Traditional and modern flavors in moon cakes

Moon cakes today are rich in design and flavor, but still imbued with the soul of national cuisine. — Moon cakes today are rich in design and flavor, but still imbued with the soul of national cuisine .

From the bronze molds forged by the hands of ancient craftsmen to the creative jelly, ice, and 3D cakes of today, the journey of the moon cake is a story between tradition and innovation, between sweet memories and modern tastes.

Preserving the soul of traditional cuisine

On Doi Can Street in the heart of Hanoi , artisan To Van Than's family has preserved the traditional craft of making moon cakes for more than 7 decades. Ms. Tran Thu Ha, the artisan's daughter-in-law, recounted: "My family has been involved in the traditional craft of making moon cakes since 1954, during the French colonial period. We still keep the flavors and recipes our parents left us. We choose ingredients from the heart, not from floating goods, because doing this job requires keeping the reputation and the soul of old Hanoi cakes."

Artisan To Van Than's family has preserved the tradition of making traditional moon cakes for over 70 years in Hanoi.

The Vinh Thinh Long brand, a name derived from the names of the three sons of artisan To Van Than, was born during the French colonial period. Each batch of moon cakes and sticky rice cakes still has the fragrant scent of lemon leaves, pumpkin jam, kumquat jam, melon seeds, sesame seeds, simple ingredients but creating a unique soul. That flavor is the flavor of the homeland, rustic but profound. Each family has its own secret to making the cake, and Ms. Ha's family tries to pass it on completely to their children and grandchildren. In the era of hundreds of competing brands, Ms. Ha's family does not follow market trends.

“We love our ancestors’ traditional cakes and are determined to keep their flavor intact. This job is very hard, but the most precious thing is to preserve the national identity. I hope my children and grandchildren will continue the traditional job, because it is a job that carries the Vietnamese soul,” she added.

A batch of moon cakes with the rustic hometown flavor of artisan To Van Than's family.

We love our ancestors’ traditional cakes and are determined to keep their flavor intact. This job is very hard, but the most precious thing is to preserve the national identity. I hope my children and grandchildren will continue the traditional job, because it is a job that carries the Vietnamese soul.
Ms. Tran Thu Ha - daughter-in-law of artisan To Van Than

The mixed cakes of Ms. Ha’s family are still sought after by Hanoians every full moon season in August. They are both a dish and a memory, the scent of the past wrapped in a dark brown cake shell, in the sweet taste of lotus paste, pumpkin seeds, fatty meat, Chinese sausage, mixed with a cup of fragrant tea. Each cake is a whole moonlit childhood season rushing back, with the starry lights and the bustling sound of drums.

Modern innovation in new flavors

While artisans like Ms. Ha's family keep the craft with the memories of their ancestors, today's generation breathes the breath of the times into moon cakes. On Hang Dong Street, Ms. Nguyen Thanh Hang, an official of the Hanoi People's Court, brings a very unique direction with 3D jelly moon cakes. "I have been making jelly cakes for several years now. In the past, jelly cakes were very simple, but now they are much more diverse. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, I draw fish, flowers, the moon, and natural plants. The children in the family love it because the cakes are both beautiful and cool," Ms. Hang shared.

Today's moon cakes not only inherit tradition but are also innovated and apply modern technology to create new, delicious designs and flavors.

From her passion for drawing and her family's traditional jelly making, Ms. Hang creates moon cakes made of transparent jelly, sparkling like art paintings. She carefully selects the ingredients such as refined sugar for a light taste, purified water to make the cake clear and cool. Each cake has a different flavor from coconut milk, passion fruit, matcha tea to chocolate, satisfying both adults and children.

“The jelly cake can be kept in the refrigerator for 4-5 days because it does not contain preservatives. Mid-Autumn Festival requires traditional cakes, but now jelly cakes can replace moon cakes and moon cakes. At work, every full moon season, I contribute jelly cakes to the tray of offerings. Seeing the children like it makes me happy and motivated to be creative,” Ms. Hang said with a bright smile.

3D jelly mooncakes have rich forms, blending art and cuisine.

If traditional cakes preserve the Vietnamese soul through their flavors, 3D jelly cakes represent the sophistication of the era, where art and cuisine blend. Each layer of clear jelly reveals the image of lotus flowers, carp, and full moon like transparent jade paintings, symbolizing the joy of reunion and the beauty of unlimited creativity.

Telling the Mid-Autumn Festival story in Vietnamese culture

In addition to family-owned bakeries, the spirit of preserving tradition is also being recreated by many large enterprises in their own way. This year, Muong Thanh Group brings the collection "Nguyet Vu Doan Vien" - a Mid-Autumn story told through mother-of-pearl inlay art and love for Vietnamese culture. Ms. Le Thu Nguyet, representative of Muong Thanh Hotel Group, shared: "The combination of traditional flavors and gentle modernity creates a complete culinary experience. From the sweet lotus scent that reminds of home to the fresh blueberry flavor that awakens modern taste buds. It is not simply a cake product but a cultural story, a reunion card imbued with the flavor of the homeland, written by the talented hands of Muong Thanh employees with a love and pride for cultural heritage."

Traditional flavors and mother-of-pearl cake boxes represent the spirit of honoring national culture.

The “Nguyet Vu Doan Vien” collection includes 6 selected flavors: lotus seed-green tea, black sesame, green bean-chia seed, black tea, blueberry and mixed. Each flavor represents a range of emotions: Lotus flavor reminds us of our homeland and carries the spirit of Eastern culinary culture, while blueberry flavor is from the West, and mixed is a harmony between two worlds . In particular, the cake box is designed with mother-of-pearl inlay art, a traditional Vietnamese craft, requiring meticulousness and skill, and is also Muong Thanh's way of contributing to preserving identity, expressing the spirit of respecting national heritage and the harmony between the past and the present.

The "Nguyet Vu Doan Vien" mooncake collection has 6 unique and meaningful flavors.

Moon cakes, change is inevitable, but the core values remain the same, which is the spirit of reunion, love for the profession and the desire to preserve Vietnamese culture. The old workers cherish each layer of baked cake crust, the young people create clear jelly cakes or large enterprises tell stories through folk art, all share the same message of bringing the Vietnamese soul through the years.

Amidst the full moon, the laughter of children and the sweet aroma, today’s moon cake is a gift, a bridge between generations, between the past and the present, between the classic and the modern. Although the shape has changed, the filling has changed, the spirit of the full moon festival remains intact, a season of reunion, a taste of the homeland that never fades.