Moon cakes by moonlight

       The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the best known and most celebrated Chinese festivals the world over. This year, the festival falls on October 3 when the moon is at its maximum brightness for the entire year.
       The festival signals that the year's hard work in the fields will soon come to an end, with only the harvest left to attend to. Chinese people use this opportunity to express their gratitude to heaven and earth for the blessings they have enjoyed over the past year, and the traditional pastry eaten during this time is the moon cake.
       Moon cakes are regarded as an indispensable delicacy on this occasion. They are offered between friends or on family gatherings while celebrating the festival. While in the past moon cakes took up to four weeks to make, the process has been speeded up considerably today thanks to modern bakery techniques and equipment.
       Typical moon cakes are round or rectangular pastries, measuring about 10cm in diameter and 4-5cm in depth.A thick filling usually made from lotus seed paste is surrounded by a relatively thin crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs.
       Today, moon cakes may be filled with everything from dates, nuts, and fruit while more exotic creations include green tea and snow skin moon cakes. Moon cakes are rich, heavy and dense compared with most Western cakes and pastries, and are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea.
       Given the difficulty in making them, most people prefer to purchase their moon cakes instead. In Bangkok,most leading hotels, Chinese restaurants and pastry shops are offering moon cakes with various fillings during this time.
       At the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok,traditional moon cakes are offered from Aug 21-Oct 3. They are available in four flavours: custard paste, durian paste with egg yolk, white Chinese lotus paste with egg yolk and black sesame. They are priced 428 baht per box of eight pieces. If you order up to 50 boxes, you can have your personal wishing message and company logo on the box and also get free delivery within the Bangkok area.Call 02-659-9000.
       At the Shangri-La Hotel, Shang Palace's chef Liu Ching Hai presents his new creations - cream and bird's nest mooncakes in snow skin and bale fruit mooncake, available from Sept 1-Oct 3. Traditional moon cakes with fillings of mixed fruit and nut paste, durian paste, lotus seed paste,red bean paste and cream paste are also available. They are available in sets of four, six or eight pieces in beautiful boxes (with a 15% discount when making a purchase of up to 50,000 baht, valid until Sept 30). Call 02-206-8605 or 02-236-7777.
       At the Conrad Bangkok, Chinese chef Wong Kam-Yau has prepared moon cakes in eight flavours golden custard, red bean, light lotus seed, classic durian, mixed five nuts,chestnut, Chinese jujube and chocolate. They are available in various sizes with prices ranging from 289 to 570 baht for a normal box and 720 to 1,500 baht for a golden gift box, until Oct 3. A moon cake cooking class will also be conducted by chef Wong Kam-Yau on Sept 19 from 10amnoon. Call 02-690-9299.
       At the Banyan Tree Bangkok, moon cakes are available in durian, lotus seeds, assorted nuts, red bean and custard flavours. They are presented in new tower boxes - four pieces for 649 baht net (149 baht net for a single piece). After consuming the moon cakes, the boxes serve as ideal storage for small items like jewellery, stationery, accessories, etc. Moon cakes are available at the hotel from Sept 1-Oct 3 and at The Emporium and Siam Paragon shopping malls from Sept 19-Oct 3. Call 02-679-1200.
       At the Millennium Hilton, pastry chef Urs Rohrbach presents his moon cakes with innovative flavours including caramelised walnut, peaches and cream cheese, green tea cheese,dark chocolate with Grand Marnier and orange zest, red chocolate with pistachio and macadamia nuts, milk chocolate with caramel brulee, and white chocolate with caramelised hazelnuts. The price is 70 baht a piece or 280 baht for a four-piece box. Durian, lotus seed, red bean or mixed fruit and nuts versions are also available at 120 baht a piece or 480 baht a four-piece box. Moon cakes are available from Sept 1-Oct 3. Call 02-442-2000.