Mooncake

Traditional chinese pastry

 A Mooncake(月饼) is a small, flat cake that people in China usually share with their family and friends during the Mid-Autumn festival.

 It contains a sweet, sugary filling usually made from red bean or lotus seed paste (cantonese style) that is surrounded by a thin crust and may contain the yolk of a salted duck egg as the symbol of the full moon. 

More elaborate versions contain four egg yolks, representing the four phases of the moon. Traditional mooncakes have an imprint on top consisting of the Chinese characters for "longevity" or "harmony", as well as the name of the bakery and the filling inside.

 During the Mid-Autumn festival you can find Mooncakes in all different variations in every supermarket and if you are a foreigner you will probably be offered Mooncake (of course the "best" one with egg yolks in it) almost every day. 

Photo by Maria Hochleitner