Clem's Baked Mooncakes
 

 

The Mid-Autumn Festival which is celebrated across the Far East (notably by the Chinese) falls on the 15th day of the 8th month in the Chinese lunisolar calendar. In Australia, it becomes a spring festival due to the inverted seasons south of the equator.
 

The Chinese mark the occasion by sharing mooncakes (no, they are not made of the moon and they are not from that celestial body - just like Mars bars are not from Mars). They are confectionary pastries (usually baked) which are typically filled with sweet, red bean or lotus seed paste. I decided to try making some of my own this year. Here's how I did it:

 

1. Equipment
 

  • Mooncake mould.
    I bought this mooncake mould from Amazon:

    It comes with five different cake stamps (so you can distinguish your different types of mooncake).
    It is supposed to be able to make cakes up to 150 g in weight.
    Mooncakes to be formed are place inside the mould assembly and the plunger is then brought down onto it with firm pressure.
    •

 

2. Ingredients
 

  • Cake flour.
    This is a low-protein flour (7 - 9% protein compared with 10% for plain flour and 11 - 13% for bread flour) which forms less gluten and therefore resulting in a less tough/chewy baked good (gliadin and glutenin in flour are hydrated when water is added, and together they form the strands of a gluten network).
     
  • Golden syrup.
     
  • Vegetable oil.
     
  • Salt.
     
  • Lye (alkali) water (kansui).
    If not accessible, you can make your own:
    Bake baking soda at 120oC for an hour.
    When it has cooled, make alkaline water by mixing one part of the baked soda with four parts water.

    Lye water creates an alkaline condition in the dough, thus encouraging maillard reaction in the sugars within.
    This reaction helps develop a brown/golden colour in mooncake crusts.
     
  • Cooked salted duck eggs (optional).
     
  • Lotus seed paste for mooncakes (contains sugar and oil).
     
  • Red bean paste for mooncakes (contains sugar).
    Note 1:
    Red bean paste may not already contain added oil in which case you add your own in.
    Heat some in a saucepan and mix in 1/4 cup of vegetable oil to each kilogram of red bean paste.
     
  • Note 2:
    Mooncakes can be glazed with an egg wash during baking.
    I decided not to glaze mine and so egg is not included in my ingredients list.

 

2. Method
 

Make the mooncake wrapper dough
 

  • In a mixing bowl, add:
     
    • 135 g golden syrup.
       
    • 13 g lye water.
       
    • 50 g vegetable oil.
       
    • 3 g salt.
       
  • Mix well.
     
  • Add 250 g cake flour.
     
  • Mix/kneed well until a pliable but non-sticky dough results.
    If still sticky, add more flour in gradual amounts until the desired pliability and non-stickiness results.
     
  • Set aside to rest for at least 3 hours at room temperature.

 

Make the mooncakes
(the portions stated below are for the mooncake mould shown above - for 7.9 cm diameter cakes)
 

  • Divide your dough into 60 g portions.


Mooncake dough divided into 60 g portions and hand-rolled into balls

 
 
  • Take 60 g portions of paste and roll them into balls.
    If you are more practiced in wrapping mooncakes, you can use less dough for a thinner crust.
     
  • Flatten out each portion into round circles about 2 mm thick.
     
  • Take a 65 g portion of paste, roll it into a ball and place it onto the centre of a flattened mooncake wrapper and fold it around the paste ball.
    Ensure that there are no air pockets.
    Roll the wrapped ball in your hands to smooth out the wrapper around the paste ball and help bind the paste to the dough wrapper.
    Note: The wrapper may not cover the paste ball completely - remove portions of the wrapper where they appear to be double folded and place these bits over any missing wrapper, and then roll in your hand to smooth out. This works well.

    If including duck eggs in your cake:
     
    • Make your paste portions 65 g minus the weight of each duck egg.
       
    • Make a depression in the centre of the wrapper dough.
       
    • Place a duck egg into the depression and form the past evenly around the egg.
       
    • Roll in your hands to smooth out the paste over the egg.
       
    • Now you can wrap a flattened dough wrapper around the paste ball thus made.
       
  • Dust each wrapped paste ball of mooncake with cake flour (to help it come out of the mould later).
    Place the ball into the mooncake mould.
    Hold the mould firmly and exert firm pressure downwards on the handle to form the mooncake.
    Take care not to let any cake parts escape the bottom of the mould during pressings.
     
  • Using the plunger, push out the formed cake onto baking paper in a baking tray.
     
  • Mist all the cakes with a water spray - this helps prevent them from cracking.

    Procedure without egg glazing:
     
    • Bake for some 15 minutes at 150oC.
    • Check for browning during the bake (and take out from the oven if already browned).
    • Bake longer in extra 3 minute lots if not sufficiently browned.
    • You will want to remove cakes from the oven just before the final degree of browning because they will continue to brown after removal from the oven.
       

    Procedure with egg glazing:
     

    • Bake for some 5 minutes at 150oC.
    • Take the cakes out and glaze them with a mixture of one egg yolk mix with 1 tablespoon of water.
    • Return the cakes to the oven and bake for another 5 minutes.
    • Take the cakes out and glaze a second time.
    • Bake for another 5 minutes, this time checking for browning and removing if a glaze and required degree of browning has been attained.
    • You will want to remove cakes from the oven just before the final degree of browning because they will continue to brown after removal from the oven.

     

  • Allow the cakes to cool and then store in an airtight container for at least two days for the pastry crust to develop its characteristic softness against the paste contents.

     
  • After the resting period, your cakes are ready to share and enjoy!
    •

 


Clem's Lotus Seed (left)  and Red Bean (right) Mooncakes


 

All my cooking (some without recipes) can be found here (click on each photo to go to that dish's page):

 

http://clemkuek.com/photoalbum/photo696.html

 

Video presentations can be found here:

Clem cooks

 

 

www.clemkuek.com

 

26 September 2025
 

 



Created by Clem Kuek