Innovative creations

During the lockdown, mooncake makers have had plenty of time to reflect on venerated recipes and think about how they could do things differently. – Filepic

IN PENANG, there are pastry shops that are 50 to over 100 years old.

Each Mid-Autumn Festival, customers flock to them to get mooncakes that are only available once a year.

As for me, I do not crave mooncakes when the season comes.

It is just too high in calories to eat regularly even for just a month or two in the year.

So, I am not a mooncake fan but I was in awe when I first tasted an ice cream mooncake.

Its texture and taste lingered on my tongue and it took me a long time to discern what the ice cream mooncake was made of.

It first tasted like dark chocolate ice cream. When I bit through the skin, I found out it was a thin shell of dark chocolate.

Like most mooncakes, this ice cream mooncake had a “yolk” inside, too.

It was an orange-jam yolk in place of the usual salted egg yolk.

The sour, refreshing tang complemented the rich chocolate and balanced the sweetness of the ice cream.

Then came the popping sensation. Inside the chocolate ice cream was popping candy!

It popped and crackled delightfully in my mouth to end the “gourmet” experience.

That whole experience got me curious and made me pay more attention to these modern mooncakes.

I saw Musang King durian mooncakes and instead of just being durian-flavoured, the fillings were actual durian pulp.

Lava mooncakes are getting popular too, and look just like lava cupcakes with fillings that ooze out.

And what about mooncakes called “Ambrosial Fragrance”, “Ballad of the Moon”, and “Innate Harmony”?

A decades-old maker of mooncakes in Penang is behind such mysterious names without any explanation and leaves it to buyers to identify the complex flavours on their own.

Mooncakes filled with crepes? These are super expensive ones filled with bird’s nest.

And if the overpowering, calorie-laden sweetness that is typical of mooncakes starts to feel cloying, try a triple-chocolate one tempered with Himalayan pink salt.

There are many home-based bakers who are even more creative, making low-calorie mini mooncakes that will not send your blood sugar levels to the moon (pun intended), or jelly mooncakes made with healthy herbal decoctions.

I wonder if this explosion of creativity came about during the pandemic.

When I googled for “modern mooncakes”, these keywords yielded search results in the first 10 pages that were nearly all written between 2020 and now.

In June last year, when a full-blown movement control order (MCO) was imposed again, I interviewed customers at a baking supply shop who told me they planned to polish their baking skills while staying home during that time.

Shop owners, on the other hand, said business began picking up almost as soon as the MCO was relaxed.

I wonder what other innovations and inventions have arisen during the pandemic.

It would not be too far-fetched to imagine that mooncake makers last year had plenty of time to reflect on venerated mooncake recipes and think about how they could do things differently.

Looking at the astounding assortment of new-age mooncakes now on sale as old norms return, I would be willing to believe that mooncake makers had spent their time concocting new recipes during the tough times.