Taro, Purple Rice & Cream Cheese Swirl Buns — Three Mornings in a Row
By Vivian
Why You'll Love It
You have to make these. We had them three mornings running — these soft, squishy rolls basically pass as little cakes. Every bite is full of dense purple rice, fragrant sticky taro, and silky cream cheese, sweet without being heavy.
Every bite gives you the graininess of purple rice, the creaminess of taro, and the silkiness of cream cheese, all wrapped in the softest bun.
If you're a taro person or a chewy-texture person, just go make them.
Ingredients
| Dough | |
|---|---|
| 2½ cups (300 g) all-purpose flour | ⅔ cup (160 ml) water |
| 1 tsp (3 g) instant yeast | 1 tbsp (11 g) purple sweet potato powder |
| sugar, to taste | |
| Purple Rice Filling | |
|---|---|
| ¾ cup (150 g) purple rice | sweetened condensed milk, to taste |
| whole milk powder, to taste | |
| Taro Filling | |
|---|---|
| 10½ oz (300 g) taro (Lipu taro if you can get it) | milk, as needed |
| cream cheese, as needed | |
Ingredient Notes
- Soak the purple rice (black glutinous rice) 8–12 hours. Under-soaked rice never turns properly chewy.
- Lipu taro is the one you want — starchy and fragrant. Steam until a chopstick slides in with no resistance.
- Bring the cream cheese to room temperature first; cold cheese tears the dough when you spread it.
- The purple sweet potato powder is only there for color. If you swap in real purple sweet potato purée, cut back some of the water.
- Thicken the purple rice filling with condensed milk and milk powder — too wet and it soaks into the dough.
Instructions
-
1
Soak the purple rice 8–12 hours, then drain and cook it in a rice cooker with an equal amount of water (1:1) on the regular setting. While it's hot, stir in condensed milk and milk powder and set aside.
Peel and slice the taro and steam 15–20 minutes, until a chopstick goes through easily. Add purple sweet potato powder, condensed milk if you like, and mash with a splash of milk at a time until smooth.
-
2
Mix the flour, purple sweet potato powder, sugar and yeast, stir in the water with chopsticks until shaggy, then knead into a smooth dough. Cover and rest 10 minutes.
Dust the counter lightly, then roll the dough into a thin rectangle.
-
3
Fold it in half and roll it out into a rectangle again.
-
4
Roll it out once more to the same size — this builds extensibility, so the buns come out fluffier after steaming.
-
5
Spread an even layer of purple rice filling over the dough, add a layer of taro purée the same thickness, then dot cream cheese evenly over the top.
-
6
Roll it up tightly from one end into a cylinder and pinch the seam closed so it doesn't open while steaming. Cut into 1¼–1½ in (3–4 cm) pieces.
-
7
Set the pieces on parchment in the steamer, cover, and let them rise somewhere warm for 30–40 minutes, until 1½ times bigger.
Start with cold water, bring to a boil over high heat, then drop to medium and steam 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and rest 3–5 minutes.
-
8
And that's it — chewy, sticky taro and purple rice buns. Taro lovers, run, don't walk.
Recipe Notes
Taro, Purple Rice & Cream Cheese Swirl Buns
Cloud-soft buns wrapped around purple rice, taro purée and cream cheese: three textures in every bite, sweet but never heavy. If chewy, sticky desserts are your thing, this one's for you.
Time Needed
Plus 8–12 hours to soak the purple rice.
Prep Ahead
- Soak the purple rice 8–12 hours ahead, drain, then cook it 1:1 with water on the rice cooker's regular setting.
- Peel and slice the taro and steam 15–20 minutes — it's ready to mash once a chopstick goes through.
- 【Yield】2½ cups (300 g) flour makes one long roll cut into 8–10 pieces; uses ¾ cup (150 g) purple rice and 10½ oz (300 g) taro.
- 【Key ratios】Dough: flour to water ≈ 300:160, with 1 tsp (3 g) yeast and 1 tbsp (11 g) purple sweet potato powder, mostly for color. Cook the rice 1:1 with water on the rice setting.
- 【Heat】Steam 15 minutes once the water boils, then rest 3–5 minutes before opening.
- 【Rising】Rest 10 minutes after kneading; after rolling and cutting, rise 30–40 minutes to 1½ times.
- 【Storage & reheating】Refrigerate 2 days, freeze 2 weeks. The cream cheese softens when re-steamed — that's normal.
- 【Common problems】Pieces falling apart means it was rolled too loosely or the seam wasn't pinched. Hard purple rice means it didn't soak the full 8 hours.
Nutrition (per 100 g, estimated)
| Calories | about 275 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | about 7 g |
| Fat | about 7 g |
| Carbohydrates | about 46 g |
| of which sugars | about 10 g |
| Fiber | about 2 g |
| Sodium | about 80 mg |
Estimated from the ingredient amounts, not lab tested. One piece is about 3 oz (85 g), roughly 234 kcal, calculated at 4 / 9 / 4 kcal per g of protein / fat / carbs.