The Chinese celebrate the Moon Cake Festival yearly, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. It coincides with the night when the moon shines its brightest; it is also called the Mid-Autumn Festival. To celebrate this festival, the Chinese get together with families and friends and give out moon cakes. There is a gift-giving practice during this period.
Original moon cakes are dense round or square pastries made of lotus seed paste; there is usually an egg yolk in the center.
Haagen-Dazs came up with their own version of moon cakes - I personally tried one in Orchard Road, Singapore. The rich, creamy ice cream was imported directly from France. The outer layer, instead of lotus paste, consisted of either Strawberry, Belgian Chocolate, or Cookies & Cream ice cream. The mango sorbet was molded to resemble the classic egg yolk. The crust was replaced with pure belgian chocolate sauce, hardened to perfection.
This was a different experience - a plated French couture on a Chinese catwalk, a marriage of French dairy and Chinese tradition.
Haagen-Dazs moon cakes are now part of the Moon Cake Festival in Greater China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia (see photo above), and Thailand. In Haagen-Dazs Beijing, one has to order as early as July in order to book these fancy ice cream moon cakes according to Asia Times.
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