High demand for flavoured-moon cakes

KUALA LUMPUR - "Kuih bulan” or moon cake is a traditional Chinese sweet pastry served to celebrate the mid-autumn festival and is often found in four dominant flavours in the market, namely red bean, lotus seed paste, salted egg yolk and mix nut.

However, married couple Nur Asyikin Moham Jafar, 30, and Ruzaini Azri Rosdi, 31, from Tapah, Perak, who have been in the mooncake business since 2019, are featuring a variety of new flavours for their mooncakes.

These mooncakes, produced under the brand name ‘Mooncake Halal Syikin’, are in high demand because of their low-fat content and are preservative-free, as well as not very sweet, said Nur Asyikin.

She said her mooncakes come in 10 traditional and modern flavours, including pandan, matcha, chocolate with white chocolate, chocolate with dalgona coffee, green tea with caramel and chocolate with blueberries.

The moon cakes that are highly demanded by my customers are dark chocolate, chocolate caramel and chocolate chips,” she said.

She said the mooncakes are sold in sets, each with six different flavours and are priced at RM33 to RM40.

There are also mini-size moon cakes, weighing 25 grammes each, which are priced at RM28 for a glass jar containing 15 cakes, while the larger size ones, of 100 grammes, can be bought for RM17 a piece.

"I want my customers to enjoy sweet pastry more healthily. ‘Mooncake Halal Syikin’ is not only loved by Muslim customers but also the Chinese and the Indian community,” she told Bernama.

Nur Asyikin said she also accepts orders to make moon cakes as souvenirs for guests at wedding receptions and other events at a price between RM4 and RM5 a piece depending on the flavour, for orders of more than 500 pieces.

The woman, who is the youngest of six siblings, said the Mooncake Halal Syikin’ are fried in peanut oil.

"The most complicated thing in the making of a moon cake is making the skin. To make the skin, we need golden syrup, which is self-made, and mix it with flour to form a dough.

"I will bake the moon cakes up to three times for 12 minutes each so that the result is beautiful and long-lasting," she said, adding that she produced up to 500 moon cakes daily.

Nur Asyikin, who holds a Bachelor's Degree in Office Systems Management from Universiti Teknologi Mara, said the demand for moon cakes is seasonal.

"It is sought only during the moon cake festival, which is from the end of August to September, and during the Chinese New Year celebration.

"The difficulty in getting halal moon cakes is the reason that prompted my husband and I to venture into this field,” "she said, adding that she plans to add two more flavours, tiramisu and pistachio, to her moon cake products.

Nur Asyikin said it was her mother-in-law who gave her the idea.

"She also taught me how to make mooncakes according to the original recipe," she said, adding that her next plan is to open a shop in Ipoh, hopefully in two years. - BERNAMA