With the mid-autumn festival coming up this weekend, what are some of the interesting and fun options for mooncakes to explore for 2022? Curated here is a list of some of our favourites:

This has got to be the innovative mooncake set we received this year – the World’s First MONOPOLY Mooncake Street Smart Edition from Mdm Ling Bakery, created in partnership with Hasbro.

The first-of-its-kind concept inspired by the most beautiful streets in the world, the iconic mooncake box is sustainably designed to transform instantly into a MONOPOLY game board set.

We think this is perfect for family and friends gathering during the mid-autumn festival to bond over a game of Monopoly while enjoying mooncakes.

Each Monopoly mooncake set comes with four mooncakes. You can choose the flavours of the mooncakes, ranging from Traditional Pure White Lotus Mooncake with Melong Seeds, with or without Salted Yolk; to their Cookie-Inspired Baked Series like Salted Mung Bean Mooncake, Japanese Purple Sweet Potato Mooncake, Cranberry Florentine Assorted Nuts Mooncake and Savoury Chicken Floss Mooncake; to their Nostalgic Baked Series like Orange Peel Red Bean Mooncake, Longan Dan Feng Tea Mooncake, Osmanthus Goji Berries Mooncake and Peanut Sesame Paste Mooncake; to their Lavacious! Signature Baked Series like Japanese Matcha Green Tea Mooncake, Nanyang Coffee Caramel Mooncake, Hong Kong Salted Egg Yolk Custard Mooncake and Belgian-Italian Chocolate Hazelnut Mooncake.

Other mooncake game sets like Chinese Chess and Snake and Ladder are available too on their official website. There is a promotion now to enjoy 25% off if you order any 3 of their mooncake game boxes.

The Peninsula has introduced a new twist to their now-iconic egg custard mooncake, first launched in 1986 – by infusing different tea flavours from Early Grey to Tie Guan Yin to Lychee Black tea to their own Peninsula Blend Tea into their egg custard mooncakes.

The packaging looks like tea boxes too and will make the perfect mid-autumn gift for tea lovers.

These mooncakes from Hong Kong are available in Singapore at the following locations only, just for the mid-autumn festival:

Flash Coffee is a new entrant to the local mooncake market in Singapore. This year, they launched their own Black Sesame Mooncakes with Salted Egg as part of their limited time only Fly Me to the Moon(cake) launch.

Offering soft and chewy charcoal exteriors and fillings of sweet mung bean, melon seeds and salted egg, the mooncakes are recommended to be paired with Flash Coffee beverages like their the Jasmine Green Tea, Yuan Yang Latte, and Golden Turmeric Milk.

Due to the black exterior, I though these were coffee-flavoured mooncakes at first, but was pleasantly surprise by the cake-like soft texture and slightly sweet fillings with a savoury note.

Why just introduce mooncake sets when you can introduce a whole collection of cups and wares at the same time?

We absolutely adore the beautiful Mid-Autumn Festival Fuzzy Bunny Collection from Starbucks, featuring fuzzy bunnies playing with yarn balls and knitting sweaters throughut the autumn season. Inspired by vintage storybooks, this collection comes in a comforting autumnal palette that is featured in the mooncake packaging too.

Mooncakes wise, Starbucks offer the traditional Lotus Paste with Egg Yolk mooncake, as well as the Starbucks Coffee with Caramel & Hazelnut mooncake in golden baked skin, Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate mooncake, Black Sesame Mochi mooncake and Pandan Salted Egg Mochi mooncake.

The mooncakes are available for purchase in all Starbucks stores, Mobile Order & Pay, Starbucks Delivers on the Starbucks app, on the Starbucks Online Store, LazMall and ShopeeMall. Single mooncakes are also available via Starbucks delivery channels – GrabFood, Foodpanda and Deliveroo.

The Mid-Autumn Festival Fuzzy Bunny Collection is also available on the shelves at all Starbucks stores, and online at the Starbucks Online Store, Lazmall and ShopeeMall from 24 August.

In collaboration with local artiste Kimberly Chia, Chef Ben Yapp, the Executive Chef at Yanxi Dim Sum & Hotpot, launched a 5 Elements Mooncake Collection this year that is enased in a octagonal box to represent the 5 elements of the universe – Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water.

Each of the snowskin mooncakes are coloured and flavoured differently accordingly to the represented elements, making it suitable for gifting to those who are into fengshui and such.

Bread Garden offers a wide variety of mooncakes ranging from their Golden Emerald -Baked Skin Mooncake, a low-sugar mooncake with lotus paste, pandan and salted egg yolk; to their Golden Royale – Baked Skin Mooncake, a golden crust custoard mooncake with salted egg yolk; to one of their best sellers is their Signature Premium MSW Durian Snow Skin Mooncake sold in a set of two.

All their mooncakes are halal certified, making them suitable for sharing with muslim friends and colleagues at home or in your workplace.

Why order mooncakes alone if you can get a lantern together with your order?

Deliveroo has come together for the second time with Swensen’s to add a magical touch to this Mid-Autumn Festival  – with mochi-snowskin ice cream mooncakes and a limited-edition Deliveroo paper lantern.

From 2 – 9 September, the first 30 customers to order either the Swensen’s Royal, Deluxe, Signature or Create-Your-Own Mooncake Sets (from $43.80) from Swensen’s Tampines Mall, Ang Mo Kio Hub, Jurong Point outlets via Deliveroo will stand a chance to win a limited-edition Deliveroo paper lantern.

Swensen’s iconic mooncake flavours include: Sticky Chewy Chocolate, Cookies ‘N’ Cream, Mao Shan Wang with Sea Salt Gula Melaka, Durian King (D24), Chempedak, Sakura Lychee, and Yam & Pulut Hitam.

Other than traditional mooncakes with white lotus paste and salted egg yolk, Bee Cheng Hiang, best known for their bakkwa, offers an unique Mala Bakkwa Mooncake on top of their usual Bakkwa Mooncakes. Perfect for meat lovers.

For deals hunters, there is currently an online exclusive Buy 1 Get 1 Free sale now for mooncakes on their website.

The Shangri-La Singapore is a popular corporate mooncake gifting brand, with their exquisite packaging. Every year, I will receive a few Shangri-La mooncake sets from different coporate partners.

Shangri-La Singapore’s 2022 Mid-Autumn Collection includes:

If you prefer a flaky skin option, consider JU Signatures’ Flaky Teochew Orh Nee Mooncakes, presented by ex-Peony Jade Group Dim Sum Chef, Executive Chef Wong Kok Shyong.

The selection includes: Flaky Teochew Pumpkin Orh Nee Mooncake (with or without egg yolk, or with double egg yolks) and the Flaky Matcha Mochi Lava Orh Nee Mooncake.

A master craftsman in creating aritsanal dim sums and mooncakes, these are by far, the best mooncakes I sampled this year and I would highly recommend them.

Editor: editor (at) alvinology (dot) com

Alvin Lim: alvin (at) alvinology (dot) com