Home Made Snowskin Mooncake

Moon cake prices - do a survey and you'll find the prices exorbitant to the point of being ridiculous. Much as I think they are overpriced (say what you want about fantastic packaging and creative flavours), it is hard not to get some as the kids really love this annual delicacy. However, after some success in making my own moon cakes yesterday, I think I can forget about paying through my nose for moon cakes now. Plus the kids can have their fill of moon cakes anytime they like.

I brought a recipe book which is dedicated entirely to moon cakes just yesterday. It has five sections ranging from baked moon cakes, to jelly mooncakes, pastry mooncake, shanghai mooncakes and the snowskin variety. I knew well not to be over ambitious and started off with what I believed would be the simplest to pull off, this being my very first try - I settled on making snowskin with red bean filling. I was hesitant to buy the wooden mould which was quite pricey at the baking ingredients shop, so settled on getting a plastic mould (the one used for jelly moon cakes). As you can see, the flower motif didnt come out too well. I can imagine how nice it would turn out had I used the real wooden moulds. I used pandan juice as coloring and flavouring (never like the essence taste used on those that are on sale). The moon cakes turned out a nice light green shade. The snowskin was a great success - smooth and soft as it should be even after refridgeration. Next step is to do the traditional baked mooncakes and if that turns out well too, I'll be ready to get the wooden moulds.