Orange Cointreau Chocolate Snowskin Mooncake
Orange Cointreau Chocolate Snowskin Mooncake, a classy alcoholic orange choc mooncake that is dark, bittersweet with a white chocolate nutty core. Gorgeous, decadent, delicious and perfect for a blessed Mid autumn ♥️
Servings: 16 mooncakes
Ingredients
Chocolate Lotus Paste
- 250 g lotus paste (unsweetened)
- 50 g dark chocolate chips
- 60 ml heavy cream
- 10 g cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp orange cointreau
White Chocolate Centre
- 85 g white chocolate
- 3 tbsp heavy cream
- 5 tbsp crushed pistachio and/or macadamia nuts
Chocolate Snowskin
Dry ingredients
- 60 g glutinous rice flour
- 60 g rice flour
- 15 g tapioca flour
- 75 g icing sugar
- 20 g cocoa powder
- Pinch of salt
Wet ingredients
- 200 ml milk
- 75 ml oil
- 30 g condensed milk
- 1 tbsp orange cointreau
Plunger
- 50 g mooncake hand plunger.
Instructions
Chocolate Lotus Paste
- Combine 50ml heavy cream with 60g dark chocolate chips. Microwave in 30 sec intervals and stir until fully melted.
- Add the chocolate ganache, 1 tbsp orange Cointreau and 10g dutch coca powder to 250g unsweetened lotus paste and mix until smooth and fully combined. Set aside and make the white chocolate centre.
White chocolate centre
- Microwave 85g white chocolate chips in 30second bursts until melted. Add in 3 tbsp heavy cream and stir till smooth. Chill in the fridge for an hour to set.
- Once set, scoop the white chocolate into 6.5g portions and shape into balls. Coat each white chocolate ball in crushed nuts (I used pistachios and macadamia nuts). Set aside.
Chocolate snowskin
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and mix well into a liquid batter. Sieve to remove lumps.
- Steam on high heat for 18 minutes. Remove from heat. There will still be some liquid in the steamed dough after steaming. Mix in the liquid with a spatula and keep mixing to cool and form the dough.
- Once sufficiently cool, transfer the dough unto parchment and keep mixing the until stretchy and smooth. Chill the snowskin dough for ~ 2 hours. In the meantime, assemble the chocolate filling.
Assembly
- Measure ~20g of chocolate lotus paste per mooncake and shape into balls. Flatten the lotus paste balls, place in the white chocolate centre and seal well. Once sealed, roll into a smooth round ball.
- Divide and shape the snowskin dough into 30g dough balls. Roll out each dough ball into ~ 8cm circle. Place in the chocolate filling, remove any excess snowskin dough and seal well. Once sealed, gently roll into a smooth round ball.
- If necessary, flour the mooncake plunger with a little cooked flour or icing sugar to prevent sticking. Place the mooncake mould over the filled dough and press firmly (I used 3 firm taps) to shape the mooncake.
- Gently push and lift the mooncake plunger to release the moulded mooncake onto the work surface. Repeat with the other dough balls. Optional: mix a little gold or silver dust with a little Cointreau. Using a skewer, trace some of the the mooncake design with the gold lustre to give it that glam factor.
- Transfer your beautiful chocolate snowskin mooncakes into an air tight container and chill in the fridge for an hour. Enjoy.
Video
Notes
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#1 Orange Cointreau yes or no?
I love all things orange chocolate and IMHO Orange Cointreau is the X-factor that makes the chocolate so zesty, so decadent and refreshing.
I could not add orange juice to pump up the flavor as chocolate seizes if it comes into contact with moisture during its melting. Any moisture or water can dissolve the sugar in your chocolate, creating a mixture that’s sticky and clumpy.
Which is why Orange Cointreau makes it so easy and is perfect for concocting a full flavored orange chocolate ganache for this Orange Cointreau Chocolate Snowskin Mooncake. If there needs to be a non-alcoholic substitute, I would suggest replacing Orange Cointreau with an edible orange essential or organic oil flavor.
#2 Snowskin batter
The snowskin batter is watery but it firms up nicely upon steaming. For this Orange Cointreau Chocolate Snowskin Mooncake, I typically like to steam the dough till about 70-80% firm (i.e with still some liquids in it) vs a fully cooked dough. I then manually mix in the liquid batter into the firm portion to get a smooth stretchy dough.
Making the dough this way gives a softer and more delicious snowskin. The snowskin also retains its mochi softness for longer and does not harden as quickly when chilled in the fridge. (Watch the video @3:50 min to see how the dough is made.)
I used full fresh milk to make the snowskin as it gave a delicious light creamy taste to the chocolate snowskin which I like. You can also substitute with half and half or skim milk. Or for those who are lactose intolerant, unsweetened soya milk or oat milk are also great lactose free substitutes.
When replacing with non diary options, just be aware that there may be a slight difference in the taste of the chocolate snowskin especially for those with a more discerning palate.
#3 Making the mooncake
I used a 50g hand plunger to make this Orange Cointreau Chocolate Snowskin Mooncake. Flour the mould lightly with cooked glutinous rice flour or a little icing sugar and the plunger will release the mooncake perfectly and nicely moulded.
When using moulds of different sizes, I would broadly apply the 50/50 rule - which is half snowskin and half filling. However I do like to have just a little extra dough for easy assembly.
In this Orange Cointreau Chocolate Snowskin Mooncake, the weight of my dough was 30g (instead of 25g) for the 50g mooncake mould. The extra dough once rolled out gives more surface area, making it easier to insert the filling and seal the seams.
When the filling is nicely wrapped in, simply pull off the extra dough and roll it into a smooth ball before moulding. Peeling off the excess dough also gives a more even wrap since the snowskin will not be too thick at its seams. Watch the recipe video @4:55min to see how this is done.
#4 Make Ahead
The chocolate lotus paste filling and the white nutty chocolate centre are great make ahead and can be stored for 3-4 days airtight and well chilled in the fridge. I usually make the filling a few days ahead and store it chilled.
As the mochi soft snowskin does not keep well (see #7 below), on the day of serving or gifting, simply prepare the snowskin, assemble the mooncake and consume or gift them freshly made to family and friends.
#5 How to get clean sharp edges
For clean pristine sharp edges, I like to clean out the mould after each use. The snowskin is mochi soft but it also tends to be a little sticky. Therefore some dough bits may remain stuck in the crevices of the plunger after moulding.
These remnant pieces if they remain, will affect the moulding of the next mooncake therefore take a minute to remove them. This little effort will give you success in getting those nice pristine sharp edges and a beautiful mooncake.
#6 Type of flour
It is important not to confuse the two different types of glutinous rice flour. The glutinous rice flour is used in making the snowskin batter whilst the cooked or fried glutinous rice flour is used only for dusting.
Cooked or fried glutinous rice flour ** also called Gao Fen (糕粉) is readily available at bake shops during Mid Autumn season. For those who prefer not to cook or fry their own, you can easily get it store bought. However if you are getting both rice flours from the store, make sure you do not confuse the two types of glutinous rice flours when making the batter. An alternative to cooked flour is to use a little powdered sugar for dusting.
** There are snowskin mooncakes which use cooked glutinous rice flour together with shortening or butter in the snowskin batter. However my Orange Cointreau Chocolate Mooncake is a different recipe as I do not use any fat content (except milk) in the snowskin therefore the cooked glutinous rice flour is used merely for flouring or dusting.
#7 Storage
I know many store bought snowskin mooncakes can usually be stored in the freezer for up to a few weeks. But hand on heart, I can’t say the same for homemade snowskin mooncakes as they are made without preservatives. I find that homemade snowskin mooncakes do not keep well frozen as the snowskin would have hardened after freezing. Even after thawing, it will not have the same mochi-like texture anymore.
Personally, this Orange Cointreau Chocolate Snowskin Mooncake is best eaten fresh within 1-2 days, always kept only well chilled in the refrigerator and not frozen. It is probably still acceptable if stored chilled for 3-4 days but by then, I find the chocolate snow-skin would not be as mochi-soft and chewy as when it was freshly made. Therefore as much as possible, try and eat it fresh.