Cake – one word that is sure to leave your mouth watering. Just the name of it and we start salivating and thereby craving for it. For ages now, cakes have been making it to all our happy occasions or festivals. They tend to grace all the happy celebratory events with their unmatched taste and appeal so that everyone attending the celebratory event becomes a fan of it. Until now, we are pretty sure you have come across or have tried different unique cake varieties including red velvet, cheesecake and other such different kinds of cakes. Either you have tried baking it on your own or visited some cake shop which had got so many different varieties of lip-smacking cakes. But have you tried or heard of moon cake? We are pretty sure you are pretty clueless as we were when we first found out this delicious variety of Chinese cake. Moon cake is a popular Chinese dessert item which is served during the mid-autumn festival which falls on August 15th as per the Chinese Lunar calendar. As August isn’t that far away, let’s discuss how to bake a mooncake at home with much precision.
PREP TIME
20 minutes
COOK TIME
20 minutes
TOTAL TIME
40 minutes
Ingredients for the Dough
- 60g golden syrup
- 1/4 tsp lye water (kansui)
- 24g vegetable oil
- 100g cake flour
Ingredients for the Filling
- 10 salted egg yolk
- 220g store-bought lotus paste
- Egg wash to brush the mooncake
Let’s Start Baking!
- Take a mixing bowl and pour golden syrup, lye water, and vegetable oil, until well combined.
- Sieve the flour and pour on top of this mixture, all at once.
- Combine all the ingredients and place the dough on a piece of cling wrap. Let the dough relax for a while as you refrigerate it.
- Now for the filling, wash salted egg yolks with water. And ensure to remove the white sticking to the yolk.
- Pat dry. Now wrap the egg yolk with lotus paste.
- Then roll it into a ball and set it aside.
- For the wrapping stage, in between two plastic sheets or cling wraps, roll out the pastry.
- Now removing the icing wraps from the top, roll the pastry towards the fillings.
- Pinch away the excess pastry, wherever the pastry is double folded to ensure consistent thickness.
- Now roll the mooncake with your palms to form a ball.
- Dust the surface with flour and then roll the mooncake on it.
- Dip the piston of the mould to the flour and shake off the excess.
- Now place the doughs on a baking tray.
- Dip the piston downward, as you put the mooncake mould on the dough. The dough will take shape and impression of the mould.
- Now bake the mooncake at the middle rack, for about 175°C/350°F top and bottom temperature for five minutes or so.
- Once the surface firms up, get it out of the oven and brush some egg wash on the surface of the moon cake.
- Bake for about 10 minutes more until it turns golden brown in colour.
- Now remove the cake from the oven and set it to settle at the room temperature.
- Keep the mooncake stored in an airtight container for at least 3 days or so before serving it to your guests.
Your mooncake is ready to be served or to be relished! Try baking this easy yet quick recipe of mooncake; we are pretty sure you are going to love experimenting with your baking skills baking this traditional Chinese sweet delicacy. Share this recipe with your baking aficionado friends and family members. Urge them to even try baking something different.
