Glutinous rice cake paired with classic desserts drives new trend
Noted's 'Wackpoo' mochi donut draws open-run crowds
The tteok dessert trend shows no signs of slowing down. Having moved through pizza-style seolgi rice cake and fruit-filled chapssaltteok, the market is now evolving into a wider range of fusion creations — chapssaltteok cakes, chapssaltteok sandwiches and beyond.
Industry sources said Sunday that the trend of reimagining chapssaltteok with new ingredients and forms has been spreading rapidly. A standout example is the "mochi cheese cake" from Dore Dore, a first-generation dessert cafe, which wraps a cheesecake in a thin layer of chapssaltteok skin. The cafe offers the cake in several flavor combinations — persimmon, fig and berry. Its popularity grew further after Justin Bieber and his wife were seen eating the cake during their visit to Korea last month, a fact that spread widely on SNS.
A combination of chapssaltteok and fruit sandwiches has also emerged, typically sold under the name "mochi fruit sando." The fruit sando is a Japanese-style sandwich made with fresh cream and fruit between slices of white bread. The latest twist wraps the sando in a layer of rice cake skin, letting diners enjoy a chewy texture alongside soft cream and fresh fruit all at once. Like the Dubai Chewy Cookie, these desserts are also being made at independent cafes, helping the trend spread even further.
Noted, a dessert cafe known for its donuts, released its own chapssaltteok creation late last month. The "Wackpoo Donut Chapssaltteok" stacks a donut, fresh cream, fruit, chocolate and chapssaltteok in layers. A chocolate coating adds a satisfying crunch on top of the chewy rice cake texture. Following the same exclusive-location strategy used for products like the Godiva Mochi, it is sold only at the Lotte World Mall branch in Jamsil, and open-run queues have formed there since its launch.
While the mochi cheese cake and mochi fruit sando keep the rice cake skin on the outside — much like fruit chapssaltteok or yogurt chapssaltteok — another style tucks the rice cake inside the dessert itself. Starbucks' "Mochi Basque Cheesecake," released in June, embeds a chewy chapssaltteok inside a Basque cheesecake. Word of mouth over its varied flavors and textures helped it sell more than 400,000 units. Riding that success, Starbucks recently launched a whole-cake version called the "Basque Cheesecake with Mochi."
As the chapssaltteok trend continues, DIY desserts have also appeared. The method involves soaking rice paper in warm water, filling it with Greek yogurt and fruit, wrapping it up and dusting the outside with starch powder. Using rice paper to replicate the chewy texture of tteok, the treat lets people recreate the taste of a fruit yogurt chapssaltteok at home, and recipes for it are being widely shared on SNS.
"Young consumers have a strong preference for the chewy texture of chapssaltteok," an industry official said. "The trend of using chapssaltteok in a variety of desserts will continue for now."
spa@heraldcorp.com
