Rose Custard & Mochi Swirl Buns — Low Oil, Low Sugar, One Batch Lasts a Week
By Vivian
Why You'll Love It
On ordinary days you still need one sweet bite to fix your mood. I'm completely hooked on this rose custard mochi roll lately — soft chewy mochi and creamy custard rolled into floral-scented dough. It looks lovely and hits the spot; breakfast or afternoon tea feels like a small occasion. Nothing about it is hard, so even a beginner can recreate this little pleasure.
I could eat this combination forever. One bite: chewy, soft, so good you want to spin around. It looks appetizing just sitting there, and the color is all natural — kids and adults both love it.
Ingredients
| Custard Filling | |
|---|---|
| 1½ tbsp (20 ml) corn oil | ¾ cup + 1 tbsp (200 ml) milk |
| ¼ cup (30 g) cornstarch | 3 tbsp (20 g) whole milk powder |
| ¼ cup (30 g) all-purpose flour | 2½ tbsp (30 g) sugar |
| 4 egg yolks | |
| Mochi | |
|---|---|
| 1⅔ cups (200 g) glutinous rice flour | ⅔ cup (150 ml) boiling water |
| Dough | |
|---|---|
| 2½ cups (300 g) all-purpose flour | 1 tsp (3 g) instant yeast |
| ⅔ cup (160 ml) water | ¼ cup (8 g) dried edible rose petals |
Ingredient Notes
- The mochi has to be mixed with water at a full rolling boil — warm water won't come together.
- Use wet-milled glutinous rice flour if you can; it makes the mochi finer and stretchier.
- Strain the custard once before you cook it, or it won't be silky.
- ¼ cup (8 g) of dried rose petals is enough — more turns bitter. Mix them into the flour before adding water.
- Corn oil is neutral; don't use peanut oil, which buries the floral aroma.
Instructions
-
1
Put everything for the custard in a large bowl and whisk until completely smooth with no lumps. Strain it into a nonstick pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly so it doesn't scorch, until thick and cohesive and it clings to the spatula without dripping.
Scoop it out, let it cool, then cover — it firms up as it cools, which makes rolling much easier.
-
2
Put the glutinous rice flour in a bowl and add the boiling water in stages, stirring with chopsticks until shaggy. Once it's cool enough to handle, knead it into a smooth mochi ball.
No rising needed — just wrap it tightly so it doesn't dry out and crack.
-
3
Mix the flour, yeast and dried rose petals, add the water and knead into a smooth dough. Cover and let it rise somewhere warm until 1½ times bigger.
Poke a floured finger in: if the hole stays put without collapsing, it's ready.
-
4
Punch down the risen dough and roll it into a large rectangle.
Roll the mochi out to the same size and lay it over the dough.
-
5
Spread the cooled custard evenly over the mochi layer with a spoon, then roll the whole thing up tightly from the top into a firm log.
-
6
Cut into even pieces and arrange them in the steamer with plenty of space. Cover and let them rise again to about 1½ times.
Start with cold water, bring to a boil over high heat, then drop to medium and steam 16 minutes. Turn off the heat and wait 3 minutes before opening so they don't shrink in the cold air.
-
7
The moment you lift the lid you get a gentle rose aroma, nothing perfumey. The buns are fluffy and soft with a faint floral sweetness at the end, the mochi is springy and chewy and stretches, and the custard is dense and sandy-rich, milky without being too sweet.
-
8
Three textures stacked in layers, soft and chewy at once — every bite is pure happiness and you can't stop. Make a big batch; they smell fantastic warmed up for breakfast.
Recipe Notes
Rose Custard & Mochi Swirl Buns
Soft chewy mochi and creamy custard rolled into rose-scented dough: fluffy, pull-apart, and stretchy, low in oil and sugar. Make it once and eat it all week.
Time Needed
Prep Ahead
- Cook the custard until it masses up and stops sticking to the pan, and let it cool completely before filling — hot filling tears the dough.
- Make the mochi ahead and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap so it doesn't form a skin.
- 【Yield】2½ cups (300 g) flour makes one log cut into 8–10 pieces; one batch each of custard and mochi is exactly enough.
- 【Key ratios】Dough: flour to water ≈ 300:160 with 1 tsp (3 g) yeast. Mochi: flour to boiling water ≈ 200:150. Custard: 4 yolks + ¾ cup + 1 tbsp (200 ml) milk + ¼ cup (30 g) each cornstarch and flour.
- 【Heat】Stir the custard over low heat until it masses up and coats the spatula. Steam 16 minutes once the water boils, then rest 3 minutes.
- 【Rising】Dough to 1½ times; after rolling and cutting, rise again to 1½ times before steaming.
- 【Storage & reheating】Refrigerate 3 days, freeze 2 weeks. Mochi dries out fast — keep it well sealed.
- 【Common problems】Runny custard means it wasn't cooked long enough. Cracked mochi means the water wasn't hot enough or it wasn't covered and dried out.
Nutrition (per 100 g, estimated)
| Calories | about 292 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | about 7 g |
| Fat | about 8 g |
| Carbohydrates | about 48 g |
| of which sugars | about 14 g |
| Fiber | about 1.5 g |
| Sodium | about 70 mg |
Estimated from the ingredient amounts, not lab tested. One piece is about 3 oz (85 g), roughly 248 kcal, calculated at 4 / 9 / 4 kcal per g of protein / fat / carbs.