As Mid-Autumn Festival rolls around, it’s once again time to binge on mooncakes!
While we love a good traditional lotus paste mooncake, we have to admit, it’s the novel, intriguingly flavoured mooncakes that tend to grab our attention – and this year, there are plenty of these out there.
Alcoholic mooncakes, ice cream mooncakes, ‘liu sha‘ mooncakes… The list goes on.
Here are some of the most outrageously untraditional mooncakes we could find, and we think you’ll be hard pressed to pick just one to try.
1. Mandarin Orchard – Red Wine Cranberry Paste With Japanese Yuzu and Lemongrass
Alcoholics, now you can even get your buzz from mooncakes!
Mandarin Orchard‘s range of Mini Snow Skin Mooncakes includes two boozy flavours – Lychee Martini And Chocolate, and Red Wine Cranberry Paste With Japanese Yuzu and Lemongrass.
The Lychee Martini And Chocolate Mooncake releases a burst of crisp, citrusy chocolate into your mouth with every bite, while the Red Wine Cranberry Paste With Japanese Yuzu and Lemongrass Mooncake leaves a lasting impression as each mouthful reveals yet another layer of subtle flavour.
Mandarin Orchard Singapore
Address: 333 Orchard Road, 238867
Contact.: 6831 6320/6831 6262
Website
2. Grand Hyatt – Violette & Gin
Ain’t nobody got time for old school mooncakes when there are alcoholic snow skin mooncakes to be eaten.
Grand Hyatt is adding a new creation to their growing list of alcohol infused mooncakes: Violette & Gin, which comes infused with Tanquert No. Ten Gin and a crème de violette liquor for a delicate, floral twist.
Another must-try is the Strawberry-Lime-Tequila Truffle, a fruity yet intense mooncake with a kick. Their snow skin mooncakes are available at $69 for a box of eight.
Grand Hyatt Singapore
Address: 10 Scotts Road, Singapore 228211
Contact.: 6738 1234
Website
3. Bakerzin – Butterscotch Baileys Snow Skin
Can a person get drunk on mooncakes? Probably not.
But that’s not going to stop us from trying all the alcoholic mooncakes out there.
Bakerzin‘s Prestige Collection ($56) will make your inner alcoholic rejoice, with four different spirits to try. Each box comes with two pieces each of Apple Vodka Snow Skin, Butterscotch Baileys Snow Skin, Coconut Liqueur Snow Skin, and Latte Kahlua Snow Skin mooncakes. You won’t even know where to start!
Bakerzin
Contact.: 6455 8885
Website
4. Old Seng Choong – Cranberries With Choya
Old Seng Choong may be well-known for its old school bakes and cakes, but head pastry chef, Daniel Tay, definitely knows how to take things up a notch.
Besides the usual mooncakes, Old Seng Choong wants you to meet the Four Heavenly Beauties ($60.80), a quartet of snow skin mooncakes that will stimulate your senses. The flavours are Cranberries with Choya, Passionfruit with Martini Mint, Coffee with Whisky, and Chocolate Rum, all of which are as aromatic as they are flavourful.
Old Seng Choong
Address:#05-04, 171 Kampong Ampat, KA Foodlink, Singapore 368330
Contact.: 6282 0220
Website
5. Shangri-La – Yuzu Bird’s Nest
While it seems like everyone is trying to one up each other in terms of who can come up with the most outrageous, most unexpected mooncake filling, we think Shangri-La‘s ones take the cake.
Shangri-La’s latest Mini Snow Skin Eight Treasures ($88) features two new flavours.
The first is the more typical Chocolate Salted Toffee, which comes encased in a layer of crisp milk chocolate – perfect for sweet tooths. The other is a more luxurious and interesting blend of Yuzu Bird’s Nest that is both tangy and sweet. Who knew bird’s nest would go well with a mooncake?
Shangri-La Singapore
Address: Orange Grove Road, Singapore 258350
Contact.: 6737 3644
Website
6. The Pine Garden – Pearl Milk Tea Snow Skin
If you love bubble tea and have $17.20 to spare, try The Pine Garden‘s Pearl Milk Tea Snow Skin, which is infused with tea, and comes with bits of chewy boba. Yum!
The more health-conscious can opt for the Purple Sweet Potato With Ginger Mooncake, which you can choose to have either with a baked or snow skin. No more calorie counting this Mid-Autumn season!
The Pine Garden
Address: #01-2369/ #01-232, 529 Ang Mo Kio Ave 10, S560529
Website
7. Thye Moh Chan – Chef’s Private XO Recipe
Go old school, but with a twist with Thye Moh Chan‘s traditional Teochew-style mooncakes.
Teochew mooncakes typically see a sweet filling encased in a flaky crust pastry, unlike the baked skin mooncakes we typically see during mooncake festival.
They come with various fillings, including an all-new Chef’s Private XO Recipe ($40.80 for four pieces), a Salty Tau Sar With Egg Yolk ($29.80 for four pieces) and the Teochew Mooncake ($18.80 for one piece), which uses a traditional recipe of maltose, citrus strips and five-spice powder.
Although we were at first unsure about how XO sauce would fare in a mooncake, the Chef’s Private XO Recipe completely won our hearts and was a favourite in the office! Unlike most of the mooncakes listed here, these ones lean towards the savoury side, with delicate hints of har cheong (shrimp paste) that is simply addicting.
Thye Moh Chan also has a Mao Shan Wang Durian mooncake ($40.80 for four pieces), which infuses durian and mung bean paste.
Thye Moh Chan
Address: #01-45, Chinatown Point; #B1-12, Paragon
Contact.: 6604 8858/ 67328858
Website
8. Cat & The Fiddle – Cream Cheese Mooncakes
It only makes sense for a bakery famous for its cheesecakes to create cheesecake-filled snow skin mooncakes – and they’re actually quite legit.
The Cow Jumped Over The Moon-cake selection from Cat & The Fiddle features 4 different flavours filled with cream cheese and lotus paste.
The mooncakes come in a Blueberry Cream Cheese and Lotus Paste with White Chocolate and Dried Cranberry Truffle, an Oreo Cream Cheese and Lotus Paste with Dark Chocolate Truffle, a Strawberry Cream Cheese and Lotus Paste with Mint and White Chocolate Martini Truffle, and a Chocolate Cream Cheese and Lotus Paste with Orange Vodka and Dark Chocolate Truffle.
Each flavour has a personality of its own, with some of them even containing hints of alcohol! You can order the mooncakes online, or by phone at 6287 0077.
Cat & The Fiddle
Address:#05-04, 171 Kampong Ampat, KA Foodlink, Singapore 368330
Contact.: 6287 0077
Website
9. Li Bai Cantonese Restaurant – Mini Salted Egg Custard Mooncakes
Here’s one that you can Boomerang.
Li Bai Cantonese Restaurant will bring your Instagram game up a notch with their Mini Salted Egg Custard Mooncakes.
As you break open your mooncake, watch the gooey molten lava center come flowing out. Each box contains eight pieces and goes for $72. You can order them online, at the restaurant, or at the Sheraton Towers Singapore Hotel Lobby.
Other unusual flavours include a Mini Snowskin Green Tea White Lotus Seed Paste with Passionfruit Truffle, and a Snowskin Mini White Lotus Seed Paste with Strawberry Sea Salt Truffle that is sure to intrigue your tastebuds with a mix of fruity and salty flavours.
Li Bai Cantonese Restaurant
Address: Sheraton Towers Singapore, 39 Scotts Road
Contact.: 6839 5636/ 6839 5623
Website
10. Summer Palace – Pineapple & Pink Peppercorn Chocolate Snow Skin
The people at Summer Palace are always shaking things up with their mooncake offerings year after year.
This year, an interesting Pineapple & Pink Peppercorn Chocolate Snow Skin will be making its debut. The tangy pineapple paste is wrapped in a chilli-infused skin, and has a hidden chocolate pearl core full of peppery pink peppercorn. With so many contradictory flavours, this mooncake will definitely set your tastebuds tingling!
Summer Palace
Address: Regent Singapore, 1 Cuscaden Road, Singapore 249715
Contact.: 6725 3239
Website
Some of these mooncakes sound downright outrageous, but strangely enough, many of these flavours actually work!
If you’re thinking of sending your loved ones some mooncakes this year, and you’re looking for something a bit out of the norm, these are some unique picks you can consider. And while you’re at it, send yourself a box; with so many new varieties to try, Mid-Autumn festival has never been tastier – or more fun!
Also read This Poke Stop Serves Aburi-Style Poke, And That’s Not Their Only Twist On The Trend
(Header Image Source: Bakerzin)
