Strawberry Daifuku (strawberry mochi with cream filling)

This strawberry daifuku recipe combines the chewy and soft mochi skin, the sweet and tangy fresh strawberries, and the smooth and rich cream cheese filling. 🍓

You can make adorable pillow-shaped daifuku even without a round mochi mold~

Follow along as we guide you through the process of creating these delightful treats, step by step.

EQUIPMENT for making strawberry daifuku

• Kitchen scale (I will also list measurements in measuring cups, but using a kitchen scale is highly recommended.)
• Mixing bowls
• Fine mesh strainer
• Microwave (Can also use a steamer.)
• Microwave-safe plastic food wrap
• Hand mixer (For whipping the cream cheese and heavy whipping cream.)
• Rolling Pin
• Mochi mold (Optional if you want to make pillow-shape daifuku.)

INGREDIENTS List 

– For the daifuku skin

• 140 g milk (About ½ cup + 1½ tbsps.; I used whole milk. You can use any type of milk or plant based milk.)
• 80 g strawberry jam (About ¼ cup; *See Note 1 below if you want to use fresh strawberries or freeze dried strawberry powder to substitute the strawberry jam.)
• 100 g glutinous rice flour (About ¾ cups +1½ tbsps.)
• 30 g cornstarch (About 4 tbsps.)
• 20 g unsalted butter (About 1½ tbsps.)

– For the cream cheese filling (See Note 2 for other fillings)

• 225 g cream cheese (A pack of 8oz cream cheese.)
• 40 g granulated sugar  (About 3 tbsps.)
• 150 g heavy whipping cream (About ½ cup + 2 tbsps.)
• 4 g vanilla extract (About 1 tsp; optional)
• 6 strawberries
• 2 tbsp strawberry jam (Optional)

*Note: If you are not a fan of cream cheese or prefer not to make the filling from scratch, you can also use strawberry ice cream or any other ice cream flavors of your choice as a filling for the daifuku.

It’s important to note that if you place the ice cream directly onto the daifuku skin, it may melt quickly before you can shape it into a ball. To prevent any mess, you can create ice cream balls with food wrap and freeze them overnight before wrapping them in the daifuku skins.

Alternatively, you can replace the cream cheese filling with a simple heavy whipping cream filling. You can refer to my recipe for gelatin whipped cream, which provides instructions on how to make stabilized whipped cream that can maintain its shape at room temperature for an entire day.

– For decoration

• 6 strawberries

Step-by-step INSTRUCTIONS 

1. Take the cream cheese out of the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature.

2. Add milk, strawberry jam, cornstarch, and glutinous rice flour in a mixing bowl. Stir with a whisk until the mixture is smooth.

Note: You can use fresh strawberries or freeze dried strawberry powder to substitute the strawberry jam in this mixture. 

• To use fresh strawberries, you just blend 90g strawberries together with 90g milk (or plant-based milk) and 40g sugar using a blender. Then mix this resulting strawberry milk with cornstarch and glutinous rice flour.

• To use freeze dried strawberry powder, you can mix  13g strawberry powder (1 tbsp) with 170g milk (½ cup + 3½ tbsps.) and 45g sugar (3½ tbsps.).

3. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a microwave-safe bowl to remove any lumps. 

4. Cover the bowl with microwave-safe food wrap, use a toothpick to poke about 12 holes on the food wrap. Microwave the mixture on 100% power for 3 minutes until fully cooked – stick a toothpick into the middle of the mochi dough and if it comes out clean, the dough is fully cooked.

5. Carefully take the bowl out from the microwave. Remove the food wrap, put a piece of butter on the top of the daifuku dough. Roughly mix the butter and the dough with a nonstick spatula, until all the butter has been absorbed into the dough.

6. Allow the dough to cool naturally to room temperature on your countertop. Avoid touching the dough with your hands while it’s still warm as it will become less sticky as it cools. While waiting for the dough to cool down, you can start preparing the cream filling.

7. Now the cream cheese we took out at step 1 should have been softened. Add the softened cream cheese and 40g granulated sugar to a mixing bowl, use a hand mixer or a whisk to whip the mixture at medium speed for about 2 minutes until the texture is fluffy.

8. In another bowl, whip 150g heavy whipping cream and 1 tsp of vanilla extract using medium to high speed of your hand mixer until stiff peaks form.

9. Transfer the whipped cream into the bowl containing the whipped cream cheese. With a hand mixer on medium-low speed, blend the two mixtures together for approximately 20 seconds until they are thoroughly combined. Optionally, you can transfer the mixture to a piping bag for easier filling of the daifuku later on.

10. Take 6 fresh strawberries, rinse them and pat them dry. Dice the strawberries into small pieces. You can also mix them with 2 tbsps. of strawberry jam, if desired. Set aside in a small bowl.

11. Now the daifuku skin dough should have been cooled to room temperature. Knead the dough by pulling and folding it for about 5 minutes, until you can pull it as long as your forearm (about 10 inches). 

12. Cut the dough into 6 equal portions. Wrap a rolling pin with plastic food wrap to prevent sticky.

13. To make the daifuku into ball shapes, roll each small piece of dough into a 5-inch diameter circle using a rolling pin. Brush glutinous rice flour onto one side of the circle and place the daifuku skin onto a sphere mold with the flour side facing down.

14. Pipe in the cream cheese filling, add some dice strawberries, then cover with more cream cheese filling. Pull the edges of the wrap together to cover the filling, press together the edges to seal well. Flip the strawberry daifuku onto a serving plate so that the smooth side is facing up.

15. If you don’t have a sphere mold, you can make the daifuku in to a pillow shape. Roll each small piece of dough into a 5-inch wide square using a rolling pin. Pipe in the cream cheese filling on the center, add some dice strawberries, then cover with more cream cheese filling.

16. Fold the sides of the wrap over the filling to form a pillow shape. Flip the strawberry daifuku onto a serving plate so that the smooth side is facing up.

17. Place a strawberry in the center on top of each daifuku as a decoration.

18. Serve immediately. Store leftover strawberry daifuku in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

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Tips for making strawberry daifuku

1. Three methods to make daifuku skin

The key to making delicious mochi is to make a chewy and stretchy daifuku skin. After all the ingredients are well mixed, you can either microwave, steam, or pan fry the mixture until the daifuku dough is fully cooked.

1) Microwave

This is currently my favorite method for making daifuku/mochi skin because it saves the most time and has a 100% success rate so far. If you have a microwave, I highly recommend using this method.

• Mix all the daifuku skin ingredients in a microwave-safe container, cover the bowl tightly with a food wrap, use a toothpick to poke about 12 holes on the wrap.
• Microwave the mixture on 100% power for 3 minutes.

2) Steam

• Mix all the daifuku skin ingredients in a bowl, cover the bowl tightly with a food wrap, use a toothpick to poke about 12 holes on the wrap.
• Steam the mixture over high heat for 30 minutes until fully cooked.

Check out my persimmon mochi recipe for more detailed instructions.

3) Pan fry

• If you don’t have a microwave or a steamer, you can also pan fry the mochi mixture until it forms a dough. It will take you about 10 minutes.
• Check out my peach mochi recipe for detailed instructions for the pan frying method.

To check whether the mochi dough is fully cooked, you can stick a toothpick into the center of the dough: if the toothpick tip comes out clean, the mochi dough is fully cooked.

2. Why is my daifuku dough so sticky?

It’s normal for daifuku dough to be sticky when it’s still warm. Therefore, make sure you don’t touch it with your hands when it’s still warm.

After cooking the dough, I recommend using a nonstick spatula to mix in the butter until it is fully absorbed. This helps prevent the surface of the dough from becoming dry and hard as it cools.

Next, I would cover the dough with food wrap and allow it to cool naturally at room temperature. Then I’d cover the ugly and coarse dough with food wrap, and leave it to cool down naturally under room temperature. You can also refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes to an hour to help it firm up. But the dough will be too firm if you leave it in the refrigerator for too long. For best results, let the dough cool down completely at room temperature.

Once the daifuku dough has cooled down completely, it won’t stick to your hands or the work surface. There’s no need to dust your hands or the surface with glutinous rice flour to prevent sticking. To avoid the dough sticking to the wooden rolling pin, cover it with plastic food wrap before rolling.

3. Is strawberry daifuku vegan?

Traditional strawberry daifuku with a red bean paste filling is vegan. But I personally think red bean paste is too sweet and heavy as a daifuku filling. So I prefer substituting it with a whipped cream and cream cheese filling.

I have also made mochi with persimmon filling, peach jam filling, and chocolate ganache filling. You can also use your favorite ice cream as the mochi filling.

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