Winter Melon Cake 冬瓜糕

Winter Melon Cake (冬瓜糕) is a flaky pastry filled with cooked-down winter melon, a speciality of the Penghu (澎湖) islands. Its shape resembles a sun cake (太阳饼), but it is thicker. On Penghu it has long served as the local mooncake for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

How it is made

A thick flaky oil-pastry crust is wrapped around a sweet winter melon paste made from locally grown melon. The filling takes a long reduction: according to the Penghu National Scenic Area administration (澎湖国家风景区管理处), 100 kilograms of winter melon cook down to only 7 kilograms of filling, and makers keep the sugar low. Lukang (鹿港) in Changhua (彰化) also makes the pastry; Chinese Wikipedia gives its ingredients as cane sugar, wheat flour, malt, winter melon and vegetable oil.

Flavour and texture

The crust is layered and crisp while the filling is soft and light in flavour. It is sweet without being cloying, and the pastry stays tender rather than hard.

How it is eaten

On Penghu, Winter Melon Cake takes the place of the ordinary mooncake at the Mid-Autumn Festival, both as a gift and for eating at home. Visitors to the islands buy it as a souvenir alongside brown sugar cake, salty biscuits and peanut brittle.