Mid-Autumn Festival 2021: The best mooncake boxes and flavours

While the Mid Autumn Festival is not until Sept 21, it’s never too late to start planning the inevitable mooncake gifting – or thinking about what you want to indulge in. Here’s our pick of our favourite box designs, and flavours for this year.

1. Raffles Hotel Singapore

Raffles Hotel Singapore’s duo of new flavours begins with a creation that’s itself a nod to the hotel’s Chinese Restaurant, Yi by Jereme Leung, and its signature Da Li rose petal ice cream.

Expect a snowskin mooncake with a marked floral bouquet that’s entwined with an alluring tinge of strawberry chocolate. The latter snowskin mooncake melds caramelized Yunnan dark brown sugar with rum and candied winter melon for a construction that’s rich and sugary, but grounded.

Other decadent faves, like a Champagne-infused truffle snowskin mooncake that’s paired with, what else, Raffles-exclusive Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Reserve, return as well. Comes in an iridescent cream-gold metal box with floral motifs. 

Available from July 30 to Sept 15.

2. Goodwood Park Hotel

Though the Mid-Autumn Festival is a good as time as any to revel in the festivities, it doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun. This year, Goodwood Park Hotel are releasing just that – a pair of baby birds, baked into a pie (mooncake, technically).

And, to be clear, the pies are shaped like birds, not made of them – expect white lotus paste wrapped around a quarter of egg yolk, encased in buttery pastry.

For something you’d feel a little less cruel tucking into, they’ve also released a new tropically-themed mooncake that sees a combo of coconut and passion fruit puree interspersed with cubes of pineapple and coconut flakes for texture. This year's boxes come in crimson, patterned with an intriguing gold floral motif. 

Available from Aug 13 to Sept 21. 

Order online from the Goodwood Park Hotel e-store. 

3. Intercontinental Singapore

Mooncakes get the high tea treatment at Intercontinental Singapore. This year's creations come housed in a keepsake tin adorned with a garden scene of flowers and birds.

The case opens into a two-tiered stand featuring mooncake flavours like snowskin earl grey Bailey's cream truffle; or matcha paste with an osmanthus truffle centre. They've also got beverage pairing bundles that come with options including a bottle of Mscato d'Asti, Mandarin Pu Erh, and Anxi Royal Tie Guan Yin tea.

Available from Aug 1 to Sept 21, 2021

Order online from the Intercontinental Singapore e-store. 

4. Capitol Kempinski

Sparing you the trouble of divvying up an entire mooncake is Capitol Kempinski – whose Mid-Autumn treats come in bite-sized pieces, with flavours like Lychee Rose: which combines the floral, refreshing flavours with white lotus paste.

As a nod to the hotel's signature cocktail, there's the Mini Valrhona & Plantation 1840 TruffleMooncake – which combines a chocolate filling with a rum-flavoured truffle. The red and robin blue box variants both feature a design inspired by nearby architectural icons: the Capitol building, and CHIJMES.

Available from now until Sept 21st.

Order online from the Capitol Kempinski e-shop. 

5. Regent Singapore

For the fourth year in a row, Regent Singapore will be putting out a snowskin mooncake collection that’s derived from each of its individual, award-winning F&B concepts.

There’s Basilico’s refreshingly zesty basil-steeped Limoncello snowskin mooncake that’s part digestif, part dessert; a heavily aromatic mix of dry Ki No Bi gin, mellowed out by a bevy of Japanese botanicals by Manhattan; and Tea Lounge’s earthy Gryphon Garden of Regent, that blends oolong tea with lily buds, ginger flower and pink cornflower.

Not to be outdone, Summer Palace’s snowskin addition comes tinged with goji berries and Osmanthus, with bits of dried strawberry for crunch. They’re available with four other signatures as a box of eight. Comes in an elegant, sturdy carrier box that's also perfect for a bottle of wine or spirit.

Available from now to Sept 21.

Order from Regent Singapore.

6. Peach Blossoms

If you’re averse to snowskin anywhere near your mooncakes, Peach Blossoms at Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay has got two new flavours to cater to those sensibilities. An earthy, tea-scented number that is Pu’er and mochi, as well as a fruity, equally healthful lychee and wolfberry mooncake.

The mooncake box, on the other hand, is a little less orthodox – the two-drawered carriers are adorned with peach blossom motifs on the outside, but come with built-in Bluetooth speakers on the inside.  

Available from July 13 to Sept 21.

Order from Peach Blossoms.

7. Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel

Cantonese mainstay Wan Hao is offering a premium mooncake gift set this year - which pairs a sweet-savoury baked version with black truffles, San Daniele ham, salted egg yolk, and pistachios with a half-bottle of Laurent-Perrier Brut.

Other luxurious renderings of this Mid-Autumn treat include a rose, bird's nest, and custard snowskin mooncake; as well as cognac truffle with chestnut paste snowskin. The box itself comes in an auspicious crimson with a cabinet-like configuration. 

Available Aug 16 to Sept 21, 2021.

Order online from the Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel website. 

8. Royal Durian

The durian purveyors might just have one of the most over-the-top boxes we've seen this year: a drawer-style box that comes with lights, and dry ice that emits smoke once the box is opened. The contents, meanwhile are 100 per cent pure hand-peeled mao shan wang snowskin mooncakes.

Available for pre-orders from Aug 9, 2021

Email hello@royalduriansg.com or WhatsApp 8218 3137 to order.

9. Crowne Plaza

Locally-inspired desserts-turned-mooncakes stages a comeback with Crowne Plaza’s Mid-Autumn Festival selection.

Mango pomelo and orh nee (it’s made from yam paste) are accompanied by other Asian flavours like yuzu and adzuki beans, though the brand’s got a new baked mooncake to show off as well: white lotus orange paste, dotted with melon seeds for extra crunch. Boxes come with an orchid motif recalling the hotel's iconic facade; and come in plum and royal blue colours.

Available from now to Sept 21.

Order from Crowne Plaza.

10. Chang Ho Sek

Chang Ho Sek celebrates its fifth anniversary with the theme of Tsuru (Japanese cranes), so chosen to signify strength, resilience and the hope for new and better – very topical.

The collection bolsters the brand’s usual selection of mao shan wang snowskin and low-sugar baked mooncakes with a trio of limited flavours, all hailing fittingly from Japan.

There’s matcha and azuki red bean, black sesame mochi and Sakura-infused snowskin, stuffed with D24 durian. Also topical, the brand’s pretty stainless steel tingkats (decorated to suit this year’s theme) to deliver mooncakes to friends – or pack takeaway in.

Available from July 15 to Sept  21.

Order from Chang Ho Sek.

11. The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore

Asian flavours are the star of the show here – with an osmanthus, oolong, and lychee tea combination that comes studded with macadamia nuts.

Summer Pavilion's signature cocktail also gets highlighted with the mini snowskin Amber Treasure – a creation that's infused with red date liquor and a house blend vermouth. They've also gone the minimalist route this year – with a gold box that's embossed with the hotel's branding. 

Available from now until Sept 21, 2021

Order online from the Colony Bakery e-store.

12. Madame Fan

JW Marriott Singapore's box design is one of the most unique we've seen so far. It's shaped after the Chinese character for the moon, 月, and comes in two colour options: Blossom Blue and Peranakan teal. Get both to form the Chinese character for friendship.

Meanwhile, mooncake flavours include an almost paradoxically-refreshing baked blueberry paste with chia seed version; and snowskin options like green apple with soju truffle, and pineapple-cempedak.

Available from Aug 6 to September 21.

Order online from the JW Marriott Singapore e-store. 

This article was first published in The Peak.