Moon cake makers preserve authentic flavours for Mid-Autumn Festival

With just one month to go until the Mid-Autumn Festival, visitors to the craft village can easily catch the distinctive aroma of traditional moon cakes. At the Sinh Hung facility, which has been crafting moon cakes for over 60 years, workers are busy producing batches to meet the growing demand from customers.

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Each cake has different weight, requiring the filling ingredients to be weighed exactly.

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A traditional moon cake is filled with a harmonious blend of sliced lemon leaves, salted egg yolk, lạp xưởng (sausage), roast chicken, melon seeds, and almonds. This unique combination is the secret that sets traditional moon cakes apart from their modern counterparts and attracts many customers. Each ingredient is carefully selected, then skillfully mixed and cooked to ensure that every bite delivers the distinct flavours of each component.

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According to Dung, the owner of the facility, his family makes their own lạp xưởng (sausage) to optimise costs, helping each cake have competitive price in the domestic market. The quality is always given priority, he stresses.

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The moon cake-making process involves multiple steps, including preparing the ingredients, crafting the crust, and mixing the filling.

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Every step of the process is carefully monitored to ensure proper execution and maintain food safety standards.

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All of the ingredients needed to make moon cakes are processed by hand.

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In modern society, a large number of customers continue to purchase traditional flavoured moon cakes which are made using natural ingredients.

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After the filling is added, each flattened circle is pressed in the mold in order to form the moon cake shape.

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Each step must be done meticulously to avoid breaking the cake crust.

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The cake is baked at moderate temperature so that the crust is hard enough and retains the aroma of mung beans.

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Moon cakes are an indispensable part of Vietnamese people’s celebrations of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is held annually on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month.

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There are two types of moon cakes - bánh nướng, known as brown baked cake, (L) and bánh dẻo, also known as snow skin sticky cake. Prices of these cakes hover around VND35,000-75,000 each.