A dense, richly glazed pastry with a tender golden skin pressed into ornate molds, encasing sweet lotus seed paste and a whole salted egg yolk for the full moon at its center. The defining cake of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The mooncake is traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival; the Cantonese style uses a chewy crust of golden syrup, lye water, flour and oil with lotus seed paste and salted egg yolk.
The skin is thin and yielding, almost cookie-like, giving way to dense, glossy lotus paste that is sweet but clean. Then you hit the salted yolk, crumbly and savory, cutting the sugar like a tide pulling back. A sliver with strong tea is plenty.
Lye water raises the dough's pH so it browns deeply and the skin softens during the post-bake rest as oil migrates outward (the 'return of oil'). The salted yolk's fat and salinity provide a savory counterpoint that keeps the sweet lotus paste from cloying.
Variations
Red bean paste, mixed nuts and ham (wuren), Suzhou flaky-crust, snow-skin (bingpi) no-bake versions
On the Palate
Where Mooncake sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8
How it's made
8 steps · 1 hour 30 min
- 1125 min
Mix golden syrup, lye water and oil, then knead in flour to form a soft dough; rest for two hours.
Watch outRest the dough a full two hours until it relaxes and turns supple — worked too soon it cracks when you wrap.
- 215 min
Wrap each salted egg yolk inside a ball of lotus seed paste.
- 320 min
Flatten a portion of dough and encase the paste-and-yolk ball, sealing completely.
Watch outSeal the skin without trapping air — an air pocket puffs and cracks the pattern in the oven.
- 415 min
Dust a mooncake mold with flour and press each ball to imprint the pattern.
- 53 min
Arrange on a tray and spray lightly with water to prevent cracking.
- 65 min
Bake at 180C for about 5 minutes, then brush with egg wash.
Watch outFirst bake just sets the pattern; brush egg wash only after it firms, or the imprint blurs away.
- 712 min
Return to the oven and bake until the skin is deep golden.
- 85 min
Cool fully, then store one to two days so the skin softens and turns glossy.
Watch outIt comes out hard and dull — give it a day or two and the oil returns, softening the skin to a glossy sheen.
