Cantonese custard mooncake

Everyone is busy as the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches. The supermarket is brimming with different mooncakes, each one colourfully packaged in a dizzying variety of different shapes, and there is a strong desire to try them all. However, the price tag is intimidating to look at. Yes, the day is getting closer. The elderly, elders and family members receive moon cakes from me every year, but these days they are flashy and pricey, which makes people either adore them or despise them.

In 2016, I first began baking mooncakes. The rising cost of mooncakes year after year is what prompted me to start learning how to make them. But what we paid for was a gorgeously wrapped gift box filled with incredibly delicious and preservative-filled mooncakes. You might think twice about eating them if you look at the long expiration date on the packaging. The lovely gift box will be donated to MR BIN (the recycle bin) when the mooncakes have been consumed. What a heartache!!

Now, I made my own filling with sugar and oil control even though it does not last long but is safe to eat. I always bake three different types of mooncakes for my various age-ranged family members every year which are traditional mooncakes, Cantonese custard mooncakes, and Teochew spiral pastry mooncakes.

Traditional mooncakes are large, measuring 2 to 3 inches in diameter, and often have a rich, sweet filling consisting of salted duck yolk and lotus seed paste. An elderly man's favourite is this. Due to changes in younger people's tastes, these traditional delicacies have recently lost favour. The traditional dessert has been modified and elevated with custard mooncakes.

While making mooncakes from scratch takes a lot of time, it is not at all difficult, and I am confident that even beginners will be able to do it.

I will share how to make this custard mooncake today. Let us get all the ingredients needed to prepare this delectable food.

 

INGREDIENTS (for custard filling)

(Can make for 8 pcs mooncake filling)

120g custard powder

80g milk powder

90g sugar

200ml coconut milk

160ml milk

2 eggs (beaten)

50ml melted butter

8 salted egg yolks

2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp rose wine

INGREDIENTS (for the crust)

(Can make for 8 pcs mooncake)

250g flour

125g butter, at room temperature

25ml milk

½ egg

50g sugar

 

Egg wash

1 beaten egg yolk with 1 tbsp condensed milk

METHOD (for the filling)

1. Prepare a pot with water for steaming and bring the water to a boil. Coat the salted yolks with sesame oil and rose wine and steam it for 10 minutes at medium heat. Turn off the heat, and let it sit on the steamer for another 5 minutes. Removed it from the steamer. Let them cool completely, and they are ready to use.       

2. Make custard filling. Combine dry ingredients (custard powder, sugar, and milk powder). Add in coconut milk, milk, and beaten eggs. Mixed it well until it is incorporated.

3. Add in melted butter. Mixed well again. There will be a lot of little lumps in the mixture, sieved it through a strainer to get a smooth mixture.

4. Transfer to 2 lightly greased heatproof dishes and steamed them at HIGH heat for 10 minutes.

5. Remove the custard from the steamer, let it cool for about 10 minutes, and scrape off the custard dough from the dish. Put it on the table and knead the custard until it becomes a smooth paste. The custard is much easier to work with while it is still warm. If you let it cool completely, it takes much longer to knead it to smooth. You can also make the custard one day ahead and leave it in the fridge overnight.

6. The finished custard filling is about 800g. Divide the custard into 100g each and shape it into balls. Flat the custard ball and wrap it in salted egg yolk, fold up, and shaped it into a ball again, set aside, and cover it with cling wrap.

 

 

METHOD (for the crust)

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until it is frothy and light in colour.

2. Stir in the eggs, followed by 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour.

3. Using a spatula, add a third of the flour and combine. Repeat this process twice more until you have included all the dry ingredients and the mixture resembles dough. Never knead it.

4. Cover in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes.

5. Remove the pastry dough from the fridge and divide it into 60g portions.

6. Set a baking sheet on the baking tray and preheat the oven to 230°C.

7. Take a ball of pastry dough in your hand, flatten it with your palm, and use your fingers to gently press the sides. After that, centre a ball of custard filling and wrap the pastry dough around it by folding up the sides. Roughly shape it into a ball.

8. To prevent the mooncake dough from sticking to the side of the mould, sprinkle some flour inside the mooncake mould and tap out the excess. Lightly dust mooncake dough with flour dough too, put the mooncake dough inside the mould, and set the mould on a flat surface.  Then, press hard to imprint the pattern on the mooncake. Push the handle one more to release the mooncake after lifting the mould.

9. Bake the mooncake for 10 minutes. Take them out of the oven, egg-wash the top and sides, and let them sit for 10 minutes. Bake for an additional 10 minutes after applying the second layer of egg wash.

10. Take the baked mooncakes out of the oven and let them cool for ten minutes. If you want them shiny, brush some honey syrup on top.

Note: I am using (150-180g) mooncake mould, the filling is 115g (inclusive of an egg yolk), and the pastry skin is 60g. The total weight of the mooncake is 175g.