Butter tteok isn’t a Gordon Ramsay recipe. It’s a Korean-style baked rice cake that took over social media, and I wanted to see whether the hype was real. It is: a crackly, caramelized shell on the outside and a soft, stretchy, buttery center, made in a muffin tin in about 45 minutes. I’ve written it the way I like recipes written, with exact weights and the reasons behind each step, which is the habit I picked up from watching Ramsay teach.
Tteok (pronounced roughly “duck”) is the Korean word for rice cake. Butter tteok is the baked version: a simple batter of glutinous rice flour, butter, sugar, eggs and milk. No kneading, no steaming.
The one ingredient you can’t swap
You need glutinous rice flour, sold as sweet rice flour or mochiko. Regular rice flour won’t give you any chew at all. Despite the name, glutinous rice flour contains no gluten; “glutinous” refers to its sticky texture.
A small amount of tapioca starch makes the center stretchier and the shell crisper. You can leave it out, but the cakes will be closer to plain baked mochi.
Ingredients
- 160 g glutinous rice flour (mochiko or sweet rice flour, not regular rice flour)
- 25 g tapioca starch
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 200 ml whole milk, at room temperature
- 60 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Softened butter, for greasing the tin
You’ll need a 12-hole metal muffin tin, a large bowl and whisk, and a wire rack.
Method
- Heat the oven and butter the tin. Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease every hole of the muffin tin generously with softened butter, right into the corners. Softened butter clings to the tin and fries the outside of the batter into a crisp shell; melted butter just slides off.
- Whisk the eggs and sugar. Whisk them together for about 2 minutes, until pale and slightly thick. This gives the cakes a little lift.
- Add the milk, butter and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Make sure the butter is only warm, not hot, or it can start cooking the eggs. Room-temperature milk keeps the butter from firming up into lumps.
- Add the flours and rest. Sift in the rice flour, tapioca starch and salt, and whisk until there are no lumps. The batter should pour like heavy cream. Let it rest for 5 minutes so the rice flour absorbs the liquid.
- Fill and bake. Fill each hole about three-quarters full. Bake for 30–35 minutes, until the cakes are puffed, deep golden on top and dark amber at the edges.
- Cool briefly, then serve warm. Leave them in the tin for 10 minutes so the shells firm up, then turn them out onto a rack. They’re best within the first hour, while the shell still crackles.
When it doesn’t come out right
- Pale and soggy: almost always underbaked, or the holes were too full. Bake until the edges are properly dark; that color is where the crunch and flavor come from.
- Stuck to the tin: the tin wasn’t greased enough, or the cakes were turned out too soon. Use more softened butter and wait the full 10 minutes.
- Dense and hard after a day: rice cakes firm up as they cool, and the fridge makes it worse. Re-crisp them in a 200°C (400°F) oven for 5 minutes.
- Lumpy batter: the butter was too hot or the milk was cold. Whisk it through; a few small lumps won’t ruin it.
Flavor ideas
- Coconut: use coconut milk instead of whole milk.
- Miso: whisk 1 tsp white miso into the wet ingredients for a sweet-salty depth.
- Chocolate: replace 20 g of the rice flour with unsweetened cocoa powder.
Storing and making ahead
Keep cooled cakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, not in the fridge. Warm them in the oven before serving. You can also mix the batter a day ahead, cover it and refrigerate it; let it come back to room temperature and whisk it before baking.
For thinner, even crispier cakes, bake the batter in a madeleine pan for 22–25 minutes at the same temperature.
Gordon Ramsay Butter Tteok Recipe
Golden, crispy Korean butter rice cakes with a stretchy, chewy mochi centre — the viral 2026 TikTok dessert. One bowl, 8 ingredients, 45 minutes.
10 minutes
35 minutes
45 minutes
12 cakes
Ingredients
Instructions
Chef Tips
- Grease with softened butter, never melted — it clings to the mould walls and builds the crisp shell.
- Bake boldly: pale butter tteok is gummy. Wait for dark amber edges.
- Do not skip the tapioca starch — it is what gives the extra stretch and shatter.
- Serve warm; revive leftovers with 5 minutes in a hot 200°C (400°F) oven.
Looking for something else to bake this season? Try the Gordon Ramsay Spooky Chocolate Spider Treats or the Halloween Chocolate Cake, and find more viral desserts on Pinterest.
