Baking Class : Traditional Baked Mooncakes
As promised in this post, here’s the pictures of baked mooncakes after ’sitting around’ for 4 days.
Two of them are made by me, and the other two by my sis during the baking class. I’m not sure whose is whose now. And I can’t tell which two have the yolks either. The Hubby is not amused by that little confession for he does not take eggs and will be rather upset if he mistakenly cuts into one which has the yolk.
The mooncakes have darkened considerably since Saturday evening, and the layer of oil has seeped to the surface to give the mooncakes a glossy sheen. It still can afford to ’sit’ a little longer, but I’m not sure if my sis is anxious to bring it home for my parents to taste.
The portion of Minnie Mouse ‘piglets’ and Yam flaky skin mooncakes left at my house are long gone. Into our stomachs, that is. And The Hubby has been bugging me EVERYDAY to bake more of the ‘piglets’ for him. He has even gone to Phoon Huat to get me the wooden mould required to make the ‘piglets’. I can’t remember what the mould is, but it is some really untraditional mould. Not fish, not piglet. I don’t really like it. I mean look, ‘piglets’ are traditional goodies we eat during a traditional chinese festival. I really don’t fancy having my ‘piglets’ in any other shapes apart from the traditional piggy shape.
Looks like I need to make a trip down to Kwong Cheong Thye soon. I need to get the mooncake syrup from there, and I heard that they carry some wooden moulds and the plastic ‘baskets’ meant for ‘piglets’. I just can’t find the time to make a trip down yet, but I’d better do it soon. I need time for the mooncakes to ’sit’ before distributing them to our extended families.
these look lovely CY! i love the patterns…they’re different from traditional ones =) didnt know there’s a mooncake syrup. what’s it for? glazing?
I also didn’t know of such a thing before the class.
The mooncake syrup is to be added to the dough to make the skin.
Wah looks very nice! I’m still kinda living with my mooncake fever. Oh yah btw, Takashimaya is having this mooncake festival and I heard from my friend they are selling Teochew Yam Mooncakes. Should take a visit there
hihi…
did u add in akaline water as well ? oh i plan to go buy it.. but seems to be like a big bottle ?
Yummie dummieS: I found a rather nice subsitute for Crown Prince’s. Try Eater Palace’s Teochew Yam Mooncakes. I believe they are at the Taka Fair. I got mine at Junction 8.
Jess: Yes, the recipe my instructor gave comes with alkaline water too. I just bought a bottle from Phoon Huat a few days ago. There are 2 sizes… the smaller bottle is about $3 plus.
hihi, wow! those look really good and so perfectly shaped. Great job!
May I ask what is the weight of the skin and filling that you use?
Also, do you know where your instructor bought this mould from? It’s so pretty : )
Thank you Ling! I can’t remember the weight but it differs from mould to mould. The proportion of skin to paste is in the ratio of 1:3.
I have no idea where she bought this mould. But I think she bought it a long time ago so it might not be available in the market now.
Hi,
May i know where did you get your wooden mould from? The pattern is very nice..
Thanks!
Hi Siew Ping,
The wooden mould does not belong to me. It belongs to Judy from Creative Culinaire, where I took one lesson.
Hi,
Thanks for your reply. I went down to kwong cheong thye (KCT) last night trying to get a big wooden mould but they left only the wordings type and some nice designs but with cracks.. I went home empty handed.
Do you know where else have wooden mould besides phoon huat and KCT?
Also, have you tried using the yellow mould for traditional mooncakes?
Thanks!
Hi Siew Ping,
Oh dear, you must have been very disappointed to go on a wasted trip.
From my own research, apart from Phoon Huat and KCT, there are a few more bakery supplies shops in Singapore including Sun Lik (near Raffles Hotel), Gim Hin Lee (in Jurong West), Ailin Bakery House (Tg Katong Complex) and Anna Phua Culinary (next door to PH in Geylang).
If you have friends going to Hong Kong, you can also ask them to look out for you, ‘coz I think there are nicer moulds in Hong Kong.
I haven’t tried using the yellow moulds for traditional mooncakes (because I haven’t tried baking them myself yet! :P), but I think it’s possible to use them.
I hope it helps.
Hi Cadenze,
Thank you very much for you reply. It’s really helpful to know there are other shops to shop from. I managed to borrow some wooden moulds from my husband’s aunt.
I will be starting the “manufacturing” aka mooncake-making this sat. Going to be a long long day..:)
Great to hear that you’ve found some wooden moulds!
I’m going to bake all the mooncakes for our relatives this coming weekend too. Ya… gonna be a long long day for both of us!
Hi cadenze,
I’ve attended a baking class on the Traditional Mooncake at Phoon Huat recently. During the class, I was told that after the mooncakes have cooled from the oven, I’ve to turn the mooncakes upside down and keep them in an airtight box in this upside down manner for approx. 4 days before that I could remove them from the box, turn them back upright and consume them as I want.
Any cue of the “science” or rationel behind for doing so? Thanks.
Hi Terence,
How was the class? Good? I’ve been taking of taking classes from PH but I’m not a member so I can’t reserve a place.
The rationale behind this is to let the mooncakes 回油, if you understand chinese. Mooncakes freshly baked are not nice to eat because they are hard and dry. You let it settle for a few days, the surface will be glossier (with the oil ‘returning’ to the surface) and the imprints will look more obvious.
Some people believe in turning it upside down while others think it’s good enough to let it ’sit’ for a while.
I hope my explanation helps.
Hi cadenze,
Thanks for explaining the “logic” regarding the mooncakes.
Yup! I would said the class at PH was “super value-for-money” considering the fees that I paid and the number of mooncakes I “dabao” home after the class.
But I find that the class was pretty rushed and hectic (at least to me). Maybe because I was a newbie to baking and was kind of slow, compared to the other students who seems like mostly housewives and pretty experienced to me. Hence, I did not get much chance to think through, ask questions or jot down important points…
hi terence…
oh i also went for the mooncakes class at phoon huat…fun right ?
hehehe.. been eating lots of mooncakes… last sunday.. also made the snowskin mooncakes at home with my friend..heheh
Hi Jess…
Yup! To a certain extend, I would said it was fun…
Btw, Jess… you went for the traditional or snowskin mooncake class (or both?) at Phoon Huat? Mine is the traditional mooncake. I tried booking for the snowskin class, but it was already fully-booked.
hi terence..
oh i went for both class. 1 is friday.. and the other is thursday nite…. usually for near weekend class.. u nid to book 1 week in adv…