Have you ever had a mooncake? I had my first one a few days ago and it was delicious. I took a baking class with my brother a couple weeks ago. We spent the afternoon learning about the history of mooncakes while molding a dozen to bring home with us. Just in time too! Mooncakes are typically eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is celebrated around the time of the September equinox. The round cakes are gifted and shared with family, friends and business acquaintances to symbolize unity, completeness, and reunion. This year the festival will take place Tuesday, September 17.
The Folklore
The origin of mooncakes is spun from the legend of Moon Goddess Chang’e. She became a deity upon drinking a potion for immortality given by the gods to her husband Hou Yi. Her husband was a great archer who was celebrated for shooting nine of ten suns from the sky. Making the temperature more bearable and everyone more comfortable. Chang’e was tasked with keeping the elixir safe for her husband but when some “bad guys” came and tried to steal it, she drank the potion herself. She didn’t want it to get in the wrong hands! Chang’e then flew up to the moon so that she could still be near her mortal husband. She ends up befriending a Jade Rabbit that comes to the Moon Palace as well. The rabbit’s job is to create the elixir of life for the mortals below. Hou Yi was so heartbroken that he set out his wife’s favorite foods every evening, one of them small cakes. Similar to the mooncakes that are eaten today. There are multiple versions of the story but that was the one that we were told in the class.
Making Mooncakes
You can find these cakes in the weeks leading up to the Autumnal Festival or you can try to make your own! You do need a set of mooncake molds to make these tiny treasures but they are easy to find online, or maybe in your local Asian market. A kitchen scale is also helpful to ensure that your cakes come out uniform.The ingredients can be found at most local grocery stores, red bean paste may be tricky. Again, check your local Asian market!
One of the most commonly made types of mooncakes are the ones using red bean paste. The texture is soft, chewy, and sticky sweet. We made the red bean paste filled cakes but also more non traditional flavors like oreo, needham(chocolate with coconut) and mixed nuts. These tiny cakes are calorically dense so even though the ones we made were 1 inch in diameter they were cut into quarters.
This post has some great step by step directions for making mooncakes. You can find additional recipes here and here. Another type of mooncake that is becoming popular is the snowskin mooncake made from mochi. If you live in Maine be sure to check out Knead and Nosh for upcoming classes!
If you’re reading this and happen to be a teacher, or parent who loves to link food/traditions with books there are quite a few out there. Round is a Mooncake: A Book of Shapes, Moon Festival Wishes, Mooncakes Mean Family, Mooncakes, and A Big Mooncake for LIttle Star are some that I’m going to pick up. These are Amazon links just for reference, remember to support your local bookshop!
