Earl Grey Mooncakes Dish

COOKING WITH TEA

Earl Grey Mooncakes

Mandarin Oriental Guangzhou has taken mooncakes further and given it a chocolate robe, just like an oversized praline, with a variety of fillings. This one includes the extraordinary flavors of Tealeaves Imperial Earl Grey!


[[ recipeID=recipe-8kq9mirxm, title=Earl Grey Mooncakes ]]

Notes from Tealeaves ICON, Marcel Kofler, the chef behind the recipe:


“The myth holds that this is precisely where the secret messages were engraved. To read the message, each of the set of 4 mooncakes are required to be cut into quarters. Only when all 16 quarters are correctly reassembled can the puzzle be solved to retrieve the message!”


Tea in Recipe

BLACK TEA

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Earl Grey Mooncakes

Mooncakes are a customary annual tradition in China and wherever Chinese culture is celebrated. This festival is one of the four main holidays celebrated in China. There are many legends on how the mooncakes got to what they are. The main reason is to celebrate the lunar month.

The mooncakes themselves, however, have another myth; the one I enjoy telling is that the cakes have been used by revolutionists to send secret messages to assist in the overthrow of the ruling Mongols. Traditional mooncakes are baked and filled with flavored lotus seed paste; the classic version contains whole egg yolks which are salt cured (resembling the moon). The cakes are hand molded and have symbols on the top.

The myth holds that this is precisely where the secret messages were engraved. To read the message, each of the set of 4 mooncakes are required to be cut into quarters. Only when all 16 quarters are correctly reassembled can the puzzle be solved to retrieve the message!

Servings: 1

Keywords: Earl Grey, Chocolate

  • Prep Time: 45 mins
  • Cook Time: 0 mins
  • Total Time: 45 mins

Ingredients

Earl Grey Ganache

  • 390 mL Whipping Cream
  • 28 Grams TEALEAVES Imperial Earl Grey
  • 35 Grams Trimoline (Inverted Sugar Syrup)
  • 150 Grams Dark Chocolate 55% 
  • 315 Grams Milk Chocolate 40%
  • 80 Grams Unsalted Butter (Room Temperature)
  • 24 Grams Crunchy Rice Crispies (Preferably the Sugar Coated Cereal as They Remain Crispy)

Raspberry Jelly

  • 350 mL Frozen Raspberries
  • 67 mL Lemon Juice
  • 190 Grams Sugar
  • 10 Grams Pectin NH
  • 10 Grams Sugar

Earl Grey Raspberry Chocolate Mooncakes

  • Earl Grey Ganache (See Recipe)
  • Raspberry Jelly (See Recipe)
  • Chocolate Truffle Shells

Instructions

Earl Grey Ganache

  1. Bring the cream to a boil with trimoline.
  2. Infuse with tea for 20 minutes, strain.
  3. Pour hot mixture over the chopped chocolate.
  4. Stir to emulsify the liquids, cool to 40°C (104°F).
  5. Add butter and rice crispies.

Raspberry Jelly

  1. Mix sugar, berries and lemon juice, bring to 40°C (104°F).
  2. Mix pectin with sugar.
  3. Add pectin mix, bring to 120°C (248°F).
  4. Strain seeds (keep 10% of the seeds to add back into the mix).
  5. Cool and chill.

Earl Grey Raspberry Chocolate Mooncakes

  1. Use any suitable chocolate truffle shell available from specialized pastry supply stores (Moulds at Mandarin Oriental Guangzhou are custom designed and spray-painted in different shades of cocoa butter).
  2. Fill the two above fillings into the shell (¾ ganache, ¼ jelly) ensuring that no air pockets remain.
  3. Close with tempered chocolate and store between 15°-20°C (59-68°F).
  4. They then can be spray-painted or paint brushed with coloured cocoa butter.