Do you like moon cake?

[Shelley]

I do not like them in a box, I do not like them with a fox

[edelweis]

2 hours ago, Shelley said:

I do not like them with a fox

Maybe the foxes like meat moon cakes

[Shelley]

Probably

[Alex_Hart]

I'm depressed that I'm the only person who chose "I love moon cakes" so far! The mealy ones you get in the supermarket shouldn't be counted as a moon cake, in my opinion. If someone asks me whether I like chocolate chip cookies, I would immediately assume they meant homemade, not a box of Walmart cookies!

 

Here in Hangzhou, we are literally swimming in tiny bakery shops that sell moon cakes right out of the press, often still hot. Some, like the salted duck eggs, are an acquired taste, but I find them all rather delicious. The dense filling and the flaky crust... mmmm! I also receive lots of homemade ones, which are great. This year, I had walnut, red bean, salted duck egg, ground sesame seed paste and a few other mystery ones. 

 

The only kind of moon cakes I dislike are the cheap supermarket ones and the very expensive “面子” ones - given by companies, clients etc and usually wrapped in a rather elaborate package. I've had no luck with either of these. 

 

My favorites are definitely red bean and walnut, both popular here. While a lot of my Chinese friends will eat them with tea or hot water, this has never really struck me as a good pairing - the cake is too dense and flavorful, completely negating any flavor in the tea (so use a cheap tea!) and not really helping you "wash down" the dense cake. I prefer it with a big glass of milk, or a cup of coffee. Sorry, fusion! 

[ZhangKaiRong]

@Xiao Kui

Your last paragraph is also applicable for 白酒

[edelweis]

Who's having some moon cake?

Let me know what kind and whether you like it (photos welcome).

[amytheorangutan]

I love almost all mooncakes but my favourite is double yolk. My mum mentioned egg custard ones from Hong Kong which I’m dying to try but can’t find in London ?

 

 

[Geiko]

Me! This year I chose 豆沙 (my favourite), 綠豆 (first time I try it), 鳳梨 and 草莓. I'm not too fond of the ones with yolk, as you can see

[grawrt]

I voted "love mooncakes" as well! haha. 

 

The modern types are really delicious. I had the pleasure of sampling a few newer styles from the bakery that just opened up near my school. They had 红梅 flavor and some others，with cute molds.

 

Another really delicious one I had was a traditional style with like a pudding flavor in the middle. Basically tasted like a cake hahaha it was really good and gifted to me. 

 

Last year I had rose flavor which was also really yummy. 

 

I think from the traditional flavors I really love 枣 and I also have a soft spot for the most hated 五仁 but those are not peoples typical favs. I think this is a really fun season to sample the creativity that can come from mooncake season

 

 '冰皮月饼'

[abcdefg]

Had a good one yesterday that was made with buckwheat flour 荞麦。 Sesame paste filling 芝麻 in the center. From Zhaotong 昭通 prefecture, in NE Yunnan. I try to take it easy on mooncake. Most of them are way too rich. 

[edelweis]

 

My local Chinese food store only had the egg yolk ones and the red/green bean ones.

I ate a red bean one. I found it edible but not terribly yummy.

 

[edelweis]

@grawrt so pretty! I'd like to taste those.

[Zeppa]

I had a large one from Gerrard Street in London yesterday - they were selling them outside the Kowloon Bakery. Mine was red bean paste too, and I thought it was delicious.

[abcdefg]

5 hours ago, Zeppa said:

Mine was red bean paste too, and I thought it was delicious.

 

Those look good, but very dense. At home I sometimes slice them into slivers with a kitchen knife and nibble on one for 30 minutes or an hour. 

[大肚男]

I usually do not like moon cakes all that much, but this Sunday I was flying from Hunan to Beijing on Hainan airlines, and the flight attendants gave a bit of moon cakes to every passenger.

 

That was the best moon cakes I ever had. Sweet but not too sweet, and not too heavy.

 

 

[陳德聰]

Had the opportunity to taste 4 different flavours from the same brand this weekend while playing a guess-by-taste game with some seniors. 蛋黃蓮蓉﹑蛋黃豆沙﹑五仁﹑黑芝麻  all of which I thought were nasty except the lotus with egg. Curiously, I need the egg to cut the sweetness of the paste otherwise it tastes just positively disgusting to me.

[anonymoose]

杏花楼 is a famous pastry shop in Shanghai. They have several branches in Shanghai. I'm not sure about other cities, though. Their 莲蓉 mooncakes are my favourites. They sell mooncakes the whole year round, but the 莲蓉 ones only seem to be available at mid-autumn.

[abcdefg]

4 hours ago, 大肚男 said:

That was the best moon cakes I ever had. Sweet but not too sweet, and not too heavy.

 

What kind were they?

[Zeppa]

Quote

Those look good, but very dense. At home I sometimes slice them into slivers with a kitchen knife and nibble on one for 30 minutes or an hour. 

 

One sliver an hour? I was a lot quicker than that. 

[abcdefg]

Poor sentence construction on my part, @Zeppa. I meant I would stretch a single mooncake over the course of 30 minutes or an hour. 

 

If they are not too dense, I cut them into small wedges, the way one might divide an apple pie. 

 

I'm not a big fan of mooncake in general. When I get a big box of them at this time of year, I usually "re-gift" them to some other friend; simply pass them on.