MOONCAKE Recipe - Helen's Recipes

Hi everyone, it's Helen here. Today I will be making Baked Mooncake or Bánh Trông Thù Nướng. To be honest, I have never tried making Baked Mooncake before because after reading some blogs and recipes on the internet, I just found that it's so complicated. It's too complicated. Anyway, many of you have requested me to make this so I decided that I will take this as a challenge and today I will bring you along with me to my journey making Mooncake for the first time. The recipe might not be perfect yet, but it's a really interesting experience. So let's give it a try. We will make the sugar syrup first. In a saucepan, combine the brown sugar and water and bring to a boil. Do not stir, just occasionally swirl the pan to help the sugar dissolve. Then add lime juice to prevent the sugar from recrystallizing and light water which you can buy in a bottle like this at Asian store. The light water will help the sugar to have a deeper amber color and it also helps to make the cake softer. If you don't have it, you can mix baking soda with water. Simmer for about 15 minutes until it's thickened. To test if it's thickened up, drop the syrup in a bowl of cold water. If it quickly disappears like this, you need to cook longer. If it stays like a drop, you might have cooked it too long. If it forms into a circle like this, it's time to turn off the heat. Then let cool and pour into a jar. For bad results, the sugar syrup should be made a few weeks or a year before. Now to make the dough, we will use all-purpose flour. Make a hole in the middle and pour in vegetable oil, some light water, and the sugar syrup that I made a few weeks ago. The syrup is now a lot thicker and has a dark amber color. Then stir to combine. For exact measurements, please check out the information box below the video. When it all comes together, it looks like wet sand. You can use a stand mixer or knead with your hand until it's all come together and form into a dough like this. Form it into a log and wrap it in plastic wrap so it won't dry out. Let it rest for about half an hour or so. For the fillings, we're gonna have Chinese sausages. You can microwave for a minute to render the fat. Then dice finely like this. I also bought a pack of mixed nuts that has many kinds of nuts inside. Like for example, I have here almonds, academia nuts, cashew, raisins, some dried cranberries, pecans, and walnuts. I also bought some candied orange peel and candied lime peel. You can buy the mixed nuts and the candied peel under baking section at western supermarkets. Roughly chop the nuts and the candied peel. As you can see, there's so many items for the fillings, but I have already simplified it a lot. The traditional recipes also call for pork fat, char siu pork, candied winter melon, candied lotus seeds, etc. This is my 5-minute ginger jam. I'll make this really quick using a microwave. I already have a video for it. Just click on the picture to go to that video. Also roughly chop it up. This will add some spiciness to the fillings. It's difficult to get hold of all the ingredients here so I just customize it to whatever ingredients that I have on hand. Now we're gonna stir-fry it in a pan. The Vietnamese word is xin. I don't know how to translate it. Basically, you put it in a pan and have to stand there, keep stirring and mixing under medium-low heat. Add a few tablespoons of the cooked glutinous rice flour and some simple syrup like what we make in our ice cream mooncake. Click on the picture if you haven't watched that video already. Yes, there's a lot of ingredients for this recipe. That's why I said it's complicated. Oh, and you also need to add in the roasted sesame seeds and a few drops of sesame oil. The flour and the syrup act as the glue so keep adding more if needed. Just keep mixing until it becomes sticky. I've done it for 15 minutes, I think. If you make this in larger volume, of course, you have to do this longer. When the ingredients feel like it's sticky enough to hold together, take off the heat and let it cool down a little. Then form into balls. You need to weigh to make sure that they are in equal size and that they will fit into your mooncake mold. If you have a 200 gram mold, your filling should weigh about 120 to 140 gram. So these are our beautiful colorful fillings. Now take out and divide the dough into equal portions. I have 200 gram mold. My filling ball weighs 130 gram so the skin should weigh 70 gram. Now form each portion into a ball and roll it flat into a disc. Make sure the edges are thinner than the center. Then place the filling ball in the center and wrap it up. Seal the edges so that the filling is completely covered. Then insert into the mold. Press to create pressure so that the pattern can be formed. Use a toothpick to poke a few holes. This helps the air inside to escape when we bake the cake. Now unmold and you will have a beautifully shaped mooncake. My molds are nonstick but you can flour the molds if you want to. Repeat until you finish all the fillings and the dough. I still have some leftover fillings and dough so I shape it into the mini mooncake in the middle. Now preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Place them on a baking tray and bake in a preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Then take out and spray water so that they can cool down quickly. Let them rest for about 10 minutes. You will see smoke coming out of the cake. Because the crust is very thin, it doesn't need much time to bake. Now we turn the oven to 225 degrees Celsius to quickly brown the cake without over baking the crust. To brown the cake, mix 1 egg yolk with a tablespoon of water. If you want the cake to have a deeper golden brown color, add 1 drop red and 2 drops yellow food coloring. Then brush over the cake. A traditional brush would work better than a silicone one because it can reach to small corners. Gently tap the egg wash on the surface of the cake. Because obviously you don't want to spoil egg patterns. We put in so much effort in making the fillings, the crust, the forming of the cake. Now we really want to paint the cake like a piece of art. Seriously, if it wasn't for you guys, I would never think I have the patience to make this. So for that, thank you very much. Now put it back to the oven at 225 degrees Celsius. Bake for another 5 to 10 more minutes. You can rotate the tray to brown the cake evenly. You might want to brush the egg wash 1 to 2 more times. Literally, you have to sit in front of the oven and look at the browning process. You will make it this far and you really don't want to burn it. And this is the moment of truth. Oh my god, I can't believe I made this. They are so precious and beautiful. But the wait isn't over yet. If you eat it now, the crust is very crunchy like cookies. And that's not how a mooncake should be. You have to wait for another 2 to 3 days. That's right. I hope you still haven't give up the idea of making it yourself. After resting for 2 to 3 days, the oil will make the crust become softer. And it's now ready to serve. Let me give it a try. The crust is so soft and the filling is so perfect. I like it a lot better than the traditional one in Vietnam, I think. Did I say I don't like mooncakes? I think I've changed my mind. If you like this video, don't forget to click like and subscribe to my channel for more delicious Vietnamese cakes. Also, check out my other mooncake videos to see how Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated in Vietnam. Thank you for watching. Bye bye.