Mooncake

The moon cake (Chinese月饼/月饼, Pinyin yuèbǐng ) is a specialty of Chinese cuisine that is both salty as may be filled sweet. The small cakes are given away to relatives and friends.

It is traditionally eaten for Moon Festival in the autumn, but also on other occasions. The typical moon cake is round, has a diameter of about 10 centimeters and is about 5 inches high. It is very nutritious and is usually served with Chinese tea.

Each region has its own moon cake recipes. In Taiwan, the salty moon cakes are filled with egg yolk and meat, sweet with sweet potatoes. It is also common a sweet filling of beans, sesame seeds and pineapple.

The typical moon cake has a sweet and slightly oily filling of sugar, vegetable fat and a paste of seeds of the lotus plant. Sometimes it also contains salted egg yolk inside, which are intended to symbolize the full moon. Salty and sweet in a cake correspond to the principle of harmony of yin and yang. The cake is usually decorated with Chinese characters, for example, for "longevity" or "harmony", as well as the bakery, along with other symbols for the decoration be applied.

They are rarely baked in private households, but usually bought and then usually given away, often with expensive offerings. Moon cake for own use is bought very rarely.

According to legend, secret messages were hidden and transported to the moon cake at the time of the Mongols in China by insurgents. They should therefore be the forerunner of fortune cookies.