Snow skin mooncake

A no-bake mooncake with a soft, chewy, chilled outer skin instead of a baked pastry crust.

Snow skin mooncake: Several round snow skin mooncakes in soft pastel colors with smooth, matte, slightly translucent skins and crisp molded flower patterns, one cut in half to show
  • Traditional and regional desserts
  • Hong Kong, People's Republic of China

Also called: crystal mooncake, ice skin mooncake, snowy mooncake

Snow skin mooncakes appeared in Hong Kong in the early 1990s as a modern twist on the traditional baked Cantonese mooncake eaten for the Mid-Autumn Festival. The skin is made from cooked rice flours and sugar, which gives it a smooth, pale and slightly translucent look and a soft, chewy bite. It is wrapped around a filling and pressed into a decorative mold.

Because snow skin mooncakes are not baked after shaping, they are kept refrigerated and are best eaten cold and soon after purchase. Fillings range from classic lotus seed and red bean pastes to custard, fruit and other modern flavors, and the skins are often tinted in soft colors.

Bake it at VanillaGoods

Related entries

Sources

Written by VanillaGoods in our own words from these sources. Last reviewed October 15, 2026.

  1. Moon Cakes in Hong Kong, Centre for Food Safety, Hong Kong SAR Government