Sakura Mochi Recipe: Easy Pink Cherry Blossom Rice Cakes

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.  

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. 

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

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!