月饼 Mooncakes 2025

[liuzhou]

October 6th this year sees China’s Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival. This is when people give gifts of mooncakes and traditionally eat them. So, already the stores are stocking up. Every year brings more and more types, from the more traditional to the outlandish.

 

My plan is to post some of the most unusual I see this year. I start with 桑葚米月饼 (sāng shèn mǐ yuè bǐng), black mulberry and sticky rice. I’ll pass.

 

 

 

Edited September 18 by liuzhou (log)

[Smithy]

 

 

43 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

October 6th this year sees China’s Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival. This is when people give gifts of mooncakes and traditionally eat them. So, already the stores are stocking up. Every year brings more and more types, from the more traditional to the outlandish.

 

My plan is to post some of the most unusual I see this year. I start with 桑葚米月饼 (sāng shèn mǐ yuè bǐng), black mulberry and sticky rice. I’ll pass.

 

 

 

If I recall correctly from past years, you aren't generally impressed with moon cakes. Do I have that right? And are these particularly outlandish? I think the mulberry sounds good, but I've no idea about how compatible the sticky rice would be.

[Smithy]

I have a followup question: is there a correlation between the mooncakes and the lunar year? For instance, we're in the Year of the Snake right now. Are the mooncakes different than they would be during the Year of the Horse?

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

If I recall correctly from past years, you aren't generally impressed with moon cakes. Do I have that right? And are these particularly outlandish? I think the mulberry sounds good, but I've no idea about how compatible the sticky rice would be.

 

Yes. I can eat them, but wouldn't miss them. 

 

No. I don't see them as particularly outlandish, just unusual. I pass because I don't really like the texture of sticky rice. 
 

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

I have a followup question: is there a correlation between the mooncakes and the lunar year? For instance, we're in the Year of the Snake right now. Are the mooncakes different than they would be during the Year of the Horse?

 

No. They tend to vary every year but nothing to do with the Chinese zodiac years.

 

 

Edited September 18 by liuzhou (log)

[gfron1]

Every year I have a few of THESE sent to the US from Malaysia. This year is particularly challenging with new tariff and shipping rules changes. Two years ago every one of them had a finger pressed in - later we learned that was the FDA/USDA? shoving a finger to prove there was no egg yolk inside, which is illegal. I find hers to be gorgeous, interesting but not out there flavors, and actually enjoyable versus the more traditional Cantonese style. [ETA for my poor sentence structure - salted yolk filling is illegal to ship in without prior approval, not shoving a finger in my mooncakes. That's perfectly legal.  :)]

 

Edited September 18 by gfron1 (log)

[liuzhou]

五仁月饼 (wǔ rén yuè bǐng), five nut mooncake.

 

 

This one, I would eat.

 

 

[liuzhou]

金翡翠月饼 (jīn fěi cuì yuè bǐng), Golden Jadeite Mooncake

 

 

 

[Smithy]

2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

金翡翠月饼 (jīn fěi cuì yuè bǐng), Golden Jadeite Mooncake

 

 

 

 

Any idea what that filling tastes like? I agree that it looks jade-ish due to its color and semi-transparency, but I'm curious about the flavor.

 

There was a glassware form, popular (in the USA at least) some decades ago, called Jadeite. I'd be surprised if there's a connection, but I'm ready to be enlightened.

[liuzhou]

@Smithy

 is one of two mineral compounds: nephrite or jadeite, the latter being the purest and most valued. It comes in various colours.

 

For some reason these mooncakes were described with the Chinese term for jadeite; not that for jade. I haven't tasted them - as yet, but guess they are made of sweet green beans. I'll let you know.

 

[KennethT]

On 9/18/2025 at 5:50 PM, gfron1 said:

Every year I have a few of THESE sent to the US from Malaysia. This year is particularly challenging with new tariff and shipping rules changes. Two years ago every one of them had a finger pressed in - later we learned that was the FDA/USDA? shoving a finger to prove there was no egg yolk inside, which is illegal. I find hers to be gorgeous, interesting but not out there flavors, and actually enjoyable versus the more traditional Cantonese style. [ETA for my poor sentence structure - salted yolk filling is illegal to ship in without prior approval, not shoving a finger in my mooncakes. That's perfectly legal.  :)]

 

That sucks.  In the future, another option may be to get them from Lady Wong, the NYC Nyonya/Malaysian bakery - you can get their moon cakes (and other desserts but I don't think their full catalog) on GoldBelly.

[dcarch]

I will try to make my own.

Thinking of chestnut with pistachio nut filling. Hoping chestnuts will be available soon.

Bought salted egg yolks already.

 

dcarch

[liuzhou]

This time, 白莲藕蛋月饼 (bái lián ǒu dàn yuè bǐng), a traditional mooncake with a twist, White Lotus Root with Salted Egg Mooncake.

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

I'm not sure what's going on here and even less sure I want to find out. This is presented as a 肉月饼 (ròu yuè bǐng), literally meat mooncake, but as always in China 'meat' without a specific identification is pork., so pork mooncake.

 

I won't be trying it.

 

 

 

[Allura]

So, I've been watching a lot of "historical" cdramas lately, and the most recent one, they were making "flower mooncakes" in an episode. Is that common? It appeared to be roses. I'm watching through OK-ish translation, so never quite sure.

[liuzhou]

9 hours ago, Allura said:

So, I've been watching a lot of "historical" cdramas lately, and the most recent one, they were making "flower mooncakes" in an episode. Is that common? It appeared to be roses. I'm watching through OK-ish translation, so never quite sure.

 

Never heard of them. Where are you watching this?

 

 

[liuzhou]

The reason I was surprised by the pork mooncake above wasn't that it was meat; more that it was just meat. Meat in mooncakes is not unusual. But usually with other ingredients making up the bulk..

 

This here is either a ham  or char siu (Mandarin, 叉烧 (chā shāo)) and mixed nuts mooncake. I'm not sure which as they do both and they look the same.

 

 

Mixed nuts is clearly the trend for this year.

[gfron1]

I'm still playing around with ideas before I make my gifts. These are double filling - black sesame and black bean (ala red bean...but black) teochew style.

 

[donk79]

11 minutes ago, gfron1 said:

I'm still playing around with ideas before I make my gifts. These are double filling - black sesame and black bean (ala red bean...but black) teochew style.

 

Is the dough laminated?

[gfron1]

40 minutes ago, donk79 said:

Is the dough laminated?

There are two doughs in this process - a water dough and an oil dough. Each gets formed into a ball. The oil dough is smaller, and then you flatten the water ball into a disk, and encase the oil ball inside similar to wrapping a baozi. Then you roll out, coil up, roll out a second time, and coil up a second time. So, yes, it is a form of laminating I suppose where the oil dough would serve the purpose of the butter layer, but steam isn't released in this process like it is in laminates. 

 

FWIW I thought I would try and do the math on this but I doubt I am correct. encased ball smooshed down = 3 layers.

First rollout and coil up averages 3 coils...That should be 27 layers.

Second rollout and coil up with same 3 coil average...isn't this a basic exponential equation? 27x27x27=...but that seems way too high.

Anyway, you get the idea and someone else can do the math for us.

[liuzhou]

To my horror, one local (not very good) bakery chain is disgracefully selling innocent people the execrable Luosifen mooncakes again. However they are faking their advertising.

 

 

The Chinese character on the cake's top, 螺 is that for the luo part of luosifen, but the image of the cut cake is something else entirely.

 

The real cake interior looks like this:

 

 

Foul.

 

 

Edited September 24 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

From the ridiculous to the sublime. My favourite mooncakes.

 

冰皮榴莲月饼 (bīng pí liú lián yuè bǐng), literally ice skin durian fruit cakes.

 

 

 

 

 

These are the only ones I’d lay out my own  ill-gotten gains to acquire.

 

 

[liuzhou]

 

I mentioned mulberry earlier. Here is a variation on that theme.

 

These are described as 米月饼 (黑芝麻／桑葚) (mǐ yuè bǐng (hēi zhī ma / sāng shèn)) which is rice mooncakes (black sesame / mulberry).

 

I think I’d prefer just the mulberry on its own. Not a fan of black sesame paste.

 

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

 

Century old? It is old but not that old.

 

 

[liuzhou]

I’ll happily admit I don’t know what the hell these are and I’ve no intention of finding out.

 

Made in a dedicated mooncake building in the grounds of the Liuzhou Hotel, a historic 5-star* hotel next door to my last home, they are highly prized in Liuzhou and cost about 16 times more than your average mooncake.

 

The first line reads 柳州饭店银柳月饼 (liǔ zhōu fàn diàn yín liǔ yuè bǐng), “Liuzhou Hotel silver willow mooncakes” 安定underneath 雅风银柳 (yǎ fēng yín liǔ), “Elegant silver willow”, which I read as a tribute to the city – the liu part of Liuzhou means “willow”.

 

That’s all the information they give. Nothing in the way of description, ingredients of flavours. Just pay up and move along!

 

 

*The government owns the hotel and the government awards the stars in China, so take that with a tablespoon of salt.

 

 

[liuzhou]

I said few days ago that that the trend in 2025 is for mixed nut mooncakes. Now I’m re-considering. It seems it may be being evasive about what kind of mooncakes you are actually selling!

 

These are described as 奶酥皮紫薯雪媚娘 (nǎi sū pí zǐ shǔ xuě mèi niáng), which translate as ’creamy crusted purple potato and snowy bride’, whatever the hell that means. No further information available.