Your perfect homemade rice cake

Bars and gels can be a big expense for cyclists who are riding daily. With Guillem Suriñach, the Torelló-based U23 rider, we make 40 rice cakes for only 14 euros. Rice cakes that are nearly as energy-providing as any other sports bar.

“I am not sure whether I should share this secret recipe, or try to start selling them to cyclists”, Surinach says when he fills two pans with water. “I have been working on and adjusting this recipe for years, and it can be easily fine-tuned into vegan variants too.”

Surinach, or ‘Suri’ as most of the Catalan cyclists might know him, makes his rice cakes approximately once per month. After producing, he puts them in the fridge, or the freezer, so they can last longer than a few days.

Fructose and maltodextrin

“You need white rice”, he says, “and not integral. That’s one part of the secret. The other part of the secret is the sweetener, which can be hazelnut extract or vanilla. I use the ones from ‘Flavdrops’. They are the base of the strong taste of the cake. Together with these sweeteners, you can put any kind of topping: fruits, Lotus, Oreo, chocolate, as far as your imagination reaches. You can even add caviar, but I cannot promise the rice cakes are still so cheap.”

To give it the right amount of carbohydrates and proteins, Suri is used to adding fructose powder and maltodextrin to his rice cakes. “These are the more expensive ingredients, however, if you buy a big can of both, you can use them nearly fifty times.”

Find the recipe in the second edition of Nafent Magazine, available in the webshop or at one of our 32 partners’ places.

The rice has to cook for approximately 20 minutes to give it the right texture. In the meantime, mix the maltodextrin, fructose powder, salt (!), coconut milk, sweeteners, oats, and toppings into a tasteful mixture. One can also add honey for additional flavour.

Rice cakes for a month

Put the mixture into the pan with the rice and add more oats or nuts if the texture is not right. Try your final product, and add additional flavoring extract if necessary. Let your rice cake cool down at room temperature before cutting it into pieces and storing them in the fridge or freezer for longer usability.

“If I get all these ingredients in the supermarket once per month, I have my rice cakes with me during nearly all my training and races”, Suri says. “And I can even trade them with friends for coffee or a croissant at a bar!”