The festival dates back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China’s Shang Dynasty. It was first called Zhongqiu Jie (literally “Mid-Autumn Festival”) in the Zhou Dynasty. In Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, it is also sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival.

Lantern Festival Moon cake
Mooncakes are Chinese pastries traditionally eaten during the Lantern Festival. They are round or rectangular pastries, measuring about 10 cm in diameter and 4-5 cm thick. Mooncakes are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea.

Most mooncakes consist of a thin tender skin enveloping a sweet, dense filling. The mooncake may contain one or more whole salted egg yolks in its center to symbolize the full moon. Very rarely, mooncakes are also served steamed or fried. A thick filling usually made from lotus seed paste is surrounded by a relatively thin (2-3 mm) crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs.

Traditional mooncakes have an imprint on top consisting of the Chinese characters for “longevity” or “harmony” as well as the name of the bakery and the filling in the moon cake. Imprints of the moon, the Chang’e woman on the moon, flowers, vines, or a rabbit (symbol of the moon) may surround the characters for additional decoration.

Mooncakes are considered a delicacy; production is labor-intensive and few people make them at home. Most mooncakes are bought at markets and bakeries.

Moon Festival Around The World
The Mid autumn mooncake festival, also known as the Moon Festival, Zhongqiu Festival, or in Chinese, Zhongqiujie (中秋節), is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese and Chinese descendants around the world. It is a legal holiday in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau. The Moon Festival is also a widely celebrated festival in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Japan and Indonesia. Please note that in Hong Kong, the official holiday date is the day after the festival, thus in 2010, the official holiday for mooncake festival in Hong Kong is on Thursday, 23 September 2010.
Source : http://sgholiday.com/2010/08/moon-cake-festival-2010/

Established in Milan circa 1817, COVA arrived at our sunny shores in 2008, bringing along its coffee, pastry and chocolate specialties. This Mid-Autumn Festival, the open concept café at Paragon has brought back its popular Torta Della Luna (literally ‘cake of the moon’ in Italian) collection.

These Italian-style snowskin mooncakes are available in four flavors (below, clockwise from top centre):

- Peanut and chocolate
- Sweet potato and pumpkin (new in 2010)
- Rose and vanilla
- Mocha (new in 2010)

All four mooncakes have a velvety snowskin with the same lovely patterns, topped with a slice of delicious milk chocolate. My favorite is no doubt the peanut and chocolate.

What is it about peanut and chocolate in the same sentence that spells awesomeness? The moment I saw this flavor I knew I was in trouble. This mooncake comprises chocolate sponge cake with a chocolate feuillentine (chocolate cream mixed with cereal) layer and a peanut butter cream layer. The addition of chopped peanuts gives a nice crunchy texture that literally makes me go nuts!

The newcomer mocha snowskin mooncake is made with COVA’s very own premium coffee and chocolate. As a coffee fanatic myself, I love, love, love this harmonious combination.

If you prefer strong flavors, you may find the new sweet potato and pumpkin moon cake a tad mild for your palate.

Another flavor that has returned this year is the pink rose and vanilla. Encased within the rose-scented snowskin is light vanilla sponge cake layered with chocolate and pastry cream. Pair this with rose tea and you’re all set!

The packaging is simple but elegant, with bright red ribbons and the logo in gold.

Source : http://sparklette.net/food/cova-pasticceria-mooncakes/

Moon-walking Goddess

A popular Chinese myth related to the Moon cakes Festival involves the immortal Chang Er who lives on the moon. She was very beautiful and people celebrate her beauty during the mooncake festival, when the moon is at its brightest and roundest – on the 15th of eight lunar month.

Once upon a time in China, ten suns appeared in the sky and this was causing much grief to the people. Crops were withering, rivers were drying up and people were dying from the heat. This catastrophe forced the emperor to summon Hou Yi, a mythological archer to shoot down the suns in return for an immortal elixir. He wanted to shoot down all the suns but his wife, Chang Er begged him to leave one up in the sky for warmth and light. As Hou Yi was about to go against his wife’s wishes, his wife grabbed the immortal elixir and drank it as a form of protest immediately after, Chang Er began floating higher and higher until she reached the moon and stayed there.

Moonlit Uprising

In the 14th century, the Han Chinese overthrew the Mongols in a carefully planned uprising. The success of this uprising lies in these little mooncakes. Small pastries with a secret message outlining the plan was hidden inside the pastries and distributed. Lantern wielding rebels distributed the pastries at night in a well disguised wedding celebration. As outlined in the secret message, the Han Chinese executed a surprise attack on the Mongols.

The full moon on the autumn mooncake Festival shone brightly on the pathways to guide the rebels through the maze of the palace. Since then, mooncakes and lanterns are used each year to honor the new dynasty and the auspiscious moon.

Mooncakes

Traditionally, mooncakes are small pastries filled with a sweet paste filling – redbean or lotus seed. Now, new recipes are being invented to cater for the fickle consumer’s tastebuds. There is pandan (screwpine leaf) filling, coconut filling, meat fillings, nut and fruits filling, yam and even durian filling. For those who prefer cold treats, there are also ice-cream mooncakes!

Traditionally, the most popular form of mooncakes consumed is the ones stuffed with egg yolks. The yolks in the mooncake represent the full moon during the celebration. Although some people would heartily consume mooncakes filled with four eggyolks, many health conscious consumers rather opt for the less-sweet types of mooncakes.

Source: http://www.desserts-recipes.com/chinese-desserts-recipes/history-mooncake-festival.php