It's MOONCAKE season!
NOTE: to people who are afraid of trying moon cakes, don't be! Moon cakes, more specifically snow skin moon cakes, tastes like HOPIA monggo :)
Original photo (yep, these delicious guys)
I love August, mainly because of my birthday (shallow I know and I know it is already September) but also because it is usually the month of moon cakes! Mid-Autumn Festival is on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month and it is a festivity celebrating the moon.
Most of the moon cakes that I eat are the snow skin moon cakes. As shown below, the pink pastry is a snow skin moon cake, a fancy champagne flavour. My mom bought this from Singapore in Ngee Ann City and it is from a company called Tunglok. You can get snow skin moon cakes usually in International hotels like Shangri-la or in TWG.
The difference is that the traditional moon cakes look like this:
Original photo (which you can easily find in supermarkets like Metro)
Also, the taste is different. The snow skin moon cake is sweeter and softer compared to the rough and sort of dry texture of the outer layer of the traditional moon cake. Don't get me wrong, the traditional is great and the inside practically tastes the same HOWEVER most traditional moon cakes have yolks inside, which I am not a fan of. (Also not a fan of special asado siopao).
Also, most snow skin moon cakes have unique and fun flavours, colours, and filling. The champagne snow skin moon cake that I tried had a champagne paste inside, which tasted so much like champagne that it had a bit of a bitter aftertaste.
I love sweets so I enjoyed the lychee moon cake better. As shown below, you can see the lychee filling inside! The skin does not actually have a distinct taste in itself, it is the lychee filling that differentiates it from other snow skin moon cakes. The lychee filling was sweet and fragrant but at the same time, not overpowering. You can still taste the monggo paste.
Of course, you can enjoy just by eating monggo hopia :) Cheers!
