherry blossom dessert with the 3rd of March, which is Girl’s Day or Doll’s Day. Known as Hinamatsui, this is an unofficial holiday that the Japanese dedicated to girls and their families. 

On the 3rd of March,  Japanese households with young daughters usually decorate their homes with ornamental dolls disposed on red-cloth covered platforms. The dolls symbolise the girls’ prosperity, health and, traditionally, a stable and prosperous marriage. They also eat many sweets, including the pastel pink sakura mochi. 

It is also eaten throughout Spring when the cherry blossoms bloom. The wagashi is reported to have been invented in 1717 in Tokyo but slowly evolved into two different cooking styles. 

Sakura mochi recipe with sakura flower
Delectable Sakura mochi desserts | Image from guidablejapan

How to eat 

We recommend serving this Japanese pinkish dessert with light, fragrant green tea. For this, we recommend enjoying it with the nutty, toasty genmaicha or hojicha.

The leaves are preserved in salt to extend their shelf life, so you’ll have to soak them to get rid of excess salt. The leaves keep the wagashi from drying out. It also gives it a light cherry blossom fragrance.

However, are the sakura mochi leaves edible? The Japanese Wagashi Association recommends not eating cherry blossom leaves. So, in short, it is not meant for consumption.

Another tip is to have this freshly made Japanese dessert at room temperature because the rice dries out once refrigerated.  Otherwise, you have to wrap the wagashi tightly in plastic before refrigerating, so the rice does not harden. 

Pink rice cake served with green tea
Sweet pinkish mochi paired with refreshing green tea | Image from cookingwithyoshiko

Calories

One piece of sakura mochi is about 140 calories, with 94% carbohydrates. 

Sakura mochi ingredients

These are the key ingredients that you need to make the wagashi. In addition, you will need picked cherry blossom leaves, sweet red bean paste, glutinous rice and food colouring for the sakura mochi pigmentation. 

While Kansai and Kanto style uses different types of rice, you can buy Japanese short-grain glutinous rice or ‘mochigome’ for both. This ingredient is the same grain type used to make the traditional Kagami mochi and conventional red bean daifuku snacks.

Do not ground the grains so finely if you are making it Kansai-style. You can also use long-grain Thai rice, but the texture will taste different. So, we do not recommend using it unless there are no alternatives. 

To create the sweet pink sakura mochi, you can use red food colouring, but you can also try dragon fruit powder or beetroot juice. You can buy all these ingredients from Amazon or find them in most Asian stores.

Buy pickled cherry blossom leaves from Asian stores during cherry blossom season or buy them online. Ready-made red bean paste, or Anko, should be easy to find at Japanese grocery stores. However, if you want to make it from scratch, check out the red bean paste recipe we have on our website. 

Sakura mochi kanto style
Kanto’s version of this irresistible dessert | Image from noviza_ramadhan

How to make sakura mochi

To make sakura mochi, you’ll need to rinse sweet rice with running water and soak overnight first. Then, wash your sakura leaves for about 15 minutes. Next, if you prepared your red bean paste, roll out red bean balls for the filling. Next, incrementally add food colouring to the rice to get a lovely pale pink before covering and microwaving it. 

Lastly, divide the rice. At this step, you either cook and fold the rice over the red bean (Kansai style) or mix the grains into a smooth batter to fry. Once fried, wrap them around the red bean paste balls (Kanto style). When you have shaped all the balls, wrap a sakura leaf around each and serve at room temperature. 

Cooking Tips

  • To get the perfect sakura mochi, it is a good idea to plan ahead of time. You need to soak the sweet rice overnight, or at least one hour. Soaking ensures the grains will cook and absorb moisture evenly. 
  • The rice is sticky once cooked, so use plastic wrap to stuff the red bean paste inside. 
  • Another tip is to soak the cherry blossom leaf to get rid of excess salt, as they are initially soaked in salt for preservation before being sold. 
  • The final tip is to gradually add food colouring until it reaches the colour you like. Try not to add too much at first.  
three cherry blossom dessert pieces on black wooden plate
Deliciously sweet cherry blossom dessert. | Image from palmmettostudio

How to store

We suggest that you consume sakura mochi immediately, but make sure they are in an airtight container if you have to store them. Wrap tightly with plastic cling wrap before storing, and they can last for about three days without the rice hardening. 

Sakura mochi recipe with sakura flower

Sakura Mochi Recipe | Cherry Blossom Rice Cakes

In this section, we’ll find out how to make the Kansai-Style Sakura Mochi recipe. This recipe serves six people. It takes 5 minutes preparation time (not including the red bean paste) and a cook time of 40 minutes. One piece is about 140 calories.
Author: Juliet Huang
4.97 from 52 votes
Print Pin
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: dessert, rice cakes
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 145kcal
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1¾ cups water
  • Red food colouring
  • 300 g mochigome sweet rice
  • 1 cup red bean paste
  • 6 pcs pickled sakura leaves rinsed and patted dry

Equipment

Rice cooker

Instructions

  • Wash the rice thoroughly. Combine water with 1–2 drops of food colouring.
    Mix the rice with red food colouring
  • Combine the washed mochigome and coloured water in a rice cooker to cook the rice. Stir to combine, then fill with additional water as needed until it is above the rice level. Let it soak for 1 hour, then cook on the glutinous rice setting.
    Cook the rice
  • Portion the Anko into six equal pieces and roll them into balls. Set aside. Mash the cooked rice into a paste. If there are some unbroken rice grains, leave it be. Let the sakura mochi rice mixture cool.
    Portion the red bean paste
  • Place a sheet of plastic wrap on a work surface. Then, scoop ¼ cup of cooked rice into the centre. Next, place one Anko ball in the centre of the rice, and fold the rice over the top.
    Wrap the anko ball with the cooked rice
  • Use the plastic wrap to seal and press the ball into an oval shape. Wrap a pickled cherry blossom leaf around it, with the tip end of the leaf towards you. Repeat the steps to make more sakura mochi. 
    Wrap the rice ball with the pickled cherry blossom leaf

Notes

You can add sugar to the mixture, stirring it into the rice for extra sweetness. Spritz water on the surface before assembling the wagashi so the rice does not stick to the plastic. 

Nutrition

Calories: 145kcalCarbohydrates: 32gProtein: 3gSodium: 3mgPotassium: 29mgFiber: 1gSugar: 9gCalcium: 12mg

Calories have been calculated using an online calculator. Nutritional information offered on Honest Food Talks is for general information purposes and are only rough estimations.

Tried this recipe?Follow us @honestfoodtalks for more delicious recipes!

YouYouMoment on Youtube has made a charming video recipe on how to prepare this Japanese wagashi. We recommend watching her video to understand the entire process of how to make it Kansai-style!

Sakura Mochi Japanese Traditional Sweets/Postre japones/桜餅/さくらもち/樱饼
kanto style cherry blossom rice cake

Sakura Mochi Recipe (Kanto Style)

Here, we’ll learn how to make the Kanto version of the sakura mochi recipe. The Kanto version looks like crepe and uses shiratamako. This recipe serves 15. It takes 5 minutes to prepare (excluding Anko) and 30 minutes to cook. One piece is about 140 calories.
Author: Juliet Huang
5 from 7 votes
Print Pin
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: dessert, rice cakes
Servings: 15 servings
Calories: 85kcal
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 100 g cake flour
  • 25 g Shiratamako
  • Red food colouring
  • 250 ml Water
  • 300 g Red bean paste
  • 15 pcs Pickled sakura leaves rinsed and patted dry

Instructions

  • Sift the powdery ingredients into a bowl, add water slowly, and whisk until it forms a smooth batter. Add red food colouring into the mixture. Then cover the sakura mochi dough with cling wrap and rest for ten minutes.
  • While the flour is resting, form the red bean paste into 15 balls.
  • Heat a frying pan on medium and scoop the batter into the pan. Remove it to spread into an oval shape before returning it to the frying pan. When the dough looks dry and semi-transparent, flip it. Cook the other side, then let it cool. 
  • Place the red bean into the dough when you’ve cooked both sides. Wrap the dough crepe-style around the red bean. Then wrap a cherry blossom leaf around it. Repeat the steps to make more sakura mochi. 

Notes

You can add sugar to the mixture, stirring it into the rice for extra sweetness.

Nutrition

Calories: 85kcalCarbohydrates: 19gProtein: 2gSodium: 1mgPotassium: 8mgFiber: 1gSugar: 10gCalcium: 6mg

Calories have been calculated using an online calculator. Nutritional information offered on Honest Food Talks is for general information purposes and are only rough estimations.

Tried this recipe?Follow us @honestfoodtalks for more delicious recipes!

Conclusion

Whether you make it Kansai or Kanto style, your sakura mochi will turn out appealing as a teatime snack.

If you’re looking for an easier Japanese mochi recipe, start by learning how to make mochi with our guide!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. J

    February 14, 2022 at 12:21 pm

    5 stars
    Is there a way to make this using long grain rice? like Basmati

    Reply
    • Ruiz

      February 21, 2022 at 10:34 am

      5 stars
      Hi J,

      We do not recommend using long grain rice as the texture and flavour of the treat will turn out very different. Short grain rice works best as it has the stickiness and slightly sweet taste that suits this recipe.
      Hope this helps!

      - Ruiz from HFT

      Reply
  2. Quin

    February 07, 2022 at 10:43 am

    5 stars
    Ive only ever seen the Kantou version, but the Kansai version is so much more kawaii ^^ looking forward to make this in the coming sakura hanami season

    Reply
  3. Saki

    January 10, 2022 at 10:07 pm

    5 stars
    My mum's friend used to make these for me and my sister when we were young. Thanks for bringing back a bit of nostalgia 🙂

    Reply

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