One of Asia’s Top Chefs Reviews 14 Mooncakes to Find the Best
And guess what? Higher-end brands aren’t always better.
Mooncake packaging offers status-symbol wow all its own, especially when given as business gifts.
Photographer: Anthony Kwan/BloombergMooncake season is in full swing with the fast-approaching Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival on Sept. 29. The delectable, calorie-packed cakes (a small one can weigh in at almost 1,000 calories) are a key treat, with more extravagant (and extravagantly packaged) versions from luxury hotels and top restaurants selling out early—even with boxes costing HK$1,328 ($170) or more.
Traditional recipes use a molded pastry dough filled with dense sweetened lotus seed paste and a salted duck egg yolk (or two) tucked inside to symbolize the full moon. More modern iterations have updated the 3,000-year-old delicacies with an ever-widening range of fillings and flavorings–chocolate, all manner of fruits, nuts, gooey “lava” centers, even ice cream and caviar. “Snow skin” mooncakes dispense with the baked crust altogether, using instead a bouncy mochi-like rice flour wrapper that’s kept chilled.