Lotus seed moon cake (广式莲蓉月饼)

This is from Ivy's  recipe. I first learned this from Jenny's cooking class. This is what has kindled my passion in baking. Moon cake is always a premium pastry desert in my mind. If I can make this, how hard could anything else be ;-)

Equipment:

Oven, kitchen scale, electrical mixer, large fry pan, mixing bowl, sauce pot, moon cake mold (small, 50g)

Part 1: Prepare syrup

Ingredients:

Granulate Sugar - 800g
Water - 250g
Lemon juice - 6 TBSP
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Steps:

1. Mix baking soda with 1 TBSP of water. Set aside.
2. Put sugar, water and lemon juice in a small sauce pot, cook at medium to low heat until the liquid is clear and the temperature reach 110°C(230°F). You should keep stir the liquid while cooking.

3. Add baking soda water from step 1 to the liquid, leave it to cool.
4. Put the syrup in a sealed glass jar in dark corner. It is ready to use after 1 day. The side product is some candied lemon rind.

Part 2: Prepare lotus seed filling

Ingredients:

Dried lotus seed - 1 bag 400g
Unsalted butter - 45g
Corn oil - 45g
Sugar - 1.25 cup (this can be reduced per personal preference)
Sweetened condensed milk - 4 TBSP
Corn starch - 3 TBSP

Steps:

1. Soak dried lotus seed in water overnight.

2. Boiling lotus seed in water until the beans are soft. Drain out the excessive water.
3. Blend the cooked lotus seed with a blender or electrical mixer, add sweetened condensed milk, sugar.

4. Pour the mixture from step 3 to a large fry pan, add butter and oil. Simmer under low heat, gradually sift in corn starch until the mixture can be folded with spatula easily.

5. Take mixture out and let it cool down. Chill it in refrigerator. If you do not plan to use it within a day, you can put it in sealed container in freezer.

Part 3: Prepare skin dough

Ingredients:

Cake flour - 235g
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Water - 1 TBSP
Oil - 48g
Syrup from part 1 - 155g

Steps:

1. Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl. If it is too sticky, add 1 TBSP cake flour, 1tsp oil until it is not sticky to hand.
2. Let dough sit for 1 hour.

Part 4: Making the moon cake

Ingredients:

Egg yolk - 1

Water - 1 TBSP

Steps:

1. Put egg yolk and water in a small bowl, mix well. Set aside for later use.
2. Preheat oven to 395°F.
3. Use kitchen scale to weight fillings and roll them to balls; weigh skin and roll them to balls. For a 50g moon cake mold, the proportion of filling vs. skin could be 30g:13g.

4. Flatten a skin ball gently on your palm, put in a filling ball. Wrap the filling with the skin. Use one hand to hold the rim of the skin, and another hand to push the filling down gently. Rotate the ball until the filling is fully wrapped.
5. Place the ball on a cooking sheet, place the moon cake mold over the ball. Push down the plunger to get the moon cake in shape.

6. Put the tray in oven and bake for 7 minutes. Then take out the tray. Brush each moon cake gently with thin layer of egg yolk solution.

7. Reduce oven temperature to 345°F. Bake for 6 minutes. Then take out and apply another layer of egg yolk solution to each moon cake.

8. Reduce oven temperature to 340°F. Bake for 5 minutes or until the moon cake is browned. 

8. When moon cake is cooled, store in sealed container for a couple of days for the skin to soften before serving.