Easy Plum Daifuku with Orange Coconut Cream

5 from 1 vote

Easy Plum Daifuku with Orange Coconut Cream

Enjoy an easy plum daifuku with orange coconut cream for the perfect teatime treat. It's a soft and chewy fruit mochi made in minutes. (Dairy free, Naturally Dyed)

Prep Time20

Cook Time3

Freeze time1

Total Time1 23

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Japanese

Diet: Gluten Free, Low Lactose

Servings: daifuku mochi

Calories: 288kcal

Author: HWC Magazine

Ingredients

Orange Cream Filling

13.5 ounces Coconut Cream unsweetened canned full fat chilled overnight in the refrigerator for dairy free. (see recipe notes below) Feel free to substitute with 1 cup heavy whipping cream if not following a dairy free diet.
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons orange zest or zest of one medium orange
1 teaspoon cinnamon dried ground
½ teaspoon ginger dried ground
½ teaspoon cardamom dried ground (optional)

Plums

4 medium plums cut in half, pit removed and peeled
1 cup water in a small sauce pan to boil plum peels for natural colored dye. (optional step)

Mochi Dough

¾ cup glutinous rice flour (sweet rice flour) We used Mochiko
¼ cup sugar granulated
¾ cup water or a combination of cooled purple water from the boiled plum peels and plain water to equal ¾ cup liquid.
1 tablespoon coconut oil or unsalted butter if not following a dairy free diet
½ cup cornstarch or potato starch

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Dairy Free Orange Coconut Cream Filling

Follow the directions for our recipe for Homemade Coconut Whipped Topping. (see notes below) As a reminder, this requires you to chill the full fat canned coconut cream overnight in the refrigerator. Gently scoop out only the coconut cream solids and place in your chilled mixing bowl along with ¼ cup powdered sugar (yes, more sugar as this makes the cream filling more stable), 1 teaspoon vanilla, 2 teaspoons of orange zest, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger and ½ teaspoon ground cardamom. Mix until stiff peaks are formed. Chill or freeze orange cream filling while you are making the mochi.

or Regular Orange Cream Filling (not dairy free)

Chill beaters and bowls. Then add 1 cup cold heavy cream into the chilled mixing bowl along with ¼ cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 2 teaspoons of orange zest, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger and ½ teaspoon ground cardamom. Mix until stiff peaks are formed. Chill or freeze orange cream filling while you are making the mochi.

Prepare the Plums

Wash, cut the plums in half, remove the pit and peel. Reserve the peels. (To prevent the plums from oxidizing, we soaked in cool water intil ready to use.)
Optional step: If you want to make the plum daifuku a natural light purple color, add the plum peels along with about 1 cup of water and boil for about 5 minutes or until the water turns a deep purple. A lot of the water will evaporate. Chill the liquid.

Make Microwave Mochi

Dry Ingredients: Add ¾ cup sweet glutinous rice flour and ¼ cup sugar to a microwave safe medium bowl and mix.
Wet Ingredients: If using the natural plum peel purple dye liquid, pour it into a measuring cup. Add plain cool water to equal a total of ¾ cup of liquid. Slowly while continously stirring add the purple water to the dry sweet glutinous rice and sugar mixture. If you are not using the natural plum peel purple dye liquid just add ¾ cool water to the sweet glutinous rice mixture and sugar water and mix well. Very imporatant - get all the lumps out! (See recipe notes)
Lightly wrap bowl with plastic wrap or tightly wrap and pierce a few holes in the plastic wrap so the mochi can vent while cooking.
Put the bowl in the microwave. Heat on high or around 1100w for 1 minute. With an oven mitt, carefully remove the bowl from the microwave, remove the plastic wrap and stir the mochi with a wet spatula aiming to get most of the lumps out. Place the plastic wrap back on the bowl and place the mochi back in the microwave for 1 minute. Once again, carefully remove the bowl from the microwave, remove the plastic wrap and stir the mochi with a wet spatula aiming to get most of the lumps out. One last time place the mochi back in the microwave covered and cook for 30 seconds and mix one last time. At this point the mochi should turn from a cloudy liquid to a pliable smooth translucent dough.
Mix in 1 tablespoon of coconut oil while the dough is still hot. Cool dough until it is just warm to touch.

Assembling Plum Daifuku

Wrap your rolling pin with plastic wrap. Cover your work surface with a sheet of parchment paper or plastic wrap, taped down around the edges, and dust well with cornstarch to prevent sticking. Cornstarch your fingers, rolling pin and eveything else the mochi will be touching.
Remove the prepared plum halves from the water and dry well. Remove the orange cream from the refrigerator/freezer and grab a small spoon and set by your work area.
Remove the warm mochi from the bowl and place on your prepared work areas. Dust with more cornstarch. Form into a ball. Roll into a 12 inch long rope and cut the mochi into 8 symmetrical pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and use the rolling pin to roll into a 3 to 4 inch round circle. (see recipe notes)
Dust a muffin/cupcake pan or mochi tin with cornstarch. Place the 3 to 4 inch circle mochi skin gently into the mold of the muffing/cupcake pan.
Spoon about 1 tablespoon of orange cream filling on the bottom the the mochi skin. Place a half of fresh plum on top of the orange cream filling with the round side down and the flat side facing upwards. Top with a teaspoon of orange cream. (don't overfill!) Pinch the edges close with your fingers. Cut off the excess mochi skin from the bottom of the mochi skin. Dab the area you trimmed with a little more cornstarch. Repeat this process with the remaining plum daifuku.
Remove the plum daifuku from the muffin/cupcake mold and place seam side down on a lined plate or baking sheet dusted lightly with cornstarch. Freeze for at least an hour before serving. Do NOT refrigerate!
Best enjoyed lightly frozen! Remove from the freezer about 10-15 minutes before you are ready to eat. The mochi will be soft and chewy and the orange cream is lightly frozen - so good!

Video

Notes

Tips

Plum Daifuku can either be made dairy free using our recipe for Homemade Coconut Whipped Topping or substitute with 1 cup of heavy whipping cream if you do not need this teatime treat to be dairy free.
Optional: Natural purple dye is extracted from boiling the leftover plum peels in water. It makes the mochi skin a beautiful light purple hue. You can skip this step but the mochi skin will be white.
Imporatant: Stir the mochi dough very well to remove any lumps before microwaving. If you can't remove all the lumps, strain the mochi batter in a fin mesh strainer BEFORE microwaving.
If you have a large 3 to 4 inch biscuit cutter, you can roll out all the mochi dough at once and cut out instead of rolling out each ball individually. However, it can sometimes be a little trickier working with mochi dough for the first time.
If your mochi dough gets cool and difficult to work with, you can microwave for 10 to 15 seconds at a time just until it gets warm. This will make it easier to work with.
Please see our complete guide to mochi tips that actually matter (troubleshooting + solutions) in the post above to prevent or fix a mochi dough problem.

Make Ahead & Storage

Best made at least 1 hours before serving so it has a chance to chill and freeze.
Freeze: at least 1 hour before serving or up to 2 months.
Do Not Refrigerate because the fruit is fresh and the texture of the mochi will become tough after about 24 hours.
Ready to serve? If frozen solid, set the plum Daifuku out at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes for that fun ice-cream textured teatime treat. Best served slightly frozen!
How to store leftovers? Freeze the leftover mochi on a plastic lined dish until frozen solid (about 2 hours) Then, wrap the mochi individually in plastic wrap and store in a freezer safe container.

Nutrition