Chestnut and Chocolate Mooncakes

I have finally done it! I have finally been able to feed my kids enough mooncakes that, this year, when they heard that the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching in September, they got all excited and said they couldn’t wait to eat mooncakes again ☺️

Of course, they are referring to my Chocolate Fudge Mooncakes (the Red Bean Mooncakes rank second and the Lotus Seed Mooncakes are politely left for me).

But, last year, in the spirit of trying something new, I made some mooncakes with a chestnut paste filling. They were inspired by my childrens’ favourite Chestnut Anpan from our local Japanese bakery, but I thought I would add some chocolate chips to sweeten the deal. My kids (and my husband!) gave them a big thumbs up!

Serve them while they are still warm, and the chocolate will still be gooey on the inside!

Chestnuts and Chocolate

Chestnuts are really popular in European desserts, especially when they come into season in autumn, and we always have a tube of chestnut cream to spread on toast when someone is feeling indulgent.

One of my favourite desserts in winter is a Mont Blanc, also called Vermicelles in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, which is essentially chestnut purée served with crushed meringues, whipped cream and maybe some grated dark chocolate.

I regularly make my Mont Blanc Pavlova in the winter months because you really can’t beat the combination of meringues, cream and chestnuts.

As the Mid-Autumn Festival takes place when the roasted chestnut vendors start to set up their stalls here in Zurich, it seems fitting to make mooncakes using chestnuts ????

Mooncake Moulds

Pressing the mooncakes into different fancy shapes is undoubtedly the fun part of this recipe!

The mooncake moulds I use for this recipe are cheap and cheerful sets which are readily available on Amazon.

I recommend buying a set with multiple moulds so that you have a variety of patterns to use, and also a combination of square and round moulds.

If you are trying to introduce young children to mooncakes (or any Asian cake, for that matter), it helps to have fun, cartoon shapes on hand to entice them. Although, I am rather impartial to the Hello Kitty moulds for myself!

The mooncake moulds come in a few sizes – 50 g for small mooncakes (generally a good portion for 1 person), or 100 g for large mooncakes intended for sharing.

You can also buy mooncake moulds in other sizes, but you will need a good maths background to calculate the ratio of dough to filling ????

How to Make Mooncakes

How to Make Chestnut Paste

It is possible to buy ready-made chestnut paste here in Europe, but making your own means that it is fresher and with no preservatives added, plus you can control the sweetness of the paste.

I wouldn’t go so far as to cook and peel the chestnuts myself; the supermarkets here in Europe readily sell pre-cooked chestnuts in vacuum-sealed bags which are very easy to use in all sweet and savoury recipes. Frozen chestnuts also work well (thaw them first), as well as canned chestnuts. Just make sure that the chestnuts have not been sweetened or flavoured in any way – you want them plain for this recipe.

You can also find ready-made chestnut purée, both unsweetened and sweetened. I would advise against using the unsweetened chestnut purée because I think it is too smooth – you want some texture in the filling for these mooncakes. But, at a pinch, if that is all that you can find, I think it would work fine in this recipe. But the sweetened chestnut purée is definitely too sweet for these mooncakes.

I make my chestnut paste using a similar method to how I make Red Bean Paste or Lotus Seed Paste. You need to cook the paste to dry it out, so that it becomes firm enough to use as a filling in the mooncakes.

^{Lotus Seed Paste recipe with step-by-step photos}

How to Make Lye Water

Lye water is an alkaline water used in some recipes to help with texture or colour. For example, lye water gives pretzels their signature dark brown colour. For mooncakes, a small amount of lye water is used to give the dough a deep, golden colour.

Lye water is readily available in Asian grocery stores in some countries, but not in others. Due to its potency and irritant factor, lye water is even banned in some countries.

If you are unable to buy lye water, please see my recipe on how to make Lye Water with step-by-step photos.

step by step photos for making lye water — ^{How to Make Lye Water with step-by-step photos}

How to Make Mooncake Dough

Please see full recipe instructions in the recipe card below.

This dough is fairly interesting in that it uses golden syrup for both moisture and sweetness. I don’t think you can substitute the golden syrup for another type of syrup, nor is it worthwhile if you want to create a mooncake which is both authentic in taste and texture.

I use Lyle’s Golden Syrup, which is commonly used in British and Australian baking recipes.

When making the mooncake dough, you want a mixture which is fairly soft and pliable. If the mixture looks too dry and crumbly, add a dash of water to try and bring the dough together. Otherwise, a dry dough will be difficult to roll out later to stretch and cover the filling.

When you roll out the dough, it should feel both sticky and oily.

How to Shape the Mooncakes

Please see full recipe instructions in the recipe card below.

Mooncake moulds generally come in two main sizes:

50 g moulds – the filling should weigh 30 g, and the dough should weigh 20 g
100 g moulds – the filling should weigh 60 g, and the dough should weigh 40 g

You can play around with the ratio of filling to dough, but the total weight should be close to the size of the mould, otherwise the cake will not fit into the mould.

Depending on the consistency of your dough, you may need to dust your mould with some flour to prevent the dough from sticking.

It may take you a few attempts to know how much pressure to apply and when to release the mould, but you should get the hang of it pretty quickly.

How to Bake the Mooncakes

Please see full instructions in the recipe card below.

Mooncakes need to be baked twice. The first bake is mostly to set the pattern before applying any egg wash. Otherwise, applying the egg wash first might prevent the patterns from staying in place.

After the first bake, you need to let the cakes cool slightly before applying the egg wash. If you apply the egg wash too soon, the egg might coagulate on the cakes and leave spots on the surface.

The egg wash should be brushed only very lightly on the cakes – you want just enough to moisten the dough and to help the cakes brown evenly. I recommend using a pastry brush with fine (natural) bristles which is better at applying the egg wash over the intricate patterns; a silicone brush generally picks up too much egg wash.

The second bake is to fully cook the mooncakes until they are golden brown all over.

Tips for Making Mooncakes

Making mooncakes is an art form, and this is a recipe which requires a lot of patience and a bit of practice. It took me several attempts before I got the hang of it and understood how the texture and consistency of both the dough and filling should be.

My tips for making mooncakes are:

Start at least the day before. None of the components of mooncakes are particularly difficult, but they all take a bit of time. Starting everything the day before will make you feel less stressed and rushed when it comes to making the actual cakes.
Use a digital kitchen scale. Baking is culinary science, and science requires precision. When it comes to making mooncakes and ensuring that each ball of filling and dough is exactly the right size so that it can fit into the moulds, a digital kitchen scale will make life much easier. It will also help to ensure that your dough is made with the right ratio of liquid to flour.
Experiment with different mooncake moulds. You can find many cheap and cheerful mooncake moulds on Amazon. Some moulds look very beautiful but they don’t keep their defined lines once baked. I have a few fun moulds for the kids, including some Hello Kitty shapes, which I find to be too detailed to keep their form during baking. This could be due to a variety of reasons, but don’t be too disappointed if the cakes end up looking like little smooth buns – they will still taste great!
Make a variety of fillings. If you have time, make a variety of fillings and use the same mould for each type of filling, so that you know what is inside. Not everyone likes salted egg yolks (especially kids), so I generally only make half a batch with salted egg yolks inside. Lotus seed paste is my favourite filling, but I also love red bean paste and chestnut paste. There are also many “modern” fillings that you can try, such as green tea paste and chocolate fudge.
Use fun moulds for kids. Indulge the kids and use fun cartoon or animal-shaped mooncake moulds to entice them to try the mooncakes. Big kids (aka adults!) love the cute cartoon moulds too!
Make a large batch. Given the time commitment required for making mooncakes, you may as well make 1-2 batches – they make great gifts for friends and family!
Practice makes perfect. Like with most things in life, once you have made mooncakes once or twice, the process becomes less daunting. I find making mooncakes to be a bit like making specially stamped cookies.

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