The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated in China and East Asia in the middle of the eighth lunar month. That is usually the full moon in late September or early October on the Western calendar. This year it is October 3. A mooncake is necessary for a proper celebration. Asian Markets are well stocked for the occasion. The preparation of a moon cake is elaborate, so they are not usually made at home.

The cakes are made with a thin flaky outer crust, like a pie crust, and a dense filling. Traditionally the fillings were made with lard and sugar, but modern health wimps have driven out the lard. There is a variety of moon cake that includes ham, but that’s less common these days. There are still a variety of fillings, with sweetened red bean paste one of the most popular. The fillings are always starchy and sweet, but not as sweet as typical Western cakes. Sometimes one or two yolks from salted hardboiled duck eggs are included in the filling, symbolizing the moon. The lotus seed paste cake at right has two yolks, but they are pretty small to be from duck eggs.

Moon cakes are elegantly packaged. They are traded as gifts with a stunning similarity to the way fruit cakes are exchanged in the West. Our local “99 Ranch Market“http://www.99ranch.com/ had choices from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and local bakeries in San Francisco and Oakland. I elected to try the variety in the Four Flavors Moon Cake Delight from the Choi Heong Yuen Bakery in Macau. (Macau is the former Portuguese colony near Hong Kong.)

Notice the decorative embossing on the top of the cakes. The characters typically include “longevity,” the name of the bakery, and symbols appropriate to the festival. the cakes are about three inches square and an inch and a quarter thick. The first variety I tried had a filling of nuts.

It’s rich, so it’s served in small pieces, and it goes well with tea. It had earthy flavors along with the sweetness. This may come from beans in the mix or possibly from some spices that I couldn’t identify. It reminded me of tobacco, although not strong. I enjoyed it quite a bit. The red bean cake had that same earthy undertone. I’m not usually a fan of red bean sweets, but I thought it was also very good. The lotus seed paste and red date paste flavors did not have the earthy undertone.

I recommend mooncake for any fan of not-too-sweet sweets. I’ll celebrate the festival again next year for sure.

On the web, Asian Food Grocer is offering Mei-Xing mooncakes from Hong Kong. Eastern Bakery in San Francisco has a large variety of mooncakes and ships year round.