As we all know, the moon is round and moon cakes always taste sweetest and more delicious on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. This year Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the September 15th. One question always asked but rarely answered is how do the moon cake manufacturers make the beautiful and intricate patterns on the moon cakes? Another commonly asked question is what are meanings of these patterns? Well stop fretting, because to-day we are going to impart some of our knowledge about the Chinese traditional moon cakes moulds and tell you where to go to get more info.

Wang Laihua with his cake moulds.

The patterns are made from moulds into which the pastry is pressed before cooking. Moon-cake mouldsare always made from wood and the history of cake moulds dates back to ancient times. There are many different styles of cake moulds amongst which the best known are those for glutinous rice cakes, the word, the stamp and the porce-lain.

Wang Laihua, professor at the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences, has over almost 20 years visited most of China and collected more than 4,000 examples of cake moulds. He is the first academic to concentrateon field surveys and research on moon cake moulds in China. In his book "Traditional Chinese Cake Moulds", he comprehensively introduces the history of Chinese cake moulds and discusses esoteric themes like appellations, decorations, shapes, engravings, styles, materials and sculptures. He is the expert on the many types and the characteristics of moon cakes and their use in festivals and customs and relates many interesting stories.

Cake moulds.

Cake moulds are an important tool for people from China's urban and rural areas in the making of cakes and pastry. Local people call them cake plates. When we speak of a mould the figures, patterns, material qualities and appellation can be totally different between regions. However, no matter how big the difference they are all an important carrier of China’s traditional and auspicious culture and an ongoing record of Chinese people’s diet, customs, tastes and desires.

Cake moulds.