This recipe shows you how to create traditional Cantonese mooncakes from scratch without purchasing golden syrup or kansui. In this recipe, you get a delicious black sesame filling, a dough that has a good mouthfeel and keeps its shape, and thorough step-by-step pictures of the whole process. Moreover, I listed every tip and note I have, to help you make homemade mooncakes successfully. With this information, you’ll easily be able to adapt this recipe to the available ingredients you have, or whatever filling you prefer.
{Long post alert} I tried to shorten it, but the post still ran very long (>4000 words), due to the sheer amount of information. If you don’t want to read the whole thing, be sure to browse the cooking notes before going to the recipe. You can also find more information about golden syrup and kansui in my other posts, and learn how to make them with typical household ingredients.
A bit about traditional mooncakes and why people don’t cook them at home
Mid-Autumn Festival is a big thing in China, and eating mooncakes with family members is a must. It’s the the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar year – the middle day of autumn and the day of the full moon. It’s the day that family members sit together and enjoy mooncakes and a peaceful night with the brightest moon.
You might wonder, do we cook mooncakes at home, just like we cook homemade dumplings to celebrate lunar new year? The answer is a big NO.
Aside from the complicated cooking process and the fact that an oven is not commonly found in a Chinese kitchen, it’s simply because mooncakes are a very high-volume item. It’s a deep-rooted cultural tradition, where people send mooncakes to family and friends as a gift, starting two weeks before the festival. We get a big box of mooncakes from our employer, from our community center, from relatives and friends who bought too many boxes and can’t finish them. You see, a family can get so many boxes of mooncakes without spending a cent, and you probably only want to eat a few anyway (they’re too sweet and too heavy).
The other fact is that traditional mooncakes are becoming less popular in China. There have been scandals, such as one where a mooncake company reused a stock of year-old mooncake filling and used gutter oil to cut costs. The other reason is that more modern styles of mooncake have become trendy, such as the snow skin mooncake (with a no-bake dough made from mochi) and French style mooncakes (made with French pastry dough and a jam-like filling). The third reason, and the most important one, is that the quality of traditional mooncakes has dropped significantly and they’re just not as tasty anymore. It has started to become superficial and cliche, as people only purchase them to give them away. It has become more standardized, less creative, and less fresh.
When I told my mom that I finally made some great looking mooncakes, she was surprised and said “why bother? you don’t even like mooncakes.”
Mooncake obsession
The truth is, I did eat mooncakes back in China, but I only like the traditional kind with egg yolk in the filling. Not all mooncakes are filled with egg yolk. Most of the time, you only find one or two in a box of 12 mooncakes. And that is typically the single mooncake I eat each year.
Unlike the miniature mooncakes you typically find in recipes online, the real mooncakes in China are huge. They use a minimal amount of dough so that the outside layer is paper thin, enclosing a giant, greasy, sweet block of filling that is usually made with tons of sugar and lard. It doesn’t sound very tasty, does it?
The truth is that they can be very delicious if cooked properly with fresh ingredients. The reason I like the filling with egg yolk is that the savory yolk cuts the greasiness and sweetness of the rest of the mooncake. And the whole combination tastes like heaven. It is like sprinkling sea salt on caramel or adding a pinch of hot pepper into chocolate. You wonder why at first, but definitely GET IT once you taste it.
I moved to Austin from China two months ago. While enjoying my new life in my new home, being spoiled with the variety of food options, I realized Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching and somehow I wanted to enjoy a traditional mooncake – one with egg yolk, of course.
I made the decision that I’d make mooncakes a month ago, not knowing what I was getting myself into.
The recipe development process was a difficult one. I believe I uttered “I want to kill myself” too many times during the past few days, which made Thomas very worried. We also ordered more pizza delivery than ever, because after spending so much time tweaking recipes and experimenting in the kitchen, we were too tired to cook dinner.
I think I made more than ten batches, a small quantity per batch of course, until I lost count. While I was making the final batch to finish up this post, I was still baking them one at a time, to determine the best oven temperature and the perfect egg wash recipe. That’s why you can see that every mooncake in the photos looks slightly different.
We ended our mooncake project yesterday with a bottle of champagne and two thick cuts of prime steak.
Why go to so much trouble when there are literally hundreds of mooncake recipes online?
The reason: I really wanted to find a way to make all the ingredients from scratch, to allow anyone who wants to make fresh mooncakes and enjoy Mid-Autumn Festival, regardless of access to an Asian store.
The difficulties
If you’ve ever checked a traditional mooncake recipe, you might have thought, what the hell are these ingredients? The truth is, among the four ingredients in mooncake dough, there are two – golden syrup and kansui, that you might have never heard of, and they can be difficult to acquire.
A quick introduction, golden syrup is also called inverted sugar syrup. It is an amber-colored syrup made from sugar, but has a much richer texture and a deep aroma than a simple syrup. It also contains acid, which is a requirement for mooncake making.
Kansui, jian sui in Chinese (枧水) or lye water, is an alkaline solution made from sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate. It is often used in Asian pastries and ramen noodles. It adds a yellow color to dough (like making egg noodles without egg). It acts a bit like baking soda, as it keeps the dough fluffy and moist, but without introducing too much gas. It also neutralizes the acid in the golden syrup, so the dough won’t taste sour.
Most recipes suggest you purchase golden syrup online and purchase kansui in an Asian store. However, golden syrup is quite pricey and kansui is only available at large Asian markets. On the other hand, these two ingredients are very cheap and easy to acquire in China (although most Chinese people have never heard of them), so there is very limited literature on how to make them at home and how to use them in mooncake recipes.
Mooncakes require very accurate measurements, and a single small tweak will change the results significantly. Say you follow a very precise recipe, one with ingredients measured in increments of one gram. Since there are different formulas of golden syrup and kansui, you could get different results than intended, even if you follow the recipe a hundred percent.
During the mooncake-making process, it’s important to understand the function of each ingredient and the result it yields. You need to be accurate but also stay flexible when needed.
Why this recipe
I read many things online and did a lot of research around these two ingredients – golden syrup and kansui. I found that it’s possible to make these two rare ingredients at home with cheap and common ingredients. And it’s possible to cook mooncakes with them and get satisfying results.
I have tested numerous recipes with both store-bought and homemade ingredients. I also tested the combination of store-bought and homemade. They all work and and can create delicious mooncakes. And now you can learn do the same, using this recipe.
I picked a nutty black sesame filling and egg yolk as the mooncake filling for this recipe. It’s a classic, as well as my favorite. The sweet and nutty sesame paste is a delicacy and goes perfectly with the egg yolk. There are not so many recipes for it online (because most people buy the paste pre-made), so I developed it myself. It generates a paste with a silky texture and great flavor. It uses butter instead of lard, but the mooncake still holds its shape. It might sound like bragging, but I love the taste of these mooncakes; it’s even better than the mooncakes I’ve had in China.
This recipe is just one possibility that I discovered along the way while cooking. It’s still far from perfect. However, I wanted to share all the things I’ve learned so far, so you could apply them, even if you use a totally different recipe in the future.
Cooking notes
Here are some cooking notes that I gathered from other sources and verified in my kitchen. Please note, not all the points are related to this recipe. I wanted to share them anyway, because you can use them to develop your own mooncake recipe. They can also help you troubleshoot a recipe if something goes wrong. Here we go.
About mooncake filling
The most important thing is that it keeps its shape and doesn’t collapse, so that the mooncake will maintain its delicate pattern after baking. No matter what type of filling you’re making, the filling should able to stand firm at room temperature right after being shaped into a ball. And it should turn tough after chilling in the fridge.
(1) You need to introduce oil with a low melting point into the filling. Lard is a common ingredient in traditional mooncakes, but it might yield an unpleasant flavor. And it’s just greasy. I find that coconut oil and butter yield similar results. Only use coconut oil if the flavor combination works. The flavor of coconut oil doesn’t go well with everything.
(2) You need add a certain amount of solid content so that the dough can stand firm, even at room temperature. I’ve seen people use different things, such as flour, bean paste, cornstarch, etc., to achieve this. On the other hand, if you add too much solid content, the filling will start to taste like dough. I found that glutinous rice flour works great in this case. It helps the filling to stick to itself, and you don’t really notice it while eating.
Unrelated to this recipe, if you are making a red bean or lotus seed filling (or any filling that contains water), the other way to make a thicker filling is to cook the paste on the stove, to reduce water content.
(3) You still need to add oil to the filling, even if the filling is tough by itself. The first reason is that the filling will be crumbly and fall apart without oil. The second is that traditional Cantonese mooncakes must be served 1 to 3 days after baking, because the mooncake skin will be very tough and crumbly right after baking. As the mooncakes rest, the oil inside them seeps out and infuses into the outer layer of dough. This way, the texture becomes soft and moist. Without oil in the filling, this important process doesn’t happen.
About mooncake dough
(1) Both all-purpose flour and cake flour work well. Traditional Cantonese mooncakes use cake flour, which is what is used in this recipe. It yields a very tender dough (easy to work with, but slightly sticky) that yields a beautiful pattern after baking.
(2) The single thing that matters most is the ratio of golden syrup to kansui.
The golden syrup will create a tender and moist cake that keeps its shape despite being paper thin, and can be shaped into delicate patterns. Kansui is used to neutralize the acid introduced by the golden syrup, resulting in a sweet pastry with no sourness. The amount of kansui also determines the tenderness and color of the cake. The color will be light yellow if you don’t add enough kansui, or dark brown if you add too much.
The difficult thing is, unless you’re using exactly the same brand as given in a recipe, it’s unlikely that your cooking will yield the same results. If you’re looking for perfect mooncakes, you might need to try a few times to get everything perfect. On the other hand, even if the color or shape is slightly off, the mooncakes will taste just as delicious.
(3) You can use homemade or store-bought golden syrup. Please note, the acid content will not be the same. This will affect the amount of kansui you need to use. You can read a bit more on the topic in this post.
(4) You can use homemade or store-bought kansui. To make kansui at home, you only need baking soda and water . The two have slightly different contents, but yield very similar results. You can learn how to make kansui in this post.
(5) How to adjust the dough. Since the ratio of kansui to golden syrup is fixed, you should not change their quantities (it’s unlikely you can change them both, due to the small quantity of kansui added in a recipe). When you follow a recipe and it turns out that the dough is too soft to work with or too tough to knead, you should only add oil or flour to adjust the consistency of the dough.
(6) Thickness of the mooncake skin. The answer is, you should keep it thin, really thin. Otherwise, the decorative pattern won’t come out very clear, and the bottom of the cake will be fat.
(7) Size of the mooncake. You don’t need to fill the whole mold (unless you’re using a traditional hand-carved mold). If you’re making mini mooncakes and use a plastic mold kit (the most common), a 50-55 gram cake is easy to shape. That equals about 2.5 tablespoons of filling plus 2 teaspoons of dough.
(8) Egg wash. There are different theories on the perfect egg wash. I tested them, but only noticed subtle differences. My favorite way is to use egg yolk with a pinch of salt. The egg wash will be very thick and a bit difficult to apply, but it yields an even and beautiful golden color with a distinctive aroma. If you think this is too much trouble, beat a whole egg and use that instead.
(9) Baking temperature. There are different theories about baking temperatures (from 350 to 390 F/ 176 to 200 C), but I found that all of them work. For making mini mooncakes, my favorite temperature is 360 degrees F (180 C).
(10) The baking process includes two phases, no matter what temperature you use. The first phase usually takes 8 to 10 minutes. During this phase, the mooncake takes its shape and the dough hardens. You should see the edges of the mooncakes start to turn golden. Take out the mooncakes and apply egg wash only after the surface hardens. If you apply egg wash too early, it can easily ruin the pattern. For the second phase, return the mooncakes to the oven and continue baking until the surface turns dark golden. It usually takes another 8 to 11 minutes, depending on the oven temperature.
(11) Let the mooncakes rest long enough to reveal their color and turn soft. Just as wine needs time to mature, you need to let mooncakes rest to get the best texture and flavor. Traditional Cantonese mooncakes typically need to rest 24 to 72 hours. The mooncakes will be very flaky and crumbly right after baking. They turn very hard as they cool down, and their texture will become soft and moist again after two to three days as the oil seeps out from the filling (this process is known as hui you – 回油).
About the tools
(1) You need a scale. Not only did I use a scale, I even purchased a pocket scale with increments of 0.1 gram. Because most Chinese recipes measure by the gram, I found that even a scale with increments of 1 gram is not accurate enough. When you’re making mooncake dough, if you are measuring by the cup, you really need some luck to get the to recipe work. Measurements matter a lot when it comes to mooncake making.
(2) You need a brush, maybe two. I prefer to use a large silicone brush to apply the egg wash, because it allows a gentle touch and is easy to clean. After brushing the surface 3 to 4 times, I switch to a small pointed brush to clean out the gaps and remove excess egg wash.
(3) A cookie scoop will save you a lot of trouble. I love the small and medium sized OXO cookie scoop. The small size holds 2 teaspoons and the medium size holds 1.5 tablespoons. They’re perfect for measuring the dough and filling. They shape the dough easily and speed up the measuring process.
Final thoughts
If you haven’t closed the page by the time you’ve read this far, I assume you’re very serious about mooncakes! I want to emphasize that there are many approaches when it comes to mooncake making. Although the process calls for accuracy and although it’s quite easy to mess things up during cooking, the mooncakes will turn out very tasty even if the pH is slightly off, or if you accidentally smash the pattern. Do not pursue perfection on the first attempt. This is just like making croissants. You need patience and practice to get there.
I hope my post, along with the recipe below, provides you a more accessible path to mooncake making and makes the mooncake process less mysterious.
Homemade mooncakes with fresh ingredients have such a nice aroma and flavor, and store-bought mooncakes just not can’t compete with them. Plus, they contain far fewer calories and use healthier ingredients.
I hope you enjoy the dish and have a happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
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Related recipes
- Homemade Golden Syrup
- Homemade Kansui
- How to make Lotus Seed Paste (for mooncake)
- Homemade Red Bean Paste
The Ultimate Guide to Traditional Mooncake (传统广式月饼)
Ingredients
Mooncake filling
- 1 cup (140 grams) raw black sesame seeds
- 1/3 cup (45 grams) confectioners sugar
- 1/4 cup (55 grams) unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup (40 grams) glutinous rice flour
- 5 salty duck egg yolks about 14 grams per yolk, halved (*footnote 1)
Mooncake dough
- 56 grams homemade golden syrup (or store-bought)
- 1/2 teaspoon homemade kansui (or store-bought)
- 20 grams peanut oil (or vegetable oil that doesn’t have a strong flavor)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt and a pinch for the egg wash
- 100 grams cake flour and extra to dust the mooncake dough
- 1 large egg yolk (or a whole egg) (*see footnote 2)
Instructions
To make mooncake filling
- Spread black sesame seeds in a large skillet and turn to medium heat. When the skillet gets hot, turn to medium low heat. Stir every 3 to 4 minutes. Cook until you smell a very strong nutty aroma and hear the sesame seeds sizzling. Transfer to a plate to cool.
- When the black sesame seeds cool off, transfer to a food processor. Blend until the sesame seeds start to seep oil and thicken, about 2 minutes. Use a spatula to thoroughly scrape the paste from the the walls and bottom of the food processor. Blend again until it forms a fine paste, about 1 minute. Scrape the paste from the walls and bottom.
- Add confectioners sugar and butter. Blend again until everything is fully mixed. Transfer to a bowl.
- Add glutinous rice flour. Fold with spatula until the flour is fully blended and the paste forms a dough. If the dough can’t be lifted by hand and is still a bit runny, blend in more rice flour.
- Divide the sesame paste into 10 parts, about 1.5 tablespoons (20 to 30 grams) per portion. Shape each portion into a small ball.
- To shape the mooncake filling, flatten one black sesame ball with the hands. Place half a duck egg yolk in the middle. Wrap the sesame paste until it fully covers the egg yolk. Roll with hands to shape a ball. If you hold the filling ball up to a mooncake mold, the ball should be slightly smaller than the opening of the mold.
- Place mooncake filling in the fridge to cool. Wait until the balls harden.
To make mooncake dough
- Combine golden syrup and kansui in a large bowl. Mix with a spatula until emulsified (*footnote 3).
- Add peanut oil (or vegetable oil) and mix again until evenly blended. They will still appear separated, but try to mix as evenly as possible.
- Sift cake flour into the bowl. Gently fold the dough with a motion of scraping from bottom to top, like you are folding a cake dough. Do not stir the dough in a circular motion. It will toughen the dough.
- When the flour is fully combined, shape the dough into a ball. The dough should be soft and a bit sticky but still hold its shape. Slowly add more flour if the dough is too difficult to handle. Gently knead the dough a few times with hands (*footnote 4), with a folding motion. Seal with plastic wrap. Let rest for 30 minutes.
- Gently knead the dough a few more times and place it back in the plastic wrap. Let rest for another 20 to 30 minutes. Then the dough will be ready to use (*footnote 5).
To assemble mooncakes
- Work on the mooncakes one at a time. Scoop 2 teaspoons dough (I love to use a medium-sized cookie scoop for this) and place between two pieces of parchment. Press it into a flat disc. Roll into a small round sheet. If possible, make the middle of the sheet thinner than the edges.
- Place the black sesame ball in the center of the dough sheet. Carefully wrap the dough around the filling. Spread the dough until it seals the filling in completely. Try to wrap the filling in a thin, even layer of dough. If you find the dough on some spots is too thick, pull off the dough and smooth the surface. It is doesn’t matter if the dough is so thin that it reveals the color of the filling.
- Dust both hands and the dough with a bit of cake flour. Roll the dough betweens hands so the surface will be dusted evenly.
- Slide the plastic pattern disc into the mooncake mold, pattern side down. Sometimes you need to twist the handle a bit to make the pattern disc slide to the end.
- Carefully place the mooncake into the mold. If you find it difficult to do without scraping off dough, you can gently roll the mooncake to fit into the mold.
- Place the mold on the parchment and press the handle until you cannot move it any further. Pull the handle up and release the mooncake.
- Carefully hold the mooncake without squeezing it, and remove the pattern disc.
- If you find the process too difficult and cannot shape a clear pattern,wrap all the mooncakes first and shape them into balls. Place the mooncake balls onto a large baking tray and seal it with plastic wrap. Place in fridge for 10 to 20 minutes until the dough hardens a bit (do not chill the dough for too long).
To cook mooncakes
- Preheat oven to 360 degrees F (180 C).
- Place mooncakes on a big metal baking tray, 1 inch (2cm) apart. Spray a thin layer of water onto the mooncakes to prevent the dough from cracking.
- Beat the egg yolk with a pinch of salt in a small bowl.
- Bake on the middle rack for 8 to 9 minutes, until the dough toughens and the edges of the mooncakes start to turn golden.
- Remove the mooncakes from the oven. Brush a thin layer of egg wash on the surface of the mooncakes. Only brush the top surfaces, not the vertical surfaces. If you accidentally brush too much egg wash and it fills up the pattern, use a small brush to clean the gaps and remove excess egg wash.
- Place mooncakes back in the oven and continue baking until the egg wash turns golden brown, about 8 minutes.
- Let mooncakes cool in the tray before removing (*footnote 6). Use a spatula to gently push mooncakes to detach them from the baking tray. Transfer to a plate to cool completely.
- Store mooncakes in an airtight container. The mooncakes can be served after 24 hours, and they will look and taste better after 3 days.
Notes
- To make black sesame mooncakes without egg yolk, double the black sesame filling and you will be able to make 10 mini mooncakes.
- I found using egg yolk with salt yields prettier mooncakes with a nice aroma. However, egg yolk is quite thick and might be a bit difficult to brush. You can use a whole egg alternatively or slowly add egg white into the beaten egg yolk to dilute it.
- If you’re using store-bought golden syrup, you might not able to get the emulsified mixture due to the lower acid ratio. You can read more about the details in this post.
- Do not knead the dough on a wooden board or working surface. It will stick the surface.
- If the black sesame filling hasn’t toughened, keep the dough in the plastic wrap until you’re ready to assemble the mooncakes. It’s OK to let the dough rest for another hour or two on the countertop. But if you leave the dough there for too long (half a day or overnight), it will become tough.
- The mooncakes will be flaky and soft when hot. If you remove them right after baking, you will crush the cakes easily.
Wow, Maggie! This is incredible! What a wealth of knowledge you learned, gathered, and shared with us all. I randomly have a can of golden syrup in my pantry that my in-laws brought home to me from England. Is this a sign that I should make these?!?! Who knows. But I sure enjoyed reading all 4000+ plus about the history and the process. I love that you made over 10 batches. I love that I can count on you for the very best. And, I’d say married life seems to be treating you rather well! Thanks again for sharing, and obviously I pinned this. 🙂
Oh my goodness this recipe is pure GOLD!!! Sesame is my absolute favorite kind of mooncake! All of your helpful tips and gorgeous photos are fabulous. Stunning moody photos are my favorite!!! I read the whole big post BTW… Sharing everywhere!!!! and smoke signals sent too. 中秋节快乐!
I doubt that I will ever make mooncakes, but I still find this an amazing post. I don’t know that many people would put as much effort into a post like this as you did. It was especially interesting learning about golden syrup and kansui.
One note on something you might want to correct: the picture showing mooncakes made with baking soda vs. kansui, the caption should read ‘the mooncake on the left used baking soda…’
HOLY COW, Maggie! I am floored at the lengths of technical experimentation to which you went for those stunning mooncakes. They are gorgeous, and they look really delicious. Thank you for putting so much into your quest to create the perfect mooncake. I think these may be my favorite food photos of yours to date.They may be my favorite food photos of ANYONE’S. Very impressive.
I arrived here via Season With Spice and I’m blown away that you made mooncakes–especially since I just bought a box of four of them for my daughter’s in laws. I know they won’t be as good as yours and I’ll show this to my daughter. Maybe she’ll surprise her husband’s family next Mid Autumn!
Maggie, this is beautiful. You are so talented.
This recipe works every time and I refer to it each year. Just wanted to run out how long mooncakes last and can you freeze them
This is truly amazing! What a very serious labor of love. You should be very proud of yourself…such a very painstaking project but something to cheer with such amazing results in the end!
Maggie! You are a treasure. Your beautiful work and way with food is inspiring! You teach me so much, and always with encouragement and no judgement. This mooncake piece represents your commitment to sharing your culture with love and delightful care! Happy mid Autumn Festival to you and your loved ones! Thank you, sweet lady for all that you give!
Wow, Maggie, this is just incredible! You have gone above and beyond with this article and it is so well done! I celebrated mid-Autumn festival with my friend and her family last night as we have done for a few years now and the moon-cakes are my favorite things! I, too, love the salty egg yolk cakes best of all. Your moon cakes are absolutely beautiful–like works of art! Thank you for all your hard work in preparing them and teaching the method!
You are simply amazing, Maggie – truly an inspiration. Your mooncakes turned out perfectly – I’ll have to gather the courage to try this recipe. 🙂
Thank you for such a lovely and extensive post about mooncake! Hope you are having a good celebration. 🙂
Maggie. These…are… STUNNING! Seriously, like little works of art! I would have to sit and admire it before I ate it! And I love hearing the history and culture behind it.
You go, girl! Congrats on finally making them right! They are absolutely perfect! I have never tried one with sesame filling. Lotus paste is the one I eat the most. But these sound delicious!
I know exactly how you feel about wanting to make mooncakes since you are away from home. Flavors from home are extra special even though some food may not be your favorites growing up. Having a bite of a mooncake and watching the moon is like connecting with families and friends that are far away. Hope you had a wonderful mid-autumn festival!
Wow the effort and detail you have put in this is absolutely amazing. I’m so thankful I found your blog. Keep up the beautiful work. Bless you.
Thanks Oni! I’m glad to hear you enjoy reading my blog!
Can you tell me how long the traditional mooncakes can keep? And what is the best way to keep them to maintain the excellent texture and flaver. I habe left thwm out in a sealed containeer up to3 weeks. Can thay keep a month? Can they be rrefrigerated or freezered. And still be as good?
Thank you for sharing this recipe and all the details, I will try them this weekend as Mid-Autumn festival is less than 2 weeks away! 😉
Good luck with the cooking Natalie! Let me know how these mooncakes turn out 🙂
Maggie, the paste do not need to cook?
And may I know why some need to add egg yolk in the moon cake dough, and the purpose is? Thk u
Hi Jas, you don’t need to pre-cook the paste. The filling and skin will be cooked together while baking.
To answer your question about adding egg into the dough, there are many types of mooncakes and they feature different texture. I talked about traditional Cantonese mooncake in the post, where people use a very thin mooncake skin with a large filling. Another type of mooncake (especially the ones in northern China) uses a thicker mooncake skin and it features a flaky dough that tastes more like biscuit. That type of dough might use egg yolk to create a different texture. There is no right or wrong. It’s all depends on your personal preference 🙂
Excited to try this! Where can one find salty duck egg yolks? Chinese grocery story? And could you possibly provide the Chinese characters so that I can identify them? Thanks!
Hi Kara, yes you can find salty duck egg yolks in Chinese grocery store or large Asian market. The Chinese characters are 咸蛋黄 or 鹹蛋黃.
They are mostly come in a transparent package that looks like this: http://www.hcfoods.net/assets/images/a-de-101-kp.jpg
So it shouldn’t be too difficult to locate.
Happy cooking 🙂
Thank you!
Hi Maggie,
Very impressed with the technical points of this wonderful dessert.
Just a question. I love using pork lard for my cooking and I was wondering what would the substitution ratio be for the butter in the filling? I know it cannot be 1:1 because butter has a higher water content than lard, but Im not sure by how much? Do you know?
I also read about how the filling fat/oil component is supposed to seep out into the skin of the dough to make it moist. Does that mean I will need to mix my lard with a vegetable oil to make it more runny? And what temperature must the mooncakes be “matured” at? Im guessing it has to be relatively warm-ish. Its currently winter/spring in Australia so the ambient room temperature kind of low (20-25 degC)
As for the vege oil in the dough, can I also substitute that for lard? Im guessing that would not affect the dough too much and would even make it more chewy and creamy because of the higher fat content and higher melting point
Warm regards,
KK Hong
Hi KK, I have trouble give you a specific answer because I never test the mooncake recipe with lard. But I imagine it shouldn’t be a big difference. If you use the same amount of fat to replace butter, you should get a filling that is slightly easier to work with. In fact, many Cantonese mooncake recipes do not even require using fat in the filling, if you’re using a more solid ingredients such as sweet bean paste. I needed to use a solid fat here, because the black sesame paste is quite runny and unable to shape.
About the “oil seeping process”, it is actually related to the oil and inverted sugar (golden syrup) ratio in the skin, not the filling. That’s why the mooncake skin always call for vegetable oil. Most of the Cantonese mooncake recipes call vegetable oil for the skin. I’ve seen other type of mooncake recipes call lard, but it will create a different type of texture (a thicker crumbly pie like texture).
If your ambient room temperature is a bit low, the mooncakes will take a bit longer time to mature. But it shouldn’t cause a problem.
Hope your cooking goes well and Happy Mid-autumn festival 🙂
Hi Maggie,
Sweet thanks for your advice! I see… I didnt know that the fat was used as a structural component as well. Good to know. Oh speaking of other fillings? Do you happen to have a recipe for other filling as well?
Okay looks like Ill stick to peanut oil for the skin. Dont want my mooncake skin to fall apart as I cut it open haha
Okay cool. Ill just keep it for longer before serving then
Thanks a million! Happy Mid Autumn Festival to you and your family too! 中秋節快樂!
Warm regards,
KK Hong
I don’t have another mooncake filling now but I’ll be sure to create more! Didn’t realize it’s such a popular thing when I wrote about the mooncake topic. I guess because it’s just too easy to buy them in China and nobody makes them at home.
Happy cooking and Happy Mid Autumn Festival 🙂
Maggie, if it ever interests you, please post a recipe for lotus seed and red bean fillings!
This was such a great post. I can’t wait to make some and send them to my family.
Thank you, thank you!
Hi Sara, I will definitely add it onto my to-cook list! I like lotus seed and red bean fillings too 🙂 Glad you like this recipe. Hope your cooking turns out great!
Thank you so much for this super informative guide! I can really see that you put so much of your heart into this post Happy Mid-autumn festival!
Glad to hear you like the post! You too, Happy Mid-autumn festival 🙂
Hi Maggie,
Thank you for the really ultimate guide to making mooncakes.
I just have 1 question regarding the golden syrup, can it be substitute by honey?
best regards,
Donna
Hi Donna, I wouldn’t recommend to substitute golden syrup by honey. Golden syrup is a key ingredients that causes the “oil seeping” process and helps to make the mooncake skin tender, which makes the mooncake Cantonese style. If you plan to use honey, I recommend you to find another recipe that makes a different mooncake dough (it makes a thicker and flakier skin, instead of a thin and tender one like this recipe). You won’t need kansui either if you don’t use golden syrup.
Yes you can use honey ive just followed amanda ,s mooncake and it turned out perfect like bought ones just spray a thin layer mist of water before baking at 160 c not 180 c
Hi Maggie,
Thank you for the super helpful and detailed post! I’m following your recipe to make homemade mooncakes for the first time. My black sesame filling is coming out dry and crumbly. I can’t seem to shape it into a ball and flattening it without it falling into pieces. Do you have any tips on fixing that?
Hi Emily, I’m sorry to hear that your mooncake filling didn’t turn out well. Two factors might cause dry filling (1) you didn’t ground the sesame seeds long enough to release more oil (2) you need more fat content to bind everything together. I suggest you to return the filling back in the food process and mix it again. Let it run for 1 to 2 minutes, and see whether the filling turns tender and possible to shape. If not, add a bit more butter (1/2 tablespoon) at a time and keep mixing. Stop in betweens and pinch some filling with your fingers and see whether it forms a dough texture.
Hope you could fix the mooncake filling and the mooncakes turn out well.
Hi Maggie, I love this recipe and use it every year, but probably didn’t make any last year. I tried experimenting with white sesame and food colouring to make rainbow mooncakes which looked like parrots when cut up! Also, I used a peanut filling before which people loved. I tried to modify the outside skin with a thin layer of royal icing to make ‘pretend’ snow skin mooncakes which I didn’t need to bake. I’ve made so many modifications over time, I’ve decided, this year to go back to the traditional moon cake. I just wanted to find out how long they last, as having a party in a week’s time. All the best and thank you for your wonderful recipe and all the hints and tips.
Hi Maggie,
I really enjoyed your post. It was like reading a story. I had just made 30 mini mooncakes myself this morning before I landed in your blog. I wish I found your instructions earlier. I did make a few mistakes that you pointed out in your post. If I have time before August 15th this year I would certainly try your recipe out. I also love black sesame seeds. I combined them with lotus seed paste that I made from scratch. I will bookmark your site and check back often.
Thank you for your good work on putting together such detailed instructions. So helpful yet enjoyable.
So glad to hear you find the post helpful! I love the idea of adding black sesame seeds into lotus seed paste. Sounds yummy!
Happy Mid-autumn Festival 🙂
Absolutely Five Stars!
This week I made my first moon cakes for my Chinese students. It took me several days, many substitutions, and a few tears (I loved reading about your similar emotions!). I quick cured my salted yolks and made a bean paste out of need due to a lack of planning. I had no idea how complex this dish was; I have never had s moon cake! I will try a moon cake (my own) for the first time tomorrow. My students will eat them too! I know the filling is not smooth and I had no mold so no patten (large round cakes). But I can’t wait to cut into it and see the moon. And my students were very thankful for the care and time I demonstrated for them. I love your post and instructions. I know I will do better next year!
Hi Kristen, making mooncakes are a lot of work aren’t they!? When I finished writing the recipe, I thought, who’s gonna cook this? Luckily I found out many people would like to challenge it in their own kitchen 🙂 It’s amazing that you cured your own salty egg yolks. I need to do that soon. It is very expensive to buy them in supermarket.
I hope your second batch of mooncake came out well! Thanks for leaving a comment to share your experience. It’s really great to know people care about mooncakes. I will keep developing new mooncake recipes for sure!
Hello Maggie. I found your blog looking for a beef broth recipe. I liked your style and decided to follow you. I looked around your blog and came across this post. My like turned to sheer admiration for you. To post a 4000+ post in a world of twitter is an act of courage. You did fabulous and the post reads well and easily – great writing skills. Then there is the actual recipe and the testing.
Maggie I would like to bow to you. Beautiful work here. We’ll done. You have proven the value of being a master student.
PS my husband is a trained chef and I am a consummate foodie. I read a LOT of blogs. You really are exceptional.
Hi Colleen, thanks so much for your kind words! You just made my day 🙂
I had doubt about my mooncake post once I published it. I thought, who has the time to read it? I was surprised to see there are many readers did find the post helpful and would like to challenge mooncake making at home.
I do super long post once in a while, usually for authentic Chinese recipes that I’m obsessed with. I’m glad that people like you have the patient to read it. And it is always great to know that more people get to know real Chinese food through my blog 🙂
Many many thanks again for the encouraging words! Have a great week ahead Colleen 🙂
Thank you for an awesome and thorough recipe! Being armed with so much good info made aking these mooncakes surprisingly approachable. Now that I have some tasty mooncakes on my hands, how long will they keep in an airtight container? Can I freeze them?
Beautiful work maggie!
I tried making them and they are just wonderful!
Tried making the black sesame paste too but is it usual to tase slightly bitter?
Hi Atisha, I’m glad your mooncakes turn out great! If your black sesame paste taste slightly bitter, you might have roasted the sesame seeds a bit too long. Hope it doesn’t affect the taste of the mooncakes too much.
Have a great week ahead 🙂
Any idea why the crust/skin might turn out great the first day but quickly become slimy later? Too much oil? Timing of the egg wash?
Hi Elisabeth, the problem is definitely not caused by egg wash. In fact, the mooncake skin is supposed to be tender and not crispy. If you like a crispy texture, then you might find it taste better immediately after baking. If the texture is sticky (slimy), my suspect is too much oil.
Hi Maggie,
I am going to attempt these however can you clarify the centre of the cakes? Do you just add salt to the yolk? I can see in the photos it looks almost like dough but I am confused as to how it’s made.
I am off to the Chinese supermarket tomorrow so want to get all the ingredients and spend my afternoon making these cakes!
They look amazing! Thank you for the recipe!
Hi Helen, I bought these the salty egg yolk in the Asian market. You need to cure them if making from scratch, so I would recommend you to purchase them directly.
The filling is made with a few solid ingredients (such as the sesame paste and flour) so it has a dough like texture when you mix everything together.
Let me know if you have more questions! Happy cooking and hope your mooncakes turn out well 🙂
I had a suggestion, from banggood, to buy moon cake molds. I had never thought of making them before, but have recently taken to cake/cupcake baking and decorating, so I thought I’d look up moon cakes as my husband’s family are from China and it might be a nice treat to have home made moon cakes this year since none of them have been home in about 50 years. I read a few recipes before I found yours, and I don’t think I’ll be looking any further, unless I decide to try a different filling (I haven’t yet checked to see if you’ve added a different filling recipe). You can tell how much time and passions you put into this. Your write up was an amazing and informative read, I would have loved to have read the longer version! I will be bookmarking this and attempting it this year. Thank you for the time and effort you put into this.
I do have one question though. Do I need to use duck egg? or can it be chicken egg?
Thanks.
Hi Mandie, thanks so much for your kind words and I’m glad to hear you decide to try out making mooncake this year!
To answer your question, you can use salted chicken egg yolk as well. You can find these packaged one in Asian market. Let me know if you can’t find them. I’d love to share a salted egg yolk recipe on my blog!
I haven’t developed other filling yet. This year I might try to make a lotus seed filling, or red bean paste filling. I’ll make sure to add these links when I develop new filling recipes.
Happy cooking Mandie, and let me know how your mooncakes turn out! 🙂
I am sooo… going to use your recipe to try making mooncakes! Your post is so thorough and detailed. Thanks for your generosity to share your knowledge and experience.
For the egg wash, do you think it might be simpler to brush it on before molding the dough? Just a thought.
the recipe for the syrup,
50 milliliters fresh lemon juice, strained (from 1 big lemon)
400 grams (200 milliliters) caster sugar
200 milliliters filtered water, and more to brush on the pot
when the syrup ready with this recipe, what is the weight? or do you use them all?
Hi Lilis, I’m afraid I don’t have the weight of the final product. I used a thermometer to measure the temperature to determine whether the syrup is ready.
Thank you so much. I’m so glad I found this post. Mooncakes are an arm and a leg where I live and my last few attempts have been delicious but messy.
Maggie,
It’s probably too late this year but you know, it’s a great business idea if you offer to ship prepacked ingredients to those who want to make it. Like a whole mooncake making kit 🙂 I’d love to make it but acquiring all these ingredients will be too much of a hassle! I imagine there are a lot out there who feel the same way. It’s hard to find Asian stores that actually stock these ingredients, I haven’t even found a mould the whole time I have been here. Nevertheless, I have yet to look online 😉
Personally, I love the non bake mooncake, I find it refreshing and it reminds me of my childhood. Maybe that could be your next venture!
Hi Maggie,
This is my first time doing mooncake for my family. would like to use your black sesame filling for my snowkin mooncake.
How shld I cook my filling ? Do I still use glutinous rice flour.
Please help, my family loves black sesame
Hi.. i tried your mooncake recipe… But i was using mug bean instead. The problem was the skin dough… It’s crumbly….
The skin tear and broken before i put it in the mould. And it can’t be fixed as the skin dough isn’t that elastic..
May be you could help me to figure it out… Thank you
Enjoyed reading your cooking experience with the moon cakes, very informative, thorough and learned a lot. Also, patient.
Thank you for the great recipes.
Hi Maggie ,
Please help to advise if I can use your sesame filling recipe in snowskin mooncake please, do I need to cook the filling ? Or should I use other flour ?
Making the moo cake tomorrow, my family is pure cantonese and love this filling lots. Outside ready-made filling is too sweet
Maggie, this recipe is astonishing, and so very kind to the cook who has never seen a moon-cake, let alone made one! I will give it a try and I think it will become a favorite addition to my baking repertoire. Thank you so much for leading me on this adventure, and Happy Mid- Autumn.
Thank you for your beautiful post. I have 2 Chinese daughters from Beijing. YuXi has been with us 2.5 years and XiaoLi 1 year. They were adopted from the same China home (orphanage). As YuXi was born with no ear canals, her hearing and language, both Mandarin and English are delayed but improving with her hearing devices. XiaoLi speaks great Mandarin and wonderful English but working on Pinyon and spelling and reading. YuXi is 11 and XiaoLi is 12. They go to weekly Chinese school and they are celebrating the mid autumn festival there today. I have wooden Mooncake molds and would like to attempt to make some. I would like to subscribe to your site as I know your heart and love is included i. Your recipes. Will let you know how the turn out.
Really great of you to supply real detailed information. You have saved me a lot of time! Thank you so much!
Leonard, not leonarx. Lol.
Thank you so much for the time and effort you have put forth to come up with this recipe. I would love to try to make this traditional treat. I have Chinese co-workers who brought mooncakes into the office one year and I fell in love. I cannot imagine a mooncake without the salted egg yolk.
I haven’t been able to buy any because they are so expensive! However, after reading this I think it would be better to make them myself. I am a bit hesitant, because I don’t know if I’m up to the task.
Maggie! I’m so happy I came across your website! This is a gem! Thank you so much for all the knowledge you’ve shared here! I stared making mooncakes and come out pretty well but I want to perfect them and your site is exactly what I needed. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for all the information you have shared! Thank you for the bottom of my heart and mybusbamf belly who’s crazy about Koo cakes!
Thanks so much for taking time to leave a comment and your kind words! I’m so happy to hear the post is helpful.
Happy cooking and hope your mooncakes turn out perfectly 🙂
THANK YOU!!!! I am a non-Asian attempting to make mooncakes from scratch and this was incredible! My children are homeschooled and are reading Grace Lin’s book The Starry River of the Sky. As part of our extension of the book we decided to attempt mooncakes from scratch, which led to so many rabbit holes and cultural excursions! After a quick and unyielding trip to a large Asian market we could not get kansui or golden syrup (or couldn’t find it!) so we set off to figure out how to make them ourselves and your post was a lifesaver! Without it we would have been stopped in our tracks. All the necessary scientific explanations were there so that we could truly understand the chemistry and it even led to further explorations in chemical reactions. What a joyful labor it was to attempt and appreciate the complexity and love it takes to make these delicious cakes. I know this will be a memory for our family that will last a lifetime. Thank you.
Hi Stephanie, thanks so much for taking time and leaving a comment! I hope you enjoy the mooncakes. It’s INDEED a labor of love. I took me forever to test the recipe, but I was so happy I did it. The mooncakes turned out 10 times better than our usual store bought ones. I hope you liked the result as much as I do 🙂
Hi Maggie,
I am trying to make my own homemade mooncake but stumble with a problem that my filling becomes flaky after baking instead soft and greasy, also the filling doesn’t stick to the skin. Its separate easily when you cut the cake.
I am using 1 kg of red bean, 500gr sugar, 600gr peanut oil.
I made this as a project with a group of friends so we have to put the filling on fridge for weeks as we plan to make 200 pcs and share it between us.
The try out doesn’t look good, so do you have recipe for red/mung bean paste I can follow?
Any sugestion why my filling not attached to the skin ?
I read your reply and guess the we did not ground the beans long enough to let the oil comes out and cause it flaky, is it correct ?
Thanks so much for the article, it really help us to made my project easier.
Luis
Holy cow! I don’t know if I’ll ever get to make this, but it’s still amazing! Thank you for sharing.
Hi Maggie. I cooked mooncakes for the first time using your recipe. They’ve turned out to be delicious! Can I ask though for how long they can be stored? I have stored mine outside the fridge for 48 hours. Will they last for 72 hours outside the fridge or should I have refrigerated them? The temp in my house is about 20 degrees. Thanks.
Thanks so much foryour very detailed information on making mooncakes. Definitely helpful!
My friend and I used your recipe to make mooncakes this year and (most of them) turned out great! We used 100g molds and were able to scale up your recipe to fit. Thank you for developing and sharing this guide for homemade mooncakes. Although, it did takes us closer to 12 hours over 2 days to finish. We also winged a red bean filling but forgot to add oil, so we ended up with a few “marbled” mooncakes…still tasty though!
Love this post! And your cooking notes! Details are so important 😍
My husband cracked open a moon cake tonight. I picked up the little cake to exam its shape and color. Then my husband sliced it and I wondered how it was constructed so that the egg and lotus seed filling where encased within a thin pastry so perfectly. Thank you for a wonderful description and recipe with photos! Inspiring.
very good. Hope to try it one day!
I made these this week after many weeks of reading up on mooncakes! I ended up substituting a lot of things – I used raw honey instead of golden syrup and baking soda mixed in water instead of baked soda. I like the lighter look rather than the dark look, so mine turned out perfectly for me! The only thing I wish was a bit different was the filling was a bit too dry. It tastes great but the oil didn’t soak into the outer dough even after many days. Perhaps I will just add more butter next time! Thanks again for the super detailed information!!
A big big THANKYOU Maggie for these >4000 words.I’ve read them a lot of times. I love to understand why things happen, so to be able to adjust processes by my own: and that’s why I love what you did by giving us the gift of your exspermentation. I could make my first 6 mooncakes (125g each) understanding the whys of what was happening. I filled them with ground boiled barley with vanilla aroma, with african yam paste, with red adzuki paste, with red adzuki and chinese pork floss for a salted filling version (i’m an experimenter too).
Now, as an experimenter, I’m going to try to obtain a salted version of the skin, for a mooncake where sugar is not involved. I’m already used to Jian sui as an ingredient for ramen noodle process, so I’m going to experience in that field. I’m trying with all-purpose and strong flour to get the difference. Do you know any recipe for salted mooncake skin?
May I ask, do I have to wait 24 hours to eat these? Or is it possible to eat them straight away?
Hi Vivian, you can eat them straight away but they will taste better after waiting for 24 hours.
I made my own kansui and syrup following your recipe, but I found the dough was very crumbly! Do you have any suggestions for this?
I still remember the taste of the grilled mooncake when I was a child. Traditional mooncakes are so delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Maggie,
I was looking for some homemade traditional mooncake recipe and found yours.. It’s exhilarating to know that your recipe has undergone a thorough testing and that makes me to want to make it even more.. just one question though about the size of the mooncake.. do you have an exact weight in grams for the dough and filling used per mooncake for the mould that you are using.. 50 – 55 gm mould if i’m not mistaken right? .. thanks!
The filling is about 30 grams but I don’t have the measurement for the dough. Yes, I did use the 50gm mould.
Thank you so much for the article! However I wonder how can you make the salty eggs and if something similar can be done with chicken eggs, as in my country this is the hardest ingredient to obtain, it seems.
Thank you in advance!
Enjoyed your writing, never mind if its a little ‘long winded’. Its necessary me thinks and i use your writing as a reading material for my 14yo … she learns so much more!
Thank you for sharing and writing.
BE IN HEALTH!
Great work? I am overwhelmed by your passion in making traditional mooncakes.
Can i use cooking oil instead of peanut oil? Does it affects the softness of the mokncake skin?
Hi Jen, you can use cooking oil instead of peanut oil.
Hi Maggie! I’ve been wanting some mooncakes lately but I’m picky about store bought mooncakes; to me they taste bleh. I’m wanting to attempt making mooncakes but without the yolk. Mainly being that all the ones I’ve tried with the yolk tasted ick… So I’m hoping you can shed some light on a recipe without the yolk? Would you have a recipe for lotus seed paste and the red bean paste? They’re my favorites. Thanks!
Awesome, I love you’re post! A year ago I ordered Mooncakes online for my family, and I enjoyed the taste. At the time I was interested in making my own, but gave up on the prospect. Recently I watched a cooking show that featured the making of traditional Mooncakes and after reading your post I definitely feel inspired to try out your recipe .
Hi Maggie!
This is such a great post! I have come across several mooncake recipes but known of them are this detailed. I really appreciate the info you put into this post. As I love black sesame seed filling (in Shanghai we call it 黑洋沙), I will definitely try out your recipe. Your mooncake dough looks very malleable too.
I made a batch of mooncakes this week, and they actually tasted better than store-bought (I tried to preserve the flavour of lotus seed by reducing the amount of sugar in the filling, and I used good-quality salted duck eggs). The only problem was that the skin was separated from the filling. I could see two possible reasons: 1) there was too much water in the filling (I made my own lotus seed filling) and the water came out during the baking process, so the filling shrank a bit. 2) I accidentally trapped in air bubbles when assembling the mooncakes.
Any ideas?
Hi Celine, I cannot say for sure without looking at your lotus seed paste recipe. But judging from your description, I think it’s the first reason. Mooncake filling usually does not contain any water. You need to use oil as liquid ingredients to make it into a paste. The oil will then seeping out and make the mooncake skin tender.
Hi Maggie,
Yes, I guess the point of stirring the paste on low heat is to replace the water content with oil, and I didn’t add enough oil at this point. I will try to improve next time: ) It’s such a shame that mooncakes are so high in sugar and fat I can only eat a few each year, but that does make them more special!
中秋节快乐！
This post is amazing! I really wanted to try making gluten-free mooncakes this year, but I wanted them to be as close as possible to the traditional version. When I found this page, I knew I’d found the ultimate and only guide that I would need. It was an invaluable resource as I was fashioning my gluten-free recipe. Even with the substitutions, I’m pleased to say that they turned out great!! I can’t wait to share them with my friends and family:) Thank you so much Maggie, and happy mid-autumn festival!
I relatively new to your website, but now visit it frequently. I really appreciate all your recipes and expressive thoughful writing! Thank you💖
Thank you for your dedication to writing this guide. My mooncakes were both gorgeous and delicious on the first try thanks to your hard work.
I tried your recipes. But my mooncake filling burst out and crack the dough. . Can you help me? Why the fiiling burst and crack the dough?
Thank you
Hi, thanks very much for all the info on this. I do have a few questions, are you able to help on any of these?
1. When I flatten the dough I notice the edges splitting and when I fold the dough over the filling it cracks and crumbles to pieces. I can’t understand it. Here is what I used to make the dough: 60g store bought golden syrup, 22g cooking oil, 3g home made lye water and 105g plain flour. I mixed the syrup, oil and lye water together first, then added the flour in one go. I mixed in circular and folding motions until the dough sticks together. I wrap it up and place it in the refrigerator. The first time I left it in the refrigerator for a few hours and the second time I left it in for 30 minutes. The crumbling was worse when I left it in the refrigerator for 30 mins. The lye water I made by dissolving 1 tsp bicarbonate soda in 4 cups water and boiled it for 5 mins. Do you think the problem lies in the amount of flour, the way I made the lye water, the resting time, or the kneading process? I can’t understand why it’s so crumbly, I physically can’t wrap it around the filling because it just falls apart. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
About six months after we brought our daughter home from China, I discovered mooncakes and promptly gained about five pounds from eating them. We get the small ones at the bakery–red bean paste (no egg) is my favorite. At 85 cents a pop, they are an inexpensive treat.
I give you credit for trying to make them, and I enjoyed reading this post. You are far braver than I.
I’ve been making my mooncakes with both lotus seed paste and sweet potato (with glutinous rice flour ) a day before, and putting them in the freezer overnight ( or fridge) before wrapping with dough (that is made same day of baking) and stamping them with the plastic press mold. I have found that my mooncake ball will crack when when I mold them into shape ( before I even bake them). Wondering if it is because I have frozen / chilled the filling, or if there’s something wrong with my dough. Any tips?
Hi Judy, I don’t think chilling the filling is the issue because I do that all the time. One possibility is, if you rest the filling too long without cover, it might dry out a bit.
How do you make your lotus seed paste or do you use store-bought? For mooncake, you will need to add oil and make the paste into a specific texture to make it work.
PS I just published a lotus seed paste recipe in case you want to compare it with yours: https://omnivorescookbook.com/homemade-lotus-seed-paste/
Hi Maggie! Thank you so much for sharing a very detailed recipe for black sesame mooncake. Can I made the black sesame paste/filling ahead and freeze it? Then when I’m ready to make the mooncake, take it out of the freezer and make the mooncake? Will the black sesame be dry when it is kept in the freezer? Thx!
Hi Cathy, yes you can make the black sesame paste ahead and store it in the freezer. You should wrap the paste with plastic wrap, and put in a ziplock bag and squeeze out as much air as possible to prevent from freezer burn. It should hold up well.
Hi Maggie. If I replace golden syrup with honey, do I just roughly use the same amount? Thanks.
I’m afraid I don’t have a good answer since I’ve never tested the recipe using honey.
When baking the mooncakes, do I spray the mooncakes with regular water or the kansui?
Just regular water is fine. I do not spray mine but I rather put droplets of water on the pan around the mooncakes.
I have made mooncakes for about 5 years, and tried many recipes and batches of different fillings etc. This is the best recipe, the best detailed instructions!!
Hi Maggie, this recipe yields 10 mini mooncakes. Is it the size of 25 g mould or how many grams ? Thank you.
Hi Sirana, I used 50 g mooncake mold for this recipe.
I used your recipes to make red bean mooncakes this year. They look great. I did find kansui in the store but made my own syrup. I only had 2 real problems. I followed your recipe to make enough dough for 80 mooncakes but I only had enough for 40. I may have used too much dough with each cake though it didn’t seem particularly thick. The other was with the salted egg yolks. I could only find whole cooked salted duck eggs. After cracking them open the yolks were kind of disappointing. Some were small, some were still not completely solid. I did what I could and made use of all the yolk. Thats no issue with your recipe. Just a supply problem. I didnt find the packaged yolks anywhere. Ill definitely keep coming back to this recipe until I master it.
2nd attempt was an astounding success. The issue with the yolk was an easy fix. I just bought raw salted eggs instead of precooked and those yolks were fantastic and huge. The issue with the dough was resolved by just weighing the dough I used and the dryness was solved by using pastry flour instead of all purpose along with baking a little less. I weighed the yolks together with the filling prior to combining. I made 100 gram cakes so 70 g of filling with yolk and 30 grams of dough. Using these measurements I ended up with a load of extra dough the second time so your recipe was accurate. I was just not weighing properly. Thanks so much for the detailed descriptions. Im going to be making moocakes probably every month from now on.
Hi Maggie,
I was crazy enough to make the golden syrup and mooncakes this past mid-autumn festival to impress my future in-laws! Although time consuming, they turned out so beautifully! My in-laws really loved them before they even had tasted them, because they knew how difficult it was to create these beautiful cakes at home. Thank you very much for your great recipe and attention to detail. I’m crazy enough to even make them again because they were just that good!
Hi Tara, so happy to hear you like the recipes and enjoyed the mooncake 🙂 Thanks for leaving a positive review!
Hi Maggie,
Thank you for your wonderful recipe. For the black sesame filling, can I use oil instead of butter?
Thank you
Hi Maggie,
Should I store mooncakes in the fridge or room temperature is ok? I am is Singapore
It depends on the type of mooncakes. If you’re talking about traditional mooncakes, you should store them at room temperature. They last a long time and the texture stays nice.
If you have other types such as snowskin mooncakes, fridge is better.
Awesome! Making it for the first time. I read all the rabbit holes for the mooncake recipe many times. How fascinating! You mentioned the mooncakes have to rest 1 to 3 days before being served. Do you store them in the fridge or just leave them in room temperature in am airtight container?
You should leave the mooncakes in room temperature in an air tight container. Hope you enjoy them 🙂
It’s interesting to read the journey of self-discovery for a cultural tradition. When I first married my husband I told him that my mama never taught me how to cook and he’d have to show me what it was that he would enjoy. So, I learned a lot about Japanese cooking, and along the way, something about the history of Korean and Chinese cooking. We were living in Married Student Housing MSH of a western university in the USA. There weren’t too many Japanese students, so my husband was the president of the Japan-America Student Society and we often invited the few Japanese students over to learn new ideas, and for bit of relief of homesickness. When Japanese food items showed up in the local grocery store, the grocer had a few things to learn, too. (Fresh tofu in the produce aisle next to the pineapples!)
There were quite a few international students living in MSH, and sometimes there was potluck! The math doctoral student from Yemen relayed a story about selling the aroma of herb-crusted lamb kebabs to passersby.
Thanks for putting so much effort into the recipe! I’ve made this recipe 3 times (twice with the lotus seed paste recipe you’ve posted separate) and Ive noticed that when I use the black sesame fillling, the pastry does not soften into the typical moon cake pastry. It’s still quite “hard’ after three days. Do you have any tips?
Thanks for the recipe, Maggie. Did you get 回油 when using coconut oil? I used the recipe twice and tried to follow every step with the exception of the oil, but couldn’t get 回油.
Omg thank you SO much for this detailed explanation on mooncakes. I have been exploring and experimenting for YEARS and then thrown my hands up in the air but this has answered all my questions explicitly and nw it all makes more sense. I can’t wait to pull my (wooden and plastic) molds out again and give it another shot
i’ve made this recipe before and will be doing so again this year 🙂 love it sooo much the results are amazing!! it was the first mooncake recipe i ever tried and still my absolute favorite, thanks for all your hard work
Hi there, if I were to make these mooncakes in 125g moulds would I have to adjust the bake time? Do I need to cook the salted egg yolk seperately first then? Thank you so much. I’ve never come across black sesame filling mooncake before- this looks delicious!
I started making these in the first year after I met my (now) wife, and since them doing it every year with your recipe. It gives her some comfort of home and therefore she loves them! Thanks Maggie for sharing this!