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Charmaine Mok

As symbolic of the Mid-Autumn Festival as the legend of Chang’e and the Jade Rabbit, mooncakes have a history dating back centuries, with their first mention during the Song dynasty (960-1279) in author Wu Zimu’s Dreaming of Grain.
Early mooncakes were a far cry from the creative and intricate designs we see today. The rudimentary cakes were flat and round, with a thin outer crust and fillings such as lotus seed paste or the auspicious five kernels.
During the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), emperor-to-be Zhu Yuanzhang and his adviser Liu Bowen came up with the idea of placing hidden messages inside mooncakes that called for a revolution to overthrow the ruling Mongol Empire.
Mooncakes continued to rise in popularity. During the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) eras, mooncake artistry took shape, with intricate designs depicting flowers, birds and even deities commonly adorning the snacks. These auspicious symbols were carved into wooden mooncake moulds, some of which survive today as tangible links to the past.
Designs that are not as common in modern times include depictions of the Eight Immortals and the Fu Lu Shou (also known as the three stellar gods, or Sanxing).

Traditionally crafted from pear or jujube wood – which are dense and suitable for detailed carving – moulds are still made by a dwindling number of craftsmen today. There are more than a dozen steps before the designs are etched into the wood, including pattern drawing, crack removal, planing and hole chiselling. Completed moulds are air-dried for a minimum of two years before being used.
The complex process of mould crafting – for both mooncakes and other traditional Chinese snacks such as almond cakes – was inscribed as part of the provincial-level intangible cultural heritage list for China’s Guangdong province in 2018.
The value of mooncakes
Today, mooncakes are ubiquitous in Hong Kong, with varieties available at many different price points. In the past, however, they were exclusively expensive and viewed as a high-value gift rather than a snack for personal consumption. Many people would put money into so-called mooncake clubs – essentially paying monthly instalments for Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake gift sets.
In her essay “Kee Wah Bakery’s Mooncake Packaging Makeover in the 1990s”, published in the 2014 book Food & Material Culture, food writer Jennifer Wong wrote that the design and packaging of mooncakes had become “an increasingly important medium for expressing each bakery’s identity”.
Many of Hong Kong’s high-end Chinese banquet restaurants used to be known for their mooncakes. One such restaurant was Tak Yu Restaurant in Yau Ma Tei, which opened in the 1920s and closed in 2012. Its original mooncake menus, gift boxes and moulds are on display at Artellex Galerie in Cheung Sha Wan until September 27 as part of the gallery’s month-long nostalgic food-themed exhibition, “After Taste”.
The items were loaned from a private collector. “The collector acquired this set of moulds directly from Tak Yu Restaurant when it closed down, preserving pieces of Hong Kong’s culinary history,” says Artellex’s founder, Alex Chan.

Alongside a few well-preserved wooden mooncake moulds bearing the restaurant’s name, the gallery also displays various intricate moulds used for shaping mooncake dough offcuts into whimsical “biscuits” resembling mythical beings and animals.
“Piglet cakes and Buddha cakes were side products made from leftover mooncake dough and filling, given as free gifts to customers buying mooncake sets,” says Artellex’s Dorothy Wong. “That’s why side products didn’t have prices listed on the order forms. They were basically like a zero-waste baking tradition.”
The moulds on display may well be some of the last of their kind, as companies increasingly turn to factory-made mooncakes rather than handmade versions.
“Not many people make them any more,” Wong says. “Demand is low, and a traditional wooden mould lasts for decades.”
Some of the vintage moulds on display have a soft shine, which Wong says has been imparted by mooncake dough oils over years of use.
In others, a dull finish and telltale cracks in the wood speak volumes about the time that has passed since they were last used.
The accumulation of oil makes it easier to release the pastries over time, Wong says. “It works like seasoning a cast-iron pan.”

A modern chef holds on to tradition
In the past, mooncake mould carvers had to spend hours chipping away at wood to create unique designs for their clients. Today, 3D printing and other technologies have made manufacturing quick and easy.
However, mooncake purists see this as no replacement for tradition.
“Wooden moulds are relatively blunter, meaning the mooncake’s pattern lines come out smoother and more rounded,” says Lo Kin-ming, the head dim sum chef at Lung King Heen at the Four Seasons Hong Kong. “If you use plastic moulds, the lines are sharper, and the mooncakes tend to crack along the edges.”

He adds that traditional wooden moulds will always have two air vents.
“If air isn’t released, when you press dough in, the air pressure traps it inside and you can’t knock the mooncake out,” he explains. “Sometimes when you knock a mooncake out and see a tiny bump on it, that’s actually caused by the air vent. But when we see that, we usually just pluck it off.”
In terms of traditional designs, Lo says the simpler the better, and names the classic “full moon and blooming flowers” design as among his favourites.
“If you ask me, mooncake moulds shouldn’t have overly bizarre patterns,” he says. “The more lines you add, as soon as a line gets pulled, the mooncake won’t look nice.”
Lung King Heen’s handmade mooncakes feature intricate lines that form the restaurant’s name in traditional Chinese script. The mould was commissioned to Hong Kong’s Man Kee Chopping Board, a family-run business on Shanghai Street in Yau Ma Tei that sells all manner of mooncake moulds – some even featuring popular cartoon characters.

Although he insists on using traditional moulds at Lung King Heen, Lo says home bakers can use plastic moulds.
“If you knock a traditional mould on a home dining table a couple of times, it’ll be disastrous,” he laughs. “You’ll crack the table! Whereas with a hand-press mould, even if you press a bit harder, you can control it. With a traditional wooden mould, when you knock the wood, the surface area is fixed, and every mooncake has to be tapped out with force.
“You learn after making a lot of them.”


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Food and Drinks

History of mooncake moulds and their designs, and those preserving the craft

(Left) Wooden mooncake moulds for sale at Man Kee Chopping Board in Hong Kong; and (right) mooncakes from Lung King Heen, which makes only small batches of its handmade artisanal mooncakes each year. We look at others helping preserve the ancient craft and how the design of the snacks has changed over the centuries. Photos: Charmaine Mok/Four Seasons Hong Kong

Vintage mooncake moulds once used at Hong Kong’s now-closed Tak Yu Restaurant, which opened in the 1920s and closed in 2012, are displayed at Artellex Galerie in Cheung Sha Wan. Photo: Charmaine Mok

Artellex Galerie’s founder Alex Chan stands beside a display of vintage mooncake paraphernalia, including wooden moulds, mooncake tins and menus featured at the “After Taste exhibition”. Photo: Charmaine Mok

A Buddha mooncake mould (left) and a “piggy biscuit” mould (right) on display at Artellex Galerie as part of its “After Taste” exhibition. Photo: Artellex Galerie/Charmaine Mok

Lung King Heen’s dim sum head chef Lo Kin-ming puts the final touches on a batch of mooncakes. Photo: Four Seasons Hong Kong

Wooden mooncake moulds for sale at Man Kee Chopping Board in Hong Kong’s Yau Ma Tei neighbourhood. Photo: Charmaine Mok

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Food & Drink

Mooncake artistry flourished during the Ming and Qing dynasties, carved onto wooden moulds depicting flowers, birds and even deities


Mooncake artistry flourished during the Ming and Qing dynasties, carved onto wooden moulds depicting flowers, birds and even deities.


History of mooncake moulds and their designs, and those preserving the craft

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Mooncake artistry flourished during the Ming and Qing dynasties, carved onto wooden moulds depicting flowers, birds and even deities

Mooncake artistry flourished during the Ming and Qing dynasties, carved onto wooden moulds depicting flowers, birds and even deities