What is a mooncake dessert? Here's how to master the art of making it at home
Mooncakes or yue bing are Chinese miniature bakery goods that fit into the palm of your hand. Here's a quick recipe and some variations
Mooncakes or yue bing are Chinese miniature bakery goods that fit into the palm of your hand and are commonly made with a thin pastry layer encasing a dense filling of salted egg yolks or lotus seed paste. These small but mighty treats are an integral part of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, complementing other traditions such as lantern displays, candle lighting and admiring the full harvest moon. Despite their origin, these cakes have a vast fan following — in Korea, they're called songpyeon and eaten while celebrating Chuseok while in Japan sticky, chewy dango are consumed at Tsukimi, a fall festival which loosely translates to “looking at the moon”.
The process to make the delicacy is a long-winded one. But if you're a baker or an adventurous eater, this is one dessert that is sure to impress at the dinner table, no matter what the occasion. Since the fillings can be adjusted according to personal flavour, once the basics of the skin are formed it's easy to do the rest.
Ingredients:
Filling: Dried lotus seeds, peanut oil, salt, granulated sugar, honey
Skin: Golden syrup (an inverted sugar syrup made by refining sugar cane), peanut oil, lye water, all-purpose flour
Equipment: Mooncake moulds, kitchen scale, pastry brush, baking sheet with parchment paper
Prep instructions:
Soak and cook the lotus seeds: Soak the dried lotus seeds overnight. The next day drain and check the seeds, removing any green buds. Add them to a saucepan with fresh water, covering them completely, and simmer for 2 hours.
Blend and thicken: Once done, blend the seeds with water until smooth. Strain the puree into a sauté pan and cook over medium heat until reduced by about a third. The texture should be thick, like a heavy soup. Gradually add peanut oil (1 tbsp at a time), stirring after each addition.
Season the paste: Add salt, sugar, and honey, stirring constantly until it thickens into a paste that pulls away from the pan. Once done, chill the paste in the fridge for at least an hour.
Prepare dough for the skin: While the paste cools, mix golden syrup, peanut oil, and lye water in a bowl. Add flour and combine until a dough forms. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Assembling the mooncakes
Weigh the ingredients: Once cool, weigh out the ingredients for each mooncake. Use 30g of the lotus paste while the dough for the mooncake skin should weigh 20g. The total weight of the mooncake should be 50g.
Assemble the mooncakes: Roll the lotus paste into a ball and flatten it. Add a ball of the lotus paste in the middle.
Shape the mooncake: Roll the mooncake dough into a ball, flatten it, and wrap it around the lotus paste ball. Gently press and stretch the dough to fully enclose the filling, similar to rolling a rubber band onto a ball. Smooth out the shape once the filling is enclosed. Repeat this for each mooncake.
Moulding and baking the mooncakes
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and dust the mooncake moulds lightly with flour, shaking off the excess. Place each mooncake into the mould, press down firmly. Then lift and release the mooncake onto the baking sheet. Repeat for all mooncakes. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour to help the patterns hold during baking.
Preheat the oven to 177°C. Bake the mooncakes for 5 minutes. Prepare an egg wash by whisking 1 egg yolk with 3 tbsp of whole milk. Brush the mooncakes lightly with the egg wash, then bake for another 12 minutes.
Let the mooncakes cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. For the best results, refrigerate the mooncakes for 24 hours before serving.
Pro tip: The ratio for the filling to skin is typically 30g of filling to 20g of dough. For larger mooncakes, such as 100g mooncakes, use 60g of filling to 40g of skin. This ratio helps balance the texture and flavour.
Other filling options
If you're not the biggest fan of plain, lotus paste, which can be an acquired taste, there are a series of other fillings you can swap it with. Sweet, red bean paste mooncakes are widely popular in East Asian countries, while matcha paste or chopped nuts make the taste of this dessert more familiar. If you're an adventurous eater, you can also substitute the lotus paste for sweet potato paste. Other options include fresh fruit, flavoured cream cheese or chocolate.
Though the process of making mooncakes is a time-consuming one, the results are well worth the effort. With a simple yet versatile dough and endless options for fillings, mooncakes can be customised to suit any taste.