Maple Syrup Cake in Rice Cooker

I was happy to know the 'tricks' of 'baking' cakes in the rice cooker, especially over the summer. The rice cooker contains heat to itself, much better than the oven which heats up my whole apartment (well, the season for the oven is coming up). From gathering the ingredients to pressing the 'Start' button, it takes all of 30 minutes. Not so surprisingly, the rice cooker has been my go-to kitchen appliance, from making rice to shikhye (식혜 - rice malt drink) to a variety of cakes.

This maple syrup cake can be served as a sweet breakfast item or a dessert that has all the moist, sweet bites. The cake itself is already pretty sweet, but if you want to put it over the top, drizzle more maple syrup all over the cake. If you happen to end up with a cake that's a bit bumpy, flaky and patchy because the rice cooker bowl wasn't properly greased or removing the cake from the rice cooker bowl just didn't go smoothly, I recommend the fix of 'make-chocolate-maple-syrup-and-strategically-drizzle-over-the-patchy-spots' as seen in the above picture.

I have a giant rice cooker (for 10 servings), so the cake always comes out pretty flat for the recipes I create. If you have a rice cooker for 5-6 portions, you'll actually get a better height of the cake. If the rice cooker is smaller than that, I recommend that you halve the recipe below.

INGREDIENTS)

4 eggs, whites and yolks separated
1/4 C sugar
1/3 C canola oil
1/3 C maple syrup (plus 1/4 C, if you want to make chocolate maple syrup to drizzle over)
1/4 t salt

1/2 C pecans, toasted & chopped (or walnuts)
1/2 C chocolate

1 C all-purpose flour
1 t baking powder

DIRECTIONS)

Whisk egg whites until foamy. Add sugar and whisk until the foamy egg white turns into glossy, smooth meringue with a soft-medium peak (i.e., the tip should gently fall when you lift the whisk from the meringue.)

Mix in egg yolks to the egg white foam to combine, followed by canola oil, maple syrup and salt. Each ingredient should be completely mixed in before the next ingredient is introduced.

Mix in chopped pecans and chocolate chips. (Reserve 1/4 C of the mix for garnish or if you're making the chocolate maple syrup.)

Sift together flour and baking powder. Add in to the batter and mix to combine completely. Don't overmix.

Grease the rice cooker bowl by drizzling a couple of drops of oil then wiping the rice cooker bowl with a sheet of paper towel.

Add the batter to the rice cooker bowl. Steam for 40 minutes or 'Cook' twice (i.e., press 'Cook' then when it's done, press 'Cook' again).

When it's done, remove the rice cooker bowl and let it sit on a cooling rack for 5 minutes. Then flip the rice cooker bowl carefully to remove the cake out on to the cooling rack. Let it cool to room temperature.

Feel free to garnish with chopped pecans and chocolate chips. Pour maple syrup if you'd like.

Optional) To make chocolate-maple syrup, microwave the reserved 1/4 C of chocolate chip and nut mix for 30 seconds. If you see the chocolate chips starting to melt, add 1/4 C of maple syrup and microwave for 10 seconds. Carefully whisk the chocolate and maple syrup liquid to combine. If you see bits of chocolate floating around, another 10 seconds in the microwave should take care of it. When it's well combined, drizzle this warm, sweet, chocolate-y, maple-y syrup, first, targeting the patchy marks if you have any, then all over the cake. Enjoy!