Last Updated on January 11, 2020 by Chef Mireille
Mushi Pan – Japanese Steamed Cakes – Light and fluffy lightly sweetened steamed cakes are great for tea time or breakfast.
In Asia, having an oven isn’t as standard as it is here in the US. Therefore, most Asian countries have some form of steamed cake like Filipino Puto or Malaysian Puteri Ayu. The texture of these cakes are very light and fluffy. They also require less fat and are barely sweet when compared to oven baked cakes, so is a bit healthier when your sweet tooth comes alive!
Mushi Pan is the Japanese version of these steamed cakes. You can find them in a variety of flavors from traditional ones like plain, green tea and sweet potato to modern flavors like chocolate and a savory one which become very popular when it started in the 1980’s – cheese and corn.
I went with traditional Asian flavors of green tea and black sesame. However – go crazy and add whatever flavor you like to them. Nowadays, you can find dried fruit powders in so many flavors if you live in a foodie town, like I do. If you have one of these shops near you, get some fruit powders and you can make mushi pan in so many flavors.
These are soft and definitely kid friendly. Make lots of colorful flavors and it’s a great idea to serve for children’s birthday parties! They’ll be a hit!
I got 3 mushi pan from each batter, however I overstuffed my muffin molds and ended up with lopsided mushi pan, not that it effected the taste one bit! When you make them, only half fill the muffin molds and you will get mushi pan that look better than these. However, since the lop sided mushi pan didn’t offend me, I didn’t think you would be offended either and hope you try them anyway!
I have written the recipe below to yield 4 mushi pan for each flavor of batter.
These are barely sweetened, so perfect for tea time or even for breakfast with some fresh fruit!
The Matcha Green Tea Mushi Pan were delicious!
but then again, so were the Black Sesame!
Regardless which flavor you prefer, they are all soft and fluffy!
Mushi Pan – Japanese Steamed Cakes
Ingredients
- Matcha Mushi Pan Ingredients:
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 1 beaten egg
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon matcha
- Black Sesame Mushi Pan Ingredients:
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 1 beaten egg
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon black sesame seeds
Instructions
- Place a steamer rack and a bamboo steamer inside a wok (or whatever type of steamer you have). Add water to reach the bottom layer of the steamer.
- Bring to a boil.
- While we wait for the water to boil, prepare the mushi pan batter.
- To make the Matcha Mushi Pan, combine flour, matcha and baking powder in a bowl with a pinch of salt.
- In a small bowl, whisk the egg, milk and oil.
- Add to dry ingredients and mix to combine.
- To make the Black Sesame Mushi Pan, combine flour, sesame seeds and baking powder in a bowl with a pinch of salt.
- In a small bowl, whisk the egg, milk and oil.
- Add to dry ingredients and mix to combine.
- Divide into 4 silicone muffin molds. Place in steamer and cook for 10-12 minutes until set and firm.
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Those Japanese steamed bread look so soft, fluffy and oh-so delicious. Love the matcha and black sesame versions — such classic flavors.
yes so delicious – I’ve only recently started really embracing black sesame and now I love them in sweets
By the look live the matcha version but am sure even black sesame tasted wonderful. Steamed cakes look soft and moist.
I have only recently begun to love the flavor of black sesame in desserts
The steamed buns look so soft, moist and tempting. matcha and black sesame flavors both must have tasted delicious!!
yes the Asian flavors in these were delicious!
Mushi pan looks super light and airy. I always want to make this steamed cakes but still have to prepare them. Yours came out extremely fabulous.
I have become a fan of steamed cakes now with so many versions throughout central and southeast Asia
Lopsided or not, these mushi pan looks amazing Mir. Love that texture a lot. Will try this with coconut flour and white sesame today.
lopsided did not affect taste one bit 🙂
Fantastic muffins Mir, I love the steamed buns I made a while ago and I am sure these taste out of the world as you say!
the steaming gives them such a soft and fluffy texture right!
Lovely texture mir! Love the black sesame seeds one! Looks very pretty!
thank you – they were so soft and spongy