The Covid-19 pandemic has caused many changes in life, but it is also an opportunity for all of us to appreciate the peace of our families. This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival is even more meaningful when the whole family gathers and makes cakes full of love.
Häfele shows you simple ways to make moon cakes with the secret of “baking whatever is available”, not complicated but ensuring that the cakes will still be delicious “like at home”.
How to make fragrant and delicious cake filling
If you like mixed fillings, you need to prepare ingredients such as pumpkin jam, lotus jam, melon seeds, pumpkin seeds, white sesame, lemon leaves, Chinese sausage, lard, char siu, ham…; and lotus seeds, red beans, green beans, salted eggs already salted if you want to make soft filling cakes.
To make the pureed filling delicious and smooth, after soaking, boiling and pureeing the beans, put them in a pan with oil and sugar until the mixture is thick and well blended. For the mixed filling, dry the cashews, sesame seeds, and melon seeds for 4 minutes in the microwave or air fryer, then add the remaining ingredients, mix well, let cool and roll into small balls of equal size.
Create a soft, spongy crust
Dry crusts are prone to cracking and are less tasty. Mix the flour and syrup in a 3:2 ratio, then add cooking oil and a little peanut butter and let the cake rest for 30 minutes to combine the ingredients, you will have a soft and perfectly moist crust.
Create beautiful cake shapes
The thickness of a perfect cake is 0.3mm – 0.5mm to prevent the cake from cracking or revealing the filling. To prevent the cake from drying out and losing its shape, you need to press it firmly right after wrapping the filling and putting it in the mold.
Beautiful homemade cakes help strengthen family ties. Photo: Shutterstock
Bake cakes according to the criteria “bake what you have”
With the simple criterion of “use whatever you have”, whether it is an oven, microwave or air fryer, you can bake delicious moon cakes.
Use the oven
Turn on the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes and then put the cake in. After about 10 minutes, take the cake out to cool, brush the egg mixture, cooking oil, sugar water on the cake surface, bake for another 10 minutes. Repeat 3 times until the cake is evenly cooked, golden, and fragrant.
If you have small children, you should prioritize choosing an oven designed with insulation to avoid burns. Currently on the market, there is a 70-liter built-in oven HO-6T70A Series 600 with 9 heating functions suitable for baking cakes as well as many everyday dishes. The oven door is designed with 3 layers of insulation, making the HO-6T70A Series 600 oven absolutely safe for children.
Using HO-6T70A Series 600 Häfele oven with 3 layers of insulation, absolutely safe for children. Photo Häfele
Use microwave
Turn on the grill mode at 200 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes, then put the cake in the oven for 10 minutes, take it out, spread a thin layer of sugar water, egg and cooking oil mixture on the cake surface. Repeat this process 3 times with all the above steps, you will definitely have delicious and attractive cakes.
Choosing a microwave oven with built-in grill with multiple microwave power levels, a variety of microwave combination programs, microwave/convection recipes, touch controls and LED display will be easy to use and convenient when cooking. This type of oven also has many integrated automatic grill programs suitable for many delicious dishes.
Microwave oven combined with built-in oven HO-KT45B Häfele with a capacity of 44 liters, with 5 convenient microwave power levels, simplifies cooking. Photo Häfele
Use an air fryer
Preheat the air fryer at 200°C for 10 minutes and bake the cake for 10 minutes, then take the cake out, spray water on the surface of the cake and wait for the cake to cool. Use a mixture of cooking oil, sugar water, and egg yolk to spread evenly on the surface of the cake. Put the cake in the oven for another 10 minutes at the same temperature, the cake will be golden brown.
Häfele’s 5l AF-T5A oil-free fryer is ideal for baking moon cakes and many other delicious dishes. Photo Häfele
Some modern oil-free fryers such as AF-68A, AF-T5A or AF-602A Häfele are all integrated with convection fans and rotation functions to help cook food evenly, and have a temperature adjustment mode up to 200 degrees Celsius, suitable for each dish and a timer mode, helping you to be proactive in cooking. The product also automatically turns off when overheated, with many pre-installed frying programs, making fried dishes delicious.
This Mid-Autumn Festival, I wish your family will have delicious moon cakes “made by our family” and be filled with laughter.