Mooncake From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  Traditional baked mooncake The mooncake (Simplified: 月饼; Traditional: 月餅; Hanyu Pinyin: yuèbĭng) is a Chinese confection that is traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival, although they can be eaten at other times of the year as well. The festival is intricately linked to the legends of Chang E, the mythical Moon Goddess of Immortality. Typical mooncakes are often, but not always, round or rectangular, measuring about 10 cm in diameter, and 4-5 cm thick, and are very dense, especially when compared to Western cakes. The traditional pastry has a flaky skin with a lotus seed paste, and a whole egg yolk in the center to symbolize the moon. When the cake is cut into quarters, as is traditional custom, the yolk looks like a round moon, and it balances out the sweet filling with a salty taste.  Pink jelly mooncake with red-bean paste filling Lotus seed, however, is very expensive, so another paste, such as mung paste, black bean paste, yellow bean paste, or red bean paste is often substituted. The red bean paste is quite labor intensive, taking several days to make, so typically, these mooncakes are purchased at Asian markets and bakeries. But in recent years, such ingredients as coffee, chocolate, nuts (walnuts, mixed nuts, etc), fruits (prunes, pineapples, melons, etc), vegetables (sweet potatoes, etc), ham, and even lychees have been added to give a modern twist to the traditional recipes. Each cake has an imprint on top — either the characters for longevity or harmony; a moon; a woman on the moon; a flower; or even a rabbit. Mooncakes are expensive, are considered a delicacy, and go best with oolong or jasmine tea. But despite its central role in the Mid-Autumn festival, the popularity of mooncakes has declined in recent years. Part of the reason is that people are becoming more health-conscious. Traditional mooncakes are made with lard, and a lot of sugar. Another reason for the decline in popularity is that the Moon Festival has become increasingly commercialized. People are focusing more on the exchange of gifts, and less on the traditional celebrations, such that its symbolism has eroded. Many mooncakes are bought by businessmen who give them to their clients as presents. [1]
Traditional types of mooncakes Mooncakes are usually baked, although they can be steamed, baked, or fried. Many regional variants have evolved over time. Its development was governed by the availability of resources, economic environment, and regional taste preferences. The most widely-known types are: - Soochow-style Mooncake: This style began more than a thousand years ago, and is known for its layers of flaky dough, and generous allotment of sugar and lard. Within this regional type, there are more than a dozen variations. However, the most popular variation is "ch'in-shui mei-kuei yueh-ping", which is hand-made, and has a flaky cover with fruit and nut content.
- Peking-style Mooncake: This style has two variations. One is called "ti-chiang", which was influenced by the Soochow-style. It has a light foamy dough, instead of a flaky dough. The other variation is called "fan-mao", and has a flaky white dough. The two most popular fillings are the mountain hawthorn and wisteria blossom flavour. The Peking-style mooncake is often meticulously decorated.
- Ningpo-style Mooncake: This style is also inspired by the Soochow-style. It is prevalent in Chekiang province, and has a compact covering. The fillings are either seaweed or ham, and is also known for its spicy and salty flavor.
- Yunnan-style Mooncake: Also known as "t'o" to the residents, its distinctive feature is the combination of various flours for the dough, and includes rice flour, wheat flour, buckwheat flour, and more. Most of the variations within this style are sweet.
- Cantonese-style Moon Cake: This style of mooncake has the greatest number of variations — up to 200. The ingredients used for the fillings are various and endless: lotus seed paste, melon seed paste, ham, chicken, duck, roast pork, mushrooms, egg yolks, etc. More elaborate versions contain four egg yolks, representing the four phases of the moon.
- Taiwanese-style Moon Cake
- Teochiu-style Moon Cake
Modern variants  Rainbow mooncake with mung-paste filling  Jelly mooncake with yam-paste filling In early 1990, mooncakes made with a glutinous rice skin, colloquially called, "snow-skin", appeared on the market. These non-baked, chilled mooncakes were initially very traditional, and filled with the usual lotus seed, red mung bean or yam pastes. All changed in 1994, when Raffles Hotel in Singapore launched a snow-skin mooncake filled with champagne truffle. Häagen-Dazs followed on from this innovation, and were one of the first to create an ice-cream mooncake, with a choice of either the "traditional" snow-skin or Belgian white, milk and dark chocolate crusts. Following this bit of lateral thinking, it was obvious these non-baked mooncakes could be filled with pretty much anything that could be made into a paste. An explosion of new flavours appeared and spanned the range from: To adapt to today’s health conscious and Westernized lifestyle, many bakeries offer miniature mooncakes and fat-free mooncakes. Some are made of yogurt, jelly and fat-free ice-cream. Even high fibre, low-sugar mooncakes have made their appearance. To be competitive, bakers boast about how little sugar and oil they use in their mooncakes. Customers can pick and choose the size and filling that suits their taste and diet. For added hygiene, each cake is often wrapped in airtight plastic, accompanied by a tiny food preserver packet. The new version is well-accepted among young people in China.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mooncake
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