One of the most romantic of Chinese holidays is the Mid Autumn Festival, which is all about the soulful appreciation of the moon, and the very practical exchange of moon cakes. So what is a moon cake? Sometimes they are round, and sometimes square. Traditionally, a moon cake is a sweet filling wrapped in a stamped dough that is baked a rich deep golden brown. Buried in its center is a hidden surprise, a salted egg yolk, like the sun captured in the dark velvet night. Sticky sweet and heavy, a moon cake cleaves to the roof of your mouth, and must be washed down with hot Chinese tea. Not a terrible predicament, but people today recoil at the suggestion of eating a whole one. One 150g moon cake can contain up to 1000 calories, and it was said one moon cake could feed an entire Chinese family. But perhaps that is a tad apocryphal. Two moon cakes, perhaps.
In the 1960s, perhaps in the quest for some lighter pastry (and perhaps something on trend), a new type of moon cake was developed in Hong Kong. Called Snowskin Moon Cakes, they were smaller, 33% the weight of a traditional moon cake. These moon cakes, in contrast, are not baked. The dough wrap, the “snowskin,” is mochi, a delicate rice flour pastry that is cooked before it is wrapped around a filling. The snowskin allowed bakers to be fanciful. The mochi could be flavoured and coloured then filled with delicate fillings like ice cream, exotic things like durian, and all the flavours of cakes and pastry creams. There is no limit to the culinary imagination.
I found several recipes on the internet for making snowskins, but not all of them are reliable. The one on which this recipe is based is from the Omnivore’s Cookbook. Always, always cook the mochi. One recipe had said to use toasted flour, no cooking required, but I found this “mochi” to be inedible because the flour had a raw taste despite the toasting. A little bit of toasted flour is good for rolling, but a lot of it doesn’t make a good tasting snowskin. I find that I can make the snowskins in stages. Make the cake filling a day or two ahead and keep it refrigerated until needed. Make a one bowl chocolate cake; it is simple (nothing fancy required) or make Beatty‘s chocolate cake, always a favourite in this household, moon cake or not. Perhaps you have a favourite chocolate cake recipe of your own. Or bake a box cake mix to save time! No one will ever know unless you tell them.
Special Equipment: 50g moon cake spring mould with at least 4 interchangeable pattern plates (available from Amazon)
Chocolate Cake Truffle Filling
1 9-inch chocolate layer cake
1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips or sprinkles, optional
1/2 cup frosting
Bake the cake and let it cool to room temperature. Crumble the cake into a large bowl. Add the chocolate chips/sprinkles, if using. Add the frosting 1 tablespoon at a time, until the cake crumbs form a solid ball when pressed together. Roll 25g balls and put into an air tight box or jar and refrigerate until needed.
Mocha Mochi Dough
120g glutinous rice flour, plus 25g for toasting and rolling (more later)
120g rice flour
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
60g cornstarch
100g confectioners sugar
100 ml coffee (2 teaspoons coffee powder dissolved in water)
250 ml whole milk
55g rice bran oil (or neutral cooking oil)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (can use rum or almond extract)
Sift together the flours with the cornstarch and cocoa powder in a large bowl. Sift over the powdered sugar.
In a separate bowl, mix together the coffee, milk, oil, and vanilla. Whisk vigorously to emulsify.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in a little of the liquid ingredients. Using a fork, whisk in the dry ingredients until wet, and continue adding wet to dry until the batter becomes a thin liquid. Whisk to make sure the flour is combined and not sitting on the bottom. Pour the mochi batter through a fine mesh sieve to catch any lumps, into a heat-ready ceramic or glass dish. Let the mochi batter rest 30 minutes to fully hydrate.
Meanwhile, set up a steamer with an inch of water in the bottom. I used a trivet, but if you have a steamer with a rack, it will take up to 30 minutes to cook the mochi. Bring the water to a boil then lower to a simmer. Stir the batter once more before putting the bowl in the steamer. Cover. Uncover the mochi 5-10 minutes after steaming begins to stir the mochi. After 15 minutes, stick a knife in the middle. If it comes out wet, let the mochi cook 5 more minutes then test again. it will take 25-30 minutes to cook the mochi this way.
Remove the mochi from the steamer and put it on a wire cooling rack for 5-10 minutes or until the dough is cool enough to handle. Meanwhile, toast 25g of glutinous rice flour in a dry pan over low heat until it becomes a light cream colour, 5-10 minutes. Set aside to cool. You want to toast the flour otherwise it will leave a raw taste on the mochi when you roll it in the flour.
Use a dough scraper to scrape the mochi in the bowl into a ball. Turn it out onto a clean work surface and knead until smooth and pliable, 5-10 minutes. Cover dough with plastic in a clean bowl and refrigerate about 30 minutes.
Remove the mochi from the fridge and portion the dough into 25g balls. Remove the cake truffles from the fridge and let it come to room temperature.
Sprinkle a light dusting of the toasted flour on the work surface. It will prevent the mochi from sticking to the mould. Put the mochi dough ball in the flour and flatten it with the heel of your hand. Roll the dough flat and thin, about 3-3 1/2-inches in diameter, making sure the edges are thinner than the center. Put a cake truffle ball in the center and wrap the sides of the mochi to completely enclose the ball. If there is any excess, pinch off a little. Put the moon cake, seam side down, on the work surface sprinkled with more flour if needed, and roll the moon cake around between your hands to shape it into an egg while sealing the bottom and dusting it lightly with the toasted flour.
Fit a pattern plate into the mould and click it into place. Put mould over the egg-shaped moon cake on the work surface and press down the mould plunger. Hold down the plunger firmly but not too forcefully, for 20-30 seconds to set the pattern, Release the plunger. The moon cake is released. Remove the moon cake to a covered plate or airtight container. Repeat the process until all the dough and cake truffles are used up. Change the pattern plates, if you wish to have some fun with the moon cakes. Snowskin moon cakes are best eaten fresh.
Foodie Joanie 