Have you ever had mochi? I had not tried it — or even heard of it — until a few years ago, when a friend broght Trader Joe’s mochi ice cream bites to a party we attended. The flavors were all very good, but the best thing about mochi items is really the chewy/spongy texture. Now, every time we go to a frozen yogurt place with self-serve topping areas, I add a scoop of mochi bites to my bowl. But I had never had a mochi cake, so I was intrigued by the pumpkin mochi tea cake in Candice Kumai’s excellent new cookbook, Clean Green Eats. Plus, it’s fall, which means there’s no better time for all pumpkin everything, right?

This cake gets its mochi texture from the rice flour (which also makes it gluten free), and it’s sweet enough without being cloying. It’s also moist and pumpkiny, perfect with a cup of coffee or tea. It comes together in one bowl with a whisk, and bakes up into a small-ish loaf that can be sliced or cut into bite-sized pieces.

We really liked it but didn’t want to eat the whole thing, so I took it to work, where it was a hit — even on a day when someone else brought a (delicious) apple pie.

Pumpkin mochi cake (Makes one small 8-inch loaf, adapted from Clean Green Eats, which you should definitely buy)
3 large eggs
1/2 cup white sugar (organic preferred)
1/3 cup unrefined coconut oil
2 tablespoons canned light coconut milk (you can use the rest of the can for soups and/or smoothies!)
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup rice flour
3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350F and spray an 8×4-inch loaf pan with coconut oil cooking spray.

Crack the eggs into a large bowl and beat them a little with a whisk. Add the sugar and whisk well to blend. Melt the coconut oil in the microwave for 10-15 seconds, just until liquid, then add it to the bowl while you’re whisking. Add the coconut milk and pumpkin puree and whisk to blend, then whisk in about half of the rice flour, along with the pumpkin pie spice, then the other half of the rice flour with the baking powder.

Once everything is well mixed, pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake until the center of the loaf bounces back when  you poke it lightly with your finger, about 50 minutes. Let the loaf cool and then cut with a sharp knife — a butter knife will make it crumble all over the place (especially if you cut it while it’s still warm)!