This post contains homemade recipes for lye and golden syrup, different paste recipes, and tips for mooncake making in general.
1. Pandan coconut filling mooncake by Kat Kwa (video), makes sixteen 50g mooncakes
- 300g plain flour with baking soda instead of cake flour. Cover and rest for 2 hrs on countertop.
- Cover and rest rest dough for 2 hours so it's not sticky and can be handled
- Bake for 180 deg C for 12 mins without egg washing. Remove from oven and leave to cool for 30 mins before egg washing. Mix egg yolk with 2 tbsp egg white and 1 tsp salt. Egg wash thinly the tops. Bake further 10 - 15 mins.
2. Black sesame with yolk in lotus seed paste by Kat Kwa (video), makes six 180-200g mooncakes
- 2 layer filling: Toasted ground black sesame mix with peanut butter and 150g lotus paste which encases yolk. Uses another 600g lotus seed paste to encase the black sesame
- 160g plain flour. Cover and rest 30 mins on countertop until dough no longer sticky.
- 100g lotus seed paste (with melon seeds), 30g sesame seed paste, 40g dough, ?g egg yolk
- (Didn't mist!) Bake 180deg C for 15 mins. Cool for 20 mins. Egg wash with 1 yolk, 1 tbsp egg white, ⅛ tsp salt. Brush only top. Bake 180 deg C for another 10 - 12 mins. Store airtight container for 2 days outside fridge.
3. Traditional lotus seed by Kitchen 101 (video+written recipe), makes four 180-200g mooncakes
- 100g cake flour, 460g paste
- 48g dough + 115g paste + 1 yolk
- Mix yolk with rose or any cooking wine and steam 5 mins
- After mixing the dough, do not over-knead. Just mix until all combined.
- Mist before putting in oven to bake at 160 deg C for 10 mins. Egg wash of 1 yolk + 1 tbsp milk (for darker colour). Return to oven to bake 10mins or until golden brown. Keep in airtight box for 2 - 3 days outside of fridge until skin is softer and glossy.
4. Cooking therapy - Lotus seed (¾ C dried lotus seeds, 3tbsp oil; makes ten 80g mooncakes)
- ¾ C (178g) plain flour
- Only cools dough in fridge for 30 mins
- Bake 177 deg C for 3 mins. Egg wash lightly with 1 egg + 3 tbsp milk. Bake further 12 mins.
5. Christines - 420g lotus seed paste, yields twelve 50g mooncakes
- Golden syrup recipe - cook at 110 - 115 deg C for 45 mins. Use after 2 days. Lasts a few months at room temp.
- 100g plain flour
- Rests covered dough for 40 mins until no longer sticky.
- Bake 180 deg C for 10 to 12 mins. Egg wash 1 egg yolk with 2 tbsp white. Bake another 5 mins.
- Mooncake sld be moist from oil not water. Oil develops after around 2 days so mooncake should be fairly dry after baking. If the mooncake is very moist right after baking, it will become more soggy over time so that's wrong.
6. Taste Asian - filling is irrelevant (written), makes ten 53g mooncakes
- Recipe for dry conc lye water: bake 1 portion at 175 deg C for 30 mins. Add four portions water.
- Only add as much flour only until required to form soft dough. Use fork or stainless steel whisk to combine the dough.
- Fridge dough for 30 mins.
- Can use honey instead of golden syrup and lye but pastry will not be as soft and lighter in colour.
- 100g cake flour
- Demonstrates how to prepare egg yolk. Wiping is enough!
- Ratio of dough to filling is 1:2
- Mist surface of mooncake with water before baking.
- Bake 175 deg C for 5 mins to firm the surface so pattern won't be blurred by egg wash. Brush with egg wash and remove excess with kitchen towel then bake for further 10 mins.
7. China Sichuan food (written + video) - lotus seed (200g dried lotus seeds with 90g oil), red bean (200g red bean with 2 tbsp lard/oil), mung mean (240g mung bean with 40g butter and 50g oil) fillings. Makes 14 mooncakes (eight 50g incl egg yolk and six 45g w/o egg yolk)
- 115g plain flour and 380g paste; 14 balls of 15g dough with 35g paste + yolk or 30g paste
- Fridge for 2 - 3 hrs.
- Mist with water than bake at 180 deg C for 5 mins. Egg wash lightly with 1 yolk and 1 tbsp white. Bake further for 15 - 20 mins until well browned.
8. Gin's Kitchen - Lotus seed (400g dried lotus seeds and condensed milk with 200ml oil makes 900g paste), makes seventeen 75g moulds
- How to prepare the egg yolks: mix yolk with wine to marinate for a few minutes then wipe dry. Cut in half and set aside.
- 200g plain flour
- Rest 2 hrs in fridge or overnight. If overnight, allow to come to room temp for 30 mins.
- dough to filling is 3:7 (23g dough: 52g paste incl 5g yolk)
- Mist before going into oven. Bake at 177 deg C in upper third of oven for 10 mins, let cool for 15 mins. Brush with egg wash of full egg. Bake at 162 deg C for further 25-30 mins. Fully cool on baking tray.
9. Eatlittle bird - lotus seed paste (200g dried lotus seeds with 100ml oil). Make eighteen to twenty 50g mooncakes
- 225g plain flour.
- Rest at room temp for 30 mins. Dough will still be slightly sticky and oily.
- Egg wash with 1 egg + 1 tbsp water
- 50g mold = 20g dough + 30g filling (incl ½ egg yolk)
- 100g mold = 40g dough + 60 filling (incl full egg yolk)
- Bake at 180 deg C without fan for 10 mins. Cool for 10 mins before egg washing. Use kitchen paper to blot excess. Bake at 160 deg C for 10 to 15 mins. Allow to fully cool on baking tray. Can store at room temp for 1 week.
10. Cicili - Red bean (1133g filling using 680g dried beans), makes twelve 125g mooncakes (video)
- Video has most comprehensive method.
- A note on filling. There is an insane amount on the oil in the filling (¼ C or 60ml oil for 1133g filling). Stir in half of oil the oil for 3 mins then add the rest and stir for another 9 mins at low heat.
- Filling to dough between 2:1 to 3:1 e.g., 74g filling to 51g dough (using 600g plain flour)
- Incorporates a lot of resting time. Rest filling 1 hour until cool to handle. Rest dough 2 hours which seems ideal.
- Always keep dough and filling and unbaked mooncakes covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying out.
- Spray assembled mooncakes and rest covered for 30 mins. Then before baking, spray again and immed bake for 5 mins at 204 deg C on middle rack. Remove and cool for 15 mins then brush with egg. Egg wash sldn't be applied when mooncakes are hot or the pattern will be blurred. Bake again for 10 mins at 190 deg C. Remove from oven and cool for 30 mins before transferring to cooling rack for 2 hrs.
11. Essential mooncake guide by Runawayrice - method
- For Snowskin mooncakes, ratio of dough to filling is 1:1
- For baked mooncakes, ratio of dough to filling is 2:1 for bigger mooncakes (i.e., 75g will be 25g skin and 50g filling) but 1:1 for smaller mooncakes (50g)
- Store homemade baked mooncakes outside for 2 - 3 days to 回油 then in fridge for up to 10 days or freezer for up to 3 months. Snowskin can be stored outside for 1 - 2 days then refrigerated for up to a week. However, they taste better cold.
12. Ultimate guide by Omnivore's Cookbook - Black sesame filling (140g raw seeds with GRF and 55g butter). Also has lotus seed filling (100g dried seeds with 50g oil makes 400g paste) and red bean paste (100g beans with 50g oil makes 400g paste) recipe on her blog. Makes 10 mini mooncakes (50g)
- recipes for golden syrup and lye water (dry conc) - bake at 120 deg C for 1 hr in lined tray.
- 100g cake flour
- Different brands of golden syrup and kansui will have different pHs. To future confuse things, homemade vs shopbought will be different. How the golden syrup and kansui interplay will affect colour of mooncake and even shape (eg can be misshappen after baking).
- Cake flour leaves beautiful pattern by sticky dough
- Suggests baking 8 to 9 mins on middle rack before egg washing.
- Best egg wash is yolk + pinch of salt but very difficult to brush.
- Best brush will be hair rather than silicon which drags on too much egg wash. Also, use small brush to remove excess egg wash in between the grooves where its not wanted or will blur the pattern.
- Mooncakes will flakey and soft when hot so allow to cool before moving.
- Bake mini mooncakes at 180 deg C, first phase 8 to 10 mins until edges turn golden and dough has hardened. Then egg wash and further 8 to 11 mins until golden brown.
12. Souped up recipes (Video) - Lotus seed filling (155g dried seeds with 80g oil and cornstarch to make approx 500g filling.) Makes twelve 100g mooncakes with double yolk (tried here)
- Very comprehensive 15 min video!
- Lotus seed filling: Choose lotus seeds with starch included in it. Cooks in IP 30 mins but 30 mins frying on low heat to dry up!
- Can use honey but not honey with crystals as will affect texture of wrapper. No need to use lye water.
- Lye water is for colour but can use water as substitute. It will affect colour. Recipe for lye water (liquid form) given. 2.5g baking soda + 1.5 tbsp water simmered for 15 seconds. Cooled and yield 13g (2.5 tsp) for her recipe.
- 250g cake flour makes about 420g dough. Check consistency that it's soft, pliable and non-stick with elasticity.
- Wrap in plastic and rest 3 hours at room temp.
- Cooks yolk by baking 150 deg C for 6 mins. Optional step but roasted taste.
- Suggests using bigger mould for beginners [35g dough + 65g filling = 42g filling + 23g for 2 yolk]
- Demonstrates how to wrap 2 egg yolks which makes it oval ball shaped.
- Use palm to push out dough till you get a 4 - 5 inch in diameter circle. Flip dough and filling upside down (see video) to prevent air. Flip back right side up and then push dough to close and seal.
- Dust with cake flour. For round mould, once there is resistance, press for 15 seconds to establish the shape. For square mould, press gently with sustained pressure for 30 - 40 seconds so the mooncake fills up all 4 corners.
- Mist mooncakes. Bake 168 deg C for 8 mins. Egg wash is 1 yolk with 1 tbsp water. Brush thin layer of egg wash including the sides. Same temp another 8 mins. Brush with egg again. Finally, bake 6 - 10 mins. Totally cool before storing.
Filling recipes : Unlike making the filling/pastes for other doughs, baked mooncake filings requires the inclusion of a LOT of oil so that the skin can 回油
Best IP recipe for lotus seed paste: Souped up Recipes
Best IP recipe for red bean paste: What to cook today
Best recipe for black sesame seed paste by Omnivore Cookbook
Best recipe for mung bean paste - use IP method from AKK but add oil (additional approx 2 to 4 tbsp of lard and/or oil)
Kitchen 101's list of 'healthy' mooncake paste recipes: her pastes aren't very oily or sweet as she uses a liquid (e.g., milk or water) with Glut Rice Flour as the thickener. These make a moist (but not oily mouth feel) paste and really cuts down on pan frying time. In my opinion, perhaps less suitable for baked mooncakes which really need a lot of oil!
Store pastes frozen and then thaw before using. Storing paste in the fridge even wrapped in cling film and in a plastic bag will still dry out the paste.
Yolk preparation tips
Kat Kwa's tips to fix greasy paste (e.g. storebought and put in the fridge or frozen and oil separates from paste)
In contrast, Taste Asian used 'fresh' raw salted egg yolks did a test and said wipe off with water produced the best result in his baked mooncake tests.
How to prepare fresh salted egg yolk
Lisa's kitchen: bake at 170 deg C for 8 - 10 mins.
Homemade Lye and Golden Syrup recipes
The issue with making baked mooncake is that it requires golden syrup and lye, both ingredients aren't widely used in many other recipes, so unless you intend to keep making mooncakes every so often, it's going to be sitting in the cupboard a really long time. In particular, mooncake recipes only need maybe 1 tsp of lye water as it's a corrosive liquid (highly concentrated alkali) which I don't really want sitting around randomly in my cupboard.
Here are some alternatives:
Mooncake syrup making by Kat Kwa which involves boiling 1 lemon and 1 kg of sugar in water for over an hour. You have to leave it for at least 2 weeks or till next year(!) is ideal.
2 tbsp/27g Lye water (liquid form) by King Arthur from the red bean mooncake recipe (which uses stand mixer to beat the dough). This lye recipe involves boiling baking soda and water. There are other recipes which produce adding water dry baked bicarb. Bake bicarb soda at 120 deg C for 1 hr and then adding water in a 1:4 ratio (eatlittlebird). Dry conc is customisable cos other recipes e.g., pretzels require 1:2 baked bicarb to water.
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