Modern Moon Cakes, Moon Festival 2010

Casahana: red yeast Japanese sweet potato

Moon Festival, Mid Autumn Festival, Lantern Festival... they're pretty much the same thing.  And one thing that is the same is Moon Cakes.  The traditionl types were four, square sweet lotus paste cakes with one or two egg yokes in red tins imported mainly from Hong Kong or Malaysia.

Now thanks to people like our friends at Amyson, in the past few years there's been an explosion in range and colour.  Amyson's moon cake range alone is extensive, eclectic and contemporary, everything from the traditional 'sugar honey' range through to modern Casahana range; red yeast Japanese sweet potato, charcoal bake yam, Jade custard, green tea, just to name a few.

The colours and even more intricate patterns and contemporary packaging really does breathe new life into moon cakes.

The Japanese sweet potato moon cake I had was slightly less sweet than usual (don't get me wrong it's still sweet) and the yoke less salty.  It was smooth and easy to eat, as always, in small pieces and accompanied with hot tea.  Writing a Sydney food blog isn't easy, especially during Moon Festival, eating your way through moon cakes, so I do appreciate a lighter version.

In any case, I reckon 80% of the purchasing decision for moon cakes is based on packaging, so these new contemporary moon cake should do well.

Casahana moon cakes were courtesy of our friends at Amyson.