Sweet Rice Cake (Bolo de Arroz)

This sweet rice cake recipe (bolo de arroz) is ready in less than 30 minutes, making a gluten-free, moist, and mildly sweet dessert that you can prepare in the blender and bake in the oven. It has a sticky texture when is hot, and a grainy texture at room temperature -- similar to cornbread. 

How about some delicious, quick, and budget-friendly baked goods to sweeten your tooth at a coffee time?

This sweet rice cake checks all the boxes and more!

Why you'll love this recipe

• Easy to make: All that you need to do is to blend the ingredients in a blender and then bake it in the oven. 
• Quick: Our sweet rice cake recipe takes less than 30 minutes to be ready. 
• Delicious: It has a mildly sweet cake with a sticky texture. 
• Gluten-free: The base is rice or rice flour which are naturally gluten-free.
• Budget-friendly: Our rice cake recipe calls for inexpensive ingredients that you can find easily at any grocery store.

What's rice cake?

Rice cake is a food made from rice (glutinous or long-grain) or rice flour that has been baked, air-fried,  steamed, deep-fried, or stir-fried. They can present different shapes and sizes and can be either savory or sweet, sometimes flavored with chocolate, or saffron, among others.

There is a great variety of them in the world but they are more popular in Asian countries such as Japan, China, Korea, India, The Philippines, and many others. 

However, Brazil and Portugal have their own version, bolo de arroz. It is mildly sweet, made in a blender, and then baked in the oven. 

In Brazil, sweet rice cake (bolo de arroz) is a coffee cake often served without a topping all-year round. However, some recipes call for a topping of either lemon icing or a mixture of sweetened condensed milk and coconut milk.

Sweet Rice Cake Recipe 

If you don't know, Chinese immigration to Brazil started in 1900 and kept increasing till this day. There are many in my home city, Recife.

They have influenced food as well -- although many of their recipes have been adapted to use local ingredients.

One of them is bolo de arroz, inspired by one of several Chinese rice cake recipes called Bāxī Mai Fàn Gāo.

Our baked rice cake (or rice cakes since I decided to bake in a muffin tin instead of the traditional large ring cake pan) is not a typical Chinese treat, but a traditional Brazilian one.

If baked in a mini muffin pan, our rice cake(s) can be eaten with chopsticks.

It has a sticky texture when is hot, and a grainy texture once it comes to room temperature -- similar to cornbread.

Bolo de Arroz vs. Chinese Rice Cake

As the Chinese rice cake, Fàn Gāo, bolo de arroz can have a cupcake-like shape (although can also be made in a large ring pan) and be consumed in the New Year for being associated with prosperity.

However, instead of being steamed, bolo de arroz is baked in the oven, sweeter and less sticky because the recipe calls for long-grain rice. It is nothing like Asian sticky rice cakes or sweet rice balls. 

Both are quite different from the American puffed rice cakes so popular in TikTok recipes. 

Ingredients and Substitutions

To make this sweet rice cake recipe, you'll need the following:

For the rice cake batter:

• 2 cups RAW white long-grain rice (not parboiled) such as basmati rice or jasmine rice, or you can use rice flour 
• ¾ cup vegetable oil
• 3 cups granulated sugar (if you prefer, you can use 1 cup of brown sugar and 2 cups of white sugar) 
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup whole milk, Alternatively you can use rice milk or coconut milk
• ⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese (it will balance sweetness without flavoring the cake)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder (Do not use yeast as in many Asian recipes)

For the icing (OPTIONAL):

• 1¼ cups powdered sugar
• 2½ tablespoons fresh lime juice or juice of 1 large lime

How to make rice cakes

1. IN ADVANCE: Soak the rice in water for about 8 hours or overnight. Then, drain the water in a sieve. Skip this step if using rice flour!

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Grease and flour a standard-size or mini muffin tin (or a 10-inch ring pan if desired) and reserve. Alternatively, use paper cups.

3. Prepare the rice cake batter: In a blender, blend oil, sugar, and eggs just until the mixture is homogeneous.

4. Add the rice (or rice flour) and milk and blend well until smooth. Finally, add the cheese and baking powder and beat rapidly to mix in.

5. Pour the rice cake batter ¾ full into the prepared baking pan and bake for about 13 minutes (mini muffin pan), 18-20 minutes (for standard-size muffin pan), or 35 minutes (medium ring pan or bundt cake pan), or until a toothpick inserted in the center or close to the center comes out clean.

6. Let it cool on a rack, gently run a knife around the edges, and then unmold the rice cake(s). YIELD: 52 mini muffins/cakes (ideal for eating in one bite and using chopsticks), 26 standard-size muffins/cakes, or 1 bundt cake.

7. Meanwhile, prepare the icing if desired. In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar very well with the lime juice until smooth. Drizzle icing over rice cake(s) and let set. Enjoy!

Tips for Making Sweet Rice Cake

• If using rice, make sure it is long-grain (raw or NOT parboiled) -- not glutinous rice. Parboiled rice has been partially cooked and so some of the starch needed for this cake texture has been removed.  Also, make sure to soak it for at least 8 hours to soften and make it easy to blend in a blender.  
• To make this sweet rice cake recipe faster, use rice flour instead of rice. 
• Eggs must be at room temperature. If you forgot to remove them from the fridge 30 minutes ahead, no worries! Please place them in a bowl with enough lukewarm water to cover them and let sit for about 5 minutes. 
• The recipe calls for Parmesan cheese, a salty ingredient often used in Portuguese cuisine to balance the sweetness of some desserts. You won't taste the cheese at all! 
• Although many Asian rice cake recipes call for yeast, we use baking powder. As soon the baking powder is mixed in the cake batter, pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake your cake right away. 

How to Serve

You can serve our sweet rice cake warm as a dessert or an afternoon snack accompanied by a cup of coffee or tea.  

Storage

They are best eaten hot or slightly warm but if you have leftovers, store sweet rice cake(s) in an airtight container or well-covered at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Be aware at room temperature the cake will become a little grainy (somewhat-like cornbread) and harden a little. You can heat it in the microwave for a few seconds or just until slightly warm (not too hot). 

Do not freeze!  

Other rice desserts to enjoy

• Creamy rice pudding with condensed milk
• Slow cooker rice pudding
• Indian rice kheer
• Filipino rice cake (Biko)
• Malaysian steamed rice cake (Kueh Lapis)

PIN & ENJOY!

 This post was first published on February 16, 2015.