月饼 Mooncakes 2025

[KennethT]

31 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

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.

 

 

 

 

By "purple potato" do they mean ube?  Ube has been really trendy here - mostly because it's so 'Instagrammable' due to its vibrant purple color... otherwise, it tastes like nothing.

[liuzhou]

8 minutes ago, KennethT said:

By "purple potato" do they mean ube?

 

No. It is purple sweet potato.

 

a I understand it, ube is yam.

 

 

[haresfur]

Guardian Australia Article

 

From lotus to lava custard: Australia’s biggest mooncake sale – in pictures

 

[chromedome]

I was in one of the local supermarkets yesterday, and passed a mountainous display of mooncakes. After following this thread, I was curious enough to take a closer look. Turned out they were all basically the same two varieties: white lotus paste, with or without egg yolks. 

 

I would buy a single one just to find out what white lotus paste tastes like, but not a big ol' tin of them. 

[liuzhou]

12 hours ago, haresfur said:

From lotus to lava custard: Australia’s biggest mooncake sale – in pictures

 

I saw that, too. Interesting

 

However, I would point out that they're not all mooncakes in the  image. Only he round ones are; the circular shape resembles the moon and is an important part of the symbolism.

 

The pig shaped one in the centre is a 猪仔糕 (zhū zǎi gāo), Zhuzaigao, piglet cake. These are also traditionally eaten at the mid-autumn festival, but were originally made for children. They consisted of the same mooncake crust as the traditional Cantonese type of mooncake, but were not stuffed with the heavy contents. Instead they were solid crust., which was thought would be better for kids who wouldn't be able to stomach the heaviness of the regular mooncakes.  Today, they are sometimes sold stuffed, but just as often, not.

 

The fish shaped cake to the pig's tail end is not related to the mid-autumn festival, but is a 新年魚年糕  (xīn nián yú nián gāo), New Year Fish Shape Cake. They are one type of 年糕 (nián gāo), Nian gao or New Year Cake and are made from steamed glutinous (sticky) rice.  These are traditionally served at Chinese New Year. It may be that someone has taken the Niangao shape and turned into a "mooncake" but the fish still remains symbolic of New Year in Chinese culture.

 

I have no idea what the red rabbit-looking thing is.

 

 

 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

5 hours ago, chromedome said:

I was in one of the local supermarkets yesterday, and passed a mountainous display of mooncakes. After following this thread, I was curious enough to take a closer look. Turned out they were all basically the same two varieties: white lotus paste, with or without egg yolks. 

 

I would buy a single one just to find out what white lotus paste tastes like, but not a big ol' tin of them. 

 

Those two are the most traditional types, so I'm unsurprised that's what they are stocking. White lotus paste tastes of nothing much at all, but is sweet.

 

 

[liuzhou]

This is just another 5-nut mooncake but, as you can see, a 'family size' type.

 

It isn't however the largest I've ever seen. I've seen them 'more 'neighbourhood size'. About the size of a truck's wheel.

 

The largest according to the Guinness record people is

 

Quote

The largest mooncake weighs 2,496.4 kg (5,502.74 lb) and was prepared by the culinary team at the Parkside Plaza at Changfeng and Shanghai Marriott Hotel Changfeng (both China), in Shanghai, China, on 19 September 2013. The moon cake was prepared by Chef Kang and his team of 15 professional chefs, and took a total of three days to make. Unveiled on September 19th, Mid-Autumn Festival, the mooncake had a final diameter of 2.57 m. It comprised a total off 100 g of oil, 300 kg of sugar, 500 kg of flour, 4,000 egg yolks and 2,300 kg of lotus seed paste.

 

This pales in comparison.

 

 

 

 

 

[Smithy]

I wish we had a "wow!" sort of emoji, but we don't. That giant mooncake you describe sounds like some of the attempts at the "world's largest" pancake, omelette, or whatever record-setter we see posted on this side of the pond periodically. (Sorry, I'm too lazy to go look for links to the latest.)

 

The mooncakes often have enticing outer shells. I think their patterns are beautiful! But the ones that look the most tempting are those with a lot of nuts inside, as in your most recent photos. Not that I'm likely to have a chance to taste any of them soon. 

 

Thanks for this topic.