Making moon cakes at home was a tradition of the Mid-Autumn Festival, but the art was dying out in the face of mass production of the cakes. Yao Minji reports on a DIY trend in which a group of people are putting moon-cake baking back in the kitchen.

 

Moon cakes, originally just flaky dough with simple fillings like red beans, lotus seeds, meat and nuts have become increasingly elaborate and more lavish. Near Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls next Tuesday this year, most people get a few boxes of luxuriously decorated moon cakes from their companies, families and friends.

 

Every year, the manufacturers drain their brains to add new elements to the traditional food - ice-cream moon cakes, coffee moon cakes, wine moon cakes, among others. However, the rising trend of DIY moon cakes might end up disappointing the hard-working manufacturers.

 

Rather than a trend, DIY moon cakes is more like "old traditions coming back." Only 10 to 15 years ago, making moon cakes was an important custom of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the 15th day of August on lunar calendar. Unlike the currently popular Cantonese style of moon cakes that are oily and more complicated to make, the homemade crispy Suzhou-style moon cakes involve only a little effort.

 

"All you need is black sesame, sugar and water-shortening flour dough," says Apple Wu, who owns one of the many online shops that sell ingredients and tools for DIY moon cakes.

 

"My grandmother did it every year when I was little. You just stir-fry the black sesame and sugar until they are fully mixed and shredded. Then you put them into the dough and fry the dough. They might not look very good, but they are crispy and tasty," she says.

  

Now, it is very hard to find anyone who would make such an effort to make moon cakes before the Mid-Autumn Festival since there are so many options in stores and hotels. But while Wu's grandmother used to make everything including the dough and the fillings from zero, the DIY package popular online now guarantees little time will be spent and has simplified the process because most of ingredients have been prepares and are already half-done.

 

Starting two years ago out of nostalgia for her childhood, Wu says she sold only six to seven packs of her DIY moon cakes in the first year but now is having more business every year. She had sold around 150 packs two weeks away from the festival.

 

"It is not an accurate estimation, but I think most of my customers are office ladies and university students," says Wu, herself an office lady who cares a lot about health.

 

"When I see the oily moon cakes sold in the stores, I would rather make some low-calorie and healthy ones myself for my family and friends," she says.

 

And one of her customers, Judy Pan, agrees that making moon cakes is quite attractive to office ladies like them.

 

"I get moon cake coupons from my company and friends every year, and they are all similar and boring," says Pan. "I have a lot of pressure from work already, which is exactly why I need something fun for the holidays, especially a big one like the Mid-Autumn Festival. Making moon cakes is fun!"

 

"And it is simple," says Wu, who add it is very similar to making dumplings but even simpler. "That's because you don't need to care about the shape since the mold will fix everything eventually."

 

A typical DIY package includes flour, alkaline water, sugar, selective fillings, moon cake mold and packaging enough for 20 moon cakes. The cost ranges from 40 yuan to 80 yuan (US$5.30 to US$10.60).

 

"I am not very good at handicrafts and have very limited leisure time," says Pan. "But I can make moon cakes quite quickly."

  

First, you need to mix sugar and alkaline water and stir well. "You can also use soda water, but alkaline water protects the finished product from being too acid and also makes it easy to color," explains Wu.

 

Although it is not included in most DIY packages, Wu recommends the use of peanut oil or lard, which "makes the pastry smoother and easy to roll out." Then you need to add flour into the mixture and stir them together to make the dough.

 

"Unlike making cakes, water is not needed in moon cake dough," notes Wu, who says it is also important to seal the dough and leave it alone for half an hour "so that it becomes softer."

 

"Although a regular package only gives you filling options of lotus seed and red beans, but you can add virtually anything you want into the dough and then shape it with the mold," says Wu. She also says it is a temptation for rookies to try lots of strange fillings.

 

Wu says she gets filling-related questions from her customers all the time. "They always ask me, can I put in this, can I put in that? I'm amazed by their imagination - candy, roses, green tea, tofu, beef, blue cheese, shells, fruits, pickles, just to list a few."

 

Wu says she always give advice free of charge although she has not tried most of the strange fillings she is asked about.

 

"It turns out that most of the time the result is good," she says.

 

The molds come into various shapes - flaky, square, circles, triangles, and some weird ones. Wu also reveals how to achieve a shining and golden effect for the top layer of the pastry.

 

The key is to bake twice, she says. Let it cool and brush on egg mixture between the two bakings and the final product turns golden.

 

"Again, it is simple, quick, healthy, imaginative, fun and a good way to de-stress," concludes Pan. "And I'm proud to offer families and friends those moon cakes as gifts."

 

(Shanghai Daily September 21, 2007)