Trader Joe’s took the hint when lots of people doctored up their Mochi Cake Mix last year with cocoa. It’s something locals in Hawaii, and Japanese / Japanese Americans have made for decades. Now, TJ’s is back with Trader Joe’s Chocolate Mochi Cake Mix with Peanut Butter Frosting. Gluten-free friends, you are gonna be so happy.
It comes with a packet of cake mix and a bag of peanut butter powder frosting you mix with a softened stick of butter.
A couple of folks on Reddit mentioned the cake pictured on the box looked a little dry. But baked for 42 minutes (until a toothpick came out clean), mine came out just fine. Just like the cake last year, it’s got a little bit of chew, but it’s not as chewy as from scratch. I like that it makes an 8×8 pan. (My husband isn’t a huge mochi cake fan, so a 9×13 for most from scratch recipes is a lot of mochi cake around here).
I gotta say, the peanut butter frosting was overkill for me. It’s very sweet and overpowers everything. I even added a little bit of salt to balance it out. On its own, the cake makes a nice little snack (though you can definitely tell it’s a mix). There were a few little chunks of chocolate in it, but you could probably get away with adding some mini chocolate chips to bump up the chocolate flavor.
Would I buy Trader Joe’s Chocolate Mochi Cake Mix again? Yep. Until I figure out how to make a smaller batch from scratch. 🙂
As always, if you wanna have a go, Just Jenn’s Chocolate Mochi Cake recipe is a good place to start.
Check out some other We Tried’s from Trader Joe’s:
Chocolate & Peanut Butter Mochi Ice Cream
Pork and Ginger Soup Dumplings
Spicy Pumpkin Curry Simmer Sauce
