The appeal of handmade mooncakes comes from the perfect combination of natural flavors and the uniqueness of each cake. Made from fresh ingredients, without preservatives, handmade cakes bring a safe and healthy culinary experience. In addition, the diversity of shapes, ingredients and flavors, along with affordable prices, have made handmade cakes a favorite choice for many people.
Handmade Mooncakes - Hundreds of sellers, thousands of buyers
Traditional flavor, modern beauty
With over 5 years of experience in the profession, Ms. Vu Tran Nha Uyen has turned her passion for making handmade moon cakes into reality with the Peony Deserts bakery in Da Lat. Through online channels, she brings unique cakes, made from the freshest ingredients, to customers.
She said: “I started making handmade moon cakes in 2019. At first, I simply wanted to create cakes to give to family, relatives and friends. After receiving encouragement from relatives, I expanded and approached the first customers. I not only love making cakes but also love creating beautiful and meticulous cakes. Besides, this job also brings economic value to me.”
The appeal of handmade moon cakes comes from the perfect combination of natural flavors and the uniqueness of each cake.
To meet the increasing demands of customers, the moon cake market is constantly innovating. In addition to traditional flavors, many shop owners have invested in unique 3D cake molds, creating funny animal shapes, delicate flowers and leaves or even 12 zodiac animals, replacing the traditional square and round cake molds. This diversity not only enriches the choices for customers but also demonstrates the endless creativity of bakers.
This year, Nha Uyen has brought a new breeze to the Mid-Autumn Festival with the collection “Ky Lan Dao Phuc” or “Hoa Hao Nguyet Vien”. Each cake is like a work of art in the shape of mascots symbolizing luck and prosperity. Besides the dragon-shaped cake - the mascot of the year, the collection also impresses with extremely unique cakes in the shape of unicorns, carps and roses.
Each cake is like a work of art in the shape of mascots symbolizing luck and prosperity.
According to Nha Uyen, every year she starts researching new designs, consulting and choosing the ones that she finds attractive and favorite. She comes up with ideas and carries out each step of this process carefully.
Nha Uyen starts by designing the box model and choosing accessories. Most of the time, she does it all by hand, from the packaging preparation stage, not using ready-made packaging on the market. She makes the box mold herself, cuts it by hand, assembles the box and creates the base layer from many materials such as art paper, velvet, and 3D embossed images.
Box design and accessory selection
In addition, Nha Uyen also makes small details such as the charms attached to each cake box. For example, the Long Phung jade charm is shaped from epoxy and knots in the Japanese cultural style mizuhiki, which she learns how to tie and spends time tying each one.
After completing the packaging, she moves on to the baking stage. She chooses suitable cake models, creates a concept for each year, and coordinates the colors and symbols of each cake model to match each gift set and its own meaning. She chooses flavors, researches new flavors, and processes and shapes every little detail, and always changes every year.
The secret to choosing quality handmade mooncakes
“I prioritize using clean ingredients with clear origins and do not use products that are floating on the market. Ingredients are imported from reputable and long-standing distributors,” she emphasized.
The secret to winning the hearts of diners
The biggest difficulty of handmade moon cakes is that their shelf life does not last a month or more in natural temperature conditions. Because no preservatives or stabilizers are used, the cake making process must be very strict and clean to minimize the growth of microorganisms. After many experiments, Nha Uyen has found the best way to preserve them in the natural environment, but there are still unexpected factors such as outside temperature that affect the quality.
The biggest difficulty of handmade moon cakes is that their shelf life is not long.
Peony Deserts cakes usually have a shelf life of 7 to 10 days at ideal temperatures, not too hot or humid. In the refrigerator, the cake can be stored for 20 days to 1 month. This helps ensure the cake is always fresh, retains its flavor and does not affect the health of consumers.
Although the mooncake market this year witnessed fierce competition with many unique handmade products, the overall purchasing power has decreased somewhat compared to last year. According to Nha Uyen, the number of orders this year decreased by about 30% compared to 2023.
Although this year's moon cake market witnessed fierce competition with many unique handmade products, overall purchasing power has somewhat decreased compared to last year.
