I’m going to introduce a beautiful Korean rice cake today. It’s called mujigae-tteok (무지개떡). Mujigae means rainbow, so my ancestors must have got the idea for the name from a rainbow! I love it! This is an example of how they incorporated natural beauty into their everyday life. Even though the name of the rice cake is “rainbow rice cake,” it is usually made with only 3-5 different colored layers. That’s why this rice cake is sometimes called “colorful rice cake” (색떡, saektteok).

In this recipe, I am using 5 different colors from bottom to top: brown, green, yellow, pink, and white.

This rice cake is made on special occasions like a baby’s 1 year old birthday, or a wedding. As you see in this video, making this rice cake takes a lot of effort and time, even though the ingredients are comparatively simple. However, if you make this rice cake for someone very special in your life, you wouldn’t care much about time and effort. : ) You may wish this while you’re rubbing the rice flour with your palms:

“I wish my baby becomes healthy, smart, and a good, warm-hearted person!”

“I wish my parents have healthy and long life!”

“To show my love for my lovely husband (or wife) !”

Leave a comment and let me know what you wish when you make this!

A note about short grain rice flour

: the flour you buy at your local store or the flour you make may have more or less moisture in it than the rice flour I use in this recipe. This is because of many different things like how long it’s been in the freezer in the store, or the atmospheric conditions where you live. You may need to steam more or less, depending on how dry or wet your short grain rice flour is.

Cooking time: 1.5 hours

Ingredients

A 2 pound package of frozen rice flour (or make it at home), sugar, kosher salt, water, liquid food coloring (green, pink, and yellow), lemon, mugwort powder (ssukgaru 쑥가루), cocoa powder.

Cooking utensils:

Steamer, sifter, 8 inch (20 cm) ring or springform.

Directions

  1. Thaw out frozen rice flour package and put it into a large bowl.
  2. Sift the rice flour.
  3. Add 10 cups of water in the bottom of a steamer, and place a wet cloth over the rack.
  4. Place the 8 inch cake ring in the center of the rack.
    whitericefloursifting

Brown layer (the bottom layer):

  1. Place 1 cup of rice flour in a medium sized bowl. Add 1 ts cocoa powder, a pinch of salt, 2 tbs of white sugar, and 4 ts of water.
  2. Mix it all up and press out any wet lumps by rubbing the lumps gently between your palms.
  3. Put the mixture into a sifter and sift into the center of the ring.
  4. Flatten out the mixture so it sits level in the ring.
    *tip: a business card works wellcocopowder
    brown

Green layer:

  1. Place 1½ cup of rice flour in a medium sized bowl. Add a pinch of salt, 2 tbs sugar, and 1 ts mugwort powder (ssukgaru).
    *tip: you can replace mugwort powder with green tea powdermugwortpackage
    mugwortpowder1
  2. Put 2 tbs of water and 1 drop of green liquid food coloring into a small bowl and mix well.
    *tip: Use a chopstick to get a very little amount of the food coloring
  3. Add the green water to the rice cake mixture and mix it all up. Press out any wet lumps by rubbing the lumps gently between your palms.
  4. Put the mixture into a sifter and sift into the center of the ring.
  5. Flatten out the mixture so it sits level in the ring.

Yellow layer:

  1. Place 1½ cup of rice flour in a medium sized bowl. Add a pinch of salt and 2 tbs sugar.
  2. Put 1tbs lemon juice, 1 tbs water, and 1 drop of yellow liquid food coloring into a small bowl and mix well.
  3. Add the yellow water to the rice cake mixture and mix it all up. Press out any wet lumps by rubbing the lumps gently between your palms.
  4. Put the mixture into a sifter and sift into the center of the ring.
  5. Flatten out the mixture so it sits level in the ring.greenandyellow

Pink layer:

  1. Place 1½ cup of rice flour in a medium sized bowl. Add a pinch of salt and 2 tbs sugar.
  2. Put 2 tbs water and 1 drop of hot pink (fuchsia) liquid food coloring into a small bowl and mix well.
  3. Add the pink water to the rice cake mixture and mix it all up. Press out any wet lumps by rubbing the lumps gently between your palms.
  4. Put the mixture into a sifter and sift into the center of the ring.
  5. Flatten out the mixture so it sits level in the ring.yellowandpink

White layer (the top layer):

  1. Place 1 cup of rice flour in a medium sized bowl. Add a pinch of salt, 2 tbs white sugar, and 4 ts water.
  2. Mix it up and press out any wet lumps by rubbing the lumps gently between your palms.
  3. Put the mixture into a sifter and sift into the center of the ring.
  4. Flatten out the mixture so it sits level in the ring.

Now let’s garnish!

decoration

  1. On the top of the cake place 5 dried cranberries to make flower petals. Put a few pine nuts in the center.
  2. Cut a dried apricot into a thin strip, and place it as a flower stem.beforesteaming

Finally, let’s steam it:

  1. Close the lid of the steamer and bring to a boil for 30 minutes over high heat.
  2. Turn down the heat and simmer another 5 minutes.
  3. Take out the rice cake and let it cool down. Serve with tea or coffee.

done!colorfulpieceofmujigaeddueok

Posted on Saturday, November 7th, 2009. Last updated on June 19, 2023.
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Maangchi's Amazon picks for this recipe

It's always best to buy Korean items at your local Korean grocery store, but I know that's not always possible so I chose these products on Amazon that are good quality. See more about how these items were chosen.

293 Comments:

  1. Bluestar1908 United States joined 6/12 & has 5 comments
    Posted June 23rd, 2012 at 12:41 pm | or create a profile.

    How deep should the 8″ springform pan be?

  2. Bluestar1908 United States joined 6/12 & has 5 comments
    Posted June 19th, 2012 at 7:05 pm | or create a profile.

    Well, when I was going to make the cake for my brother, it came out terribly. But I’m planning on making it for my 2 cousins. One of them is graduating from high school, and the other is graduating from collage into grad school

  3. Bluestar1908 United States joined 6/12 & has 5 comments
    Posted June 15th, 2012 at 9:37 pm | or create a profile.

    I plan to make this tomorrow for my brother. :D

  4. jaylivg Houston joined 7/10 & has 107 comments
    Posted April 24th, 2012 at 11:33 pm | or create a profile.

    This will be my next project once i get my steamer !! This looks very delicious and beautiful Maangchi !!

  5. Huynh Melbourne joined 4/12 & has 1 comment
    Posted April 4th, 2012 at 3:12 am | or create a profile.

    Hi Maangchi, this my first time making rainbow rice cake with dry rice flour.
    It turn out pretty good. I’m to make this for my sister birthday. Thank you for this beautiful recipe. Want to share to pic but don’t know how.

  6. Joyce Irvine, CA. joined 9/09 & has 17 comments
    Posted March 23rd, 2012 at 6:33 pm | or create a profile.

    Hi Maangchi! How are you? Oh I miss watching your videos so now I have extra time, I watched how you make the Rainbow Rice Cake (again)… I plan to make this for our baby since you mentioned that koreans usually make this for the 1st birthday. She’s turning 1 on April 1st. Thank you for this wonderful recipe! Wish me luck!

  7. easpiras Chesapeake, VA joined 8/10 & has 2 comments
    Posted March 14th, 2012 at 2:17 pm | or create a profile.

    can we use this same 떡 recipe to make 팥시루떡? do you add sugar to the 팥 coating?

  8. Noha Egypt,Cairo joined 12/11 & has 2 comments
    Posted January 2nd, 2012 at 10:09 am | or create a profile.

    Hi Maangchi,
    I can’t find the mugwort powder anywhere in my country , is there something i can replace it with ? :)

  9. iamRanie indonesia joined 12/11 & has 1 comment
    Posted December 19th, 2011 at 10:09 am | or create a profile.

    안녕하세요 망치 (ehehe…just learned hangul :p did i write correctly?)
    wanna ask about the rice flour…is it ok if i use indonesian rice flour?bcoz since i know it indonesian rice flour is made from long grain rice which the rice is not sticky…or should i use korea/japan rice flour?

    hope hear your answer soon bcoz i’m planning to make it for my friends :D
    have a good day maangchiiiii ^O^

  10. Cheonyong Indonesia joined 4/11 & has 28 comments
    Posted November 13th, 2011 at 10:22 am | or create a profile.

    Maangchi….!!!
    I made it….
    I pounded about 6 pounds of rice powder myself with my cute mortar(I say it is cute because it is unbelieveably small mortar!!)
    I made it and it turned out great,…
    but…
    It’s get hard easily…
    very fast…
    In 10 minute the cake inside is not fluffy anymore.
    some of them turn to become something that granulated and hard….
    I am very frustated….
    please help me…..
    :”((

  11. landstrykare Montreal, Canada joined 10/10 & has 4 comments
    Posted November 12th, 2011 at 11:51 pm | or create a profile.

    Do you have any idea how to make the white part of dau xanh banh that looks like this: http://sweet-travel.blogspot.com/2009/05/banh-dau-xanh.html

  12. landstrykare Montreal, Canada joined 10/10 & has 4 comments
    Posted November 11th, 2011 at 10:44 pm | or create a profile.

    Hey there. I mistakenly bought frozen sweet rice flour as mentioned before and am wondering what I CAN do with it. I will be getting the proper one for this recipe, but I’ve tried googling, and no one seems to talk about frozen SWEET flour anywhere, but I know it must be used for something. Could you lead me in the right direction?

  13. maivxis sac, CA joined 8/11 & has 2 comments
    Posted August 21st, 2011 at 7:07 pm | or create a profile.

    omg, maangchi…….the minute i saw your cake, i thought if we could be friends…… i luv your cake but i live in california and i’ve checked many asian stores but unable to find frozen rice flour, i was wondering if i can use the thai rice flour? package that comes with three elephant head?? i hope u reply back as soon as possible, i’m very eager to make this beautiful cake of yours….

  14. JamieF New Zealand joined 1/11 & has 120 comments
    Posted August 9th, 2011 at 9:58 pm | or create a profile.

    Hi Maangchi – is it possible to make this rice cake a day before it is to be used? If so, how should I store it overnight?

  15. MishTURTLE Sydney joined 8/11 & has 1 comment
    Posted August 5th, 2011 at 9:15 am | or create a profile.

    Thankyou Maangchi for the recipe! :)
    I made this today to relieve stress from my exams!
    And I was concerned of whether or not it would work with dry rice flour, but it worked out great!
    Here’s some pictures ^^
    http://rainbowsturtlesnsprinkles.tumblr.com/post/8507491902/rainbow-rice-cake

  16. deggkanan New York joined 7/11 & has 3 comments
    Posted July 30th, 2011 at 2:46 pm | or create a profile.

    Hi, again! I’m going to prepare this sometime next week, so I went out and bought a few ingredients already. So, I was wondering! Is this steamer alright? I’ve never owned a steamer before, so..

    http://www.rivalproducts.com/product.aspx?pid=2420

    And is this cocoa powder alright, as well?
    http://www.gygi.com/shop/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/h/e/hershey_s-natural-cocoa-powder.gif

  17. OrionUnas Victoria, Canada BC joined 5/11 & has 2 comments
    Posted May 27th, 2011 at 9:55 pm | or create a profile.

    I would love to try this recipe. My friend from Korea is visiting for a few months, and I want to make this for her. However, I don’t have a steamer, not like the one you have. I just have a very humble steamer that came with our cooking set, and it is dipped and not flat.

    I am trying to think of alternatives. We also have a jarring pot, now if I could only have a large enough steamer to fit the cake. Do you have any idea’s?

    Thanks!

  18. Kelsie4646 joined 5/11 & has 2 comments
    Posted May 8th, 2011 at 4:04 pm | or create a profile.

    Hi Maangchi!
    There was rice flour on the outside shelf at korean store here. They didnt have it in the freezer section. Can I still use this? Thank you so much!!

  19. Yanyan Singapore joined 5/11 & has 1 comment
    Posted May 7th, 2011 at 4:31 am | or create a profile.

    Hi Maangchi ~ !

    I couldn’t find any frozen rice flour in my place soI soaked rice grains , i”m making this for the mother’s day celebration for my mum ! Just need to know , do I really have to soak up to 10 hours ? :| I’ve soaked it in for the past 2 1/2 hours and i took out a few grains and try to grind it with the back of a knife . It can grind easily , so do I still have to soak it untill 10hrs have reached ??

    THANKSSS ~! :3

  20. Cheonyong Indonesia joined 4/11 & has 28 comments
    Posted April 30th, 2011 at 6:58 am | or create a profile.

    Maangchi, I made this cake…
    but something went wrong…
    my cake top is shrinking, and something like a chewy mochi was build up on top….
    did I do something wrong?
    is this because My Jelly mix in the red dough?

  21. ibjerm joined 12/10 & has 2 comments
    Posted March 16th, 2011 at 4:48 am | or create a profile.

    hi maangchi

    how long does it take to defrost the frozen rice flour?

    also, when I tried to add 5 teaspoons of water to 1 cup of frozen rice flour, it turned very gooey… almost liquid.

    thanks,

    – jeremy

  22. inesno44 Sweden. Stockholm joined 3/11 & has 2 comments
    Posted March 8th, 2011 at 2:41 pm | or create a profile.

    For all of you that wonders if it works with regular rice flour, it doesn’t. I made my own frozen rice flour and it was realy easy. I soaked the rice for 10h and then grind it, dryed it for a few minutes on a kitchen towel then start to grind it. I made a beautiful rice cake. I looked all over Stockholm and did’t find any frozen rice flour anywhere.

    Thank’s Maangchi for sharing all your wonderful recepies

    • itran joined 3/11 & has 1 comment
      Posted March 10th, 2011 at 2:03 pm | or create a profile.

      Hi there. I live in US and don’t know if I can find this frozen rice flour at the grocery. As you made this from scratch using rice, I want to know what kind of rice (as there are many such as long/short grain, sweet rice, etc…), and what brand did you buy to make this cake? Also, Maangchi’s recipe asks for 2 pounds of frozen rice flour but I want to know how much rice did you use (cups, oz, pounds, etc..) before you soak the rice overnight? Please email me back at itran1@hotmail.com. thank you so much.

    • Myeongwol Mexico joined 3/11 & has 14 comments
      Posted April 5th, 2011 at 2:36 pm | or create a profile.

      Hi Inesno44!!! I couldn´t find rice flour either, i read you made your own flour just by soaking rice. I was wondering what kind of rice did you use for it?? and how much rice did you need for 2 pounds??? Also, did you grind it right away after being soaked??
      Thanks for sharing…I truly want to make Mujigaeddok!!!!

  23. angelmhae philippines joined 3/11 & has 1 comment
    Posted March 7th, 2011 at 9:55 pm | or create a profile.

    hi maangchi!
    i just want to ask if you know the certain food. i bought this at mall by a korean stall of Food. i saw it’s machine the food just popped out from it. its rounded and very big in diameter. i dont know what it is. but the owner plays the video of boys over flower from korea. the food jeum jandi selling. that the food what he’s describing. i want to make own that but i dont know what it is. it taste soft and not very much sweet and good smell. i just thought if it’s rice cake? is right? pls help me

  24. mokpochica Michigan joined 1/09 & has 89 comments
    Posted February 21st, 2011 at 11:06 pm | or create a profile.

    I have made mujigae ddeok twice now. I made it once for my 2 year old’s birthday celebration at home and then again for the celebration with our extended family. I’m glad I had a trial run, because even though I was pleased with it the first time, it really turned out fantastic the 2nd time around. You have seen the first attempt in pictures and I will send you the 2nd one I made and post it to your gallery too.

    I don’t have a big steamer, so although I had planned to make it using my new cake ring, I couldn’t because I didn’t have a big enough pan. Instead, I put a paper towel that I cut to size in the steamer basket for my rice cooker and steamed it in there. It worked quite well. I give this A+ for appearance and taste.

    My other substitutes were to use strawberry jello for the pink layer and to just use green food coloring (without the green tea powder or sook powder) for the green layer.

  25. kpopdancer joined 12/10 & has 2 comments
    Posted December 20th, 2010 at 12:58 pm | or create a profile.

    안녕망치! I have been watching your videos and your cooking is OUTSTANDING! :D I want to make your 무지개꺽 for my friends’. Since they are in California and I’m all the way in Virginia, I was planning to ship you cakes to them. So, I was wondering, how long would the cake last? Like, how long would it take to get spoiled?
    Thank you~! (:

  26. Philip joined 12/10 & has 4 comments
    Posted December 12th, 2010 at 7:43 pm | or create a profile.

    I went to my local Korean market and the manager said that frozen rice flower doesn’t exist.

  27. ibjerm joined 12/10 & has 2 comments
    Posted December 7th, 2010 at 3:45 am | or create a profile.

    Hi maangchi

    I’m thinking of making this for a friend’s bday, but a smaller version of it

    So instead of an 8 inch springform, I’ll be using a 5 inch pan, which will lower the volume of the cake.

    Keeping the ratios constant, how long should I steam it? Or alternatively, are there visible signs of doneness?

    Sorry for making it sound so much like a math question but cooking is as much science as art :P

  28. juulikesgikwang Melbourne joined 10/10 & has 1 comment
    Posted October 29th, 2010 at 1:52 am | or create a profile.

    Hiiii!
    I’m really into the korean lifestyle… so i chose the korean cuisine for my food assignment…yeah, im still in school ):

    Today, I made this cake but I used a commercial steamer instead.. and it didnt really cook.. the cake was still floury.. I took it home to finish it.. what can I use as a steamer cause I dont have one at home?

    Thanks :D

    • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,045 comments
      Posted October 29th, 2010 at 9:12 am | or create a profile.

      I’m sorry to hear that! You might have felt embarrassed in the class! There may be many reasons why your rice cake was not cooked fully. It could be the rice flour? Did you get soaked and ground rice flour? It’s sold in the freezer section.
      To make fluffy rice cake, you must sift it as I show in the video. BTW, was it cooked fully when you steamed it again at home?

  29. anonymous& has 2 comments
    Posted September 27th, 2010 at 8:47 am | or create a profile.

    hi maangchi!
    i wondering that because i don’t have a cake tin where you can disconnect from the base and just use the edge, can i still use it with a base to steam the cake or will it effect the cake? and if so, do i need to buy a cake tin where the edge of the cake tin can disconnect to be steamed?
    thank-you:) and i’m a big fan of your cooking!

  30. annabanana Vancouver, Canada joined 2/09 & has 68 comments
    Posted August 28th, 2010 at 2:09 am | or create a profile.

    I’ve had such great success with Maangchi’s other recipes, but kept failing at this one…Today, I decided to look at the photo of the rice powder that Maangchi uses and read the ingredients list: rice flour. That’s it! My rice powder contains water (and salt), so that every time I would add the amount of water, as written in the recipe, the whole thing would turn into a sticky paste. One 4 lb bag of rice flour wasted=( I’m going to give it another go tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

  31. omona joined 8/10 & has 1 comment
    Posted August 17th, 2010 at 3:50 am | or create a profile.

    I have a important question! how do you go around the issue of not owning a real steamer? i really want to make this tomorrow but i don’t own a real steamer is there a way around this by like making my own or something?

  32. Eden India joined 8/10 & has 7 comments
    Posted August 11th, 2010 at 4:13 pm | or create a profile.

    Is the powder made from sticky rice (chapssal)?

    • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,045 comments
      Posted August 11th, 2010 at 10:39 pm | or create a profile.

      No, short grain rice flour. https://www.maangchi.com/ingredients/frozen-rice-flour

      • Carol USA joined 8/10 & has 2 comments
        Posted August 15th, 2010 at 11:45 am | or create a profile.

        Hi Maangchi! Your website is wonderful, thanks for sharing these beautiful Korean recipes. I’m making the mujigae ddeok to give as a gift and I think I have all the right ingredients. I have two questions… I’m making it today, but won’t give it until tomorrow, about 24 hours later. Is the cake going to be ok? What is the best way to store it to make sure it stays good and doesn’t dry out? Also, I got a bamboo steamer, but it’s not quite tall enough for the springform pan ring and leaves a little gap between the lid and the steamer’s top. Is it ok if I place a wet cotton cloth over the steamer’s lid to keep the steam from escaping? Any other suggestions? I will send you a picture of the final result.

        • Carol USA joined 8/10 & has 2 comments
          Posted August 15th, 2010 at 9:57 pm | or create a profile.

          Ok, so I made the mujigae ddeok and there’s a lot of room for improvement. Sifting the rice flour the first time was ok, but after I added the water, the flour got stuck in the sifter and would not come out the other side, it ended up being one big clump of dough, even though I followed the recipe. So I started over and cut the amount of water in half and passed the flour through a sieve instead of the sifter. I could tell right away that it didn’t look like the video, but I finished the recipe anyway. I’ll email pictures. The cake looks obviously dry, since I cut the amount of water in the recipe, and lumpy. Not sure what it’ll taste like tomorrow – I’ll bake a “regular” cake as well just in case. Any suggestions are welcome, as I know I’ll come back to this recipe until I get it right.

          • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,045 comments
            Posted August 15th, 2010 at 10:57 pm |

            Carol, I got the photo of mujigaeddeok you emailed me. I was amazed when I saw the photo. Very beautiful and classy! I will post the photo on my website soon.

            You will have to re-steam it right before serving because any type of rice cake gets hard after it’s made.

            I think this recipe (mujigae ddeok) is the most difficult to make of all recipes. It’s almost impossible to make it beautiful and fluffy the first time. You need a lot of practice.

            But yours looks awesome!

  33. ulke joined 8/10 & has 2 comments
    Posted August 7th, 2010 at 11:00 pm | or create a profile.

    Can u use the frozen sweet rice flour for a sweeter flavor? They sell frozen sweet rice flour and regular frozen rice flour at the store.(Sorry if this question has been asked previously.)

    • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,045 comments
      Posted August 9th, 2010 at 10:37 am | or create a profile.

      no, sweet rice is glutinous rice and the name has nothing to do with sweetness. Sweet rice is stickier than regular short grain rice.
      Buy regular frozen rice flour for this recipe.

      “Sorry if this question has been asked previously.” no problem! : )

  34. Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,045 comments
    Posted July 27th, 2010 at 12:22 am | or create a profile.

    Was it cooked properly? It sounds like you used dried sweet rice flour, if so, your rice cake won’t be cooked fully even though you steam it hours and hours.

    This rice cake is made with short grain rice flour instead of sweet rice flour.

    I’m copying and pasting my answer made for another reader a while ago.

    “You have to use short grain rice flour which is soaked overnight and ground finely. The package of frozen rice flour sold at a Korean grocery store in North America is pre-soaked and ground. The rice flour is wet, so it has to be kept in the freezer. Otherwise it will go bad easily.”

    So if you want, make your own wet rice flour!

  35. docpark US joined 5/10 & has 17 comments
    Posted July 26th, 2010 at 10:16 pm | or create a profile.

    Attempted multiple times but steamer fails. Pitcutre of latest attempt, a two layer variant.

    http://golfism.org/2010/07/26/mujigae-ddeok-korean-rice-cake-pastry/

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