Water Dough

• Blitz the cake flour, powdered sugar and salt in the food processor for a few seconds to combine.
• Add in the unsalted butter@room temperature and blitz till crumb-like.
• Pour in 60ml water in two parts and mix till a soft dough forms. Dough should be soft and not sticky.
• There is no kneading required. Simply form the dough into a ball, wrap in parchment and rest it for 2-4 hours.

Oil Dough

• Blitz the cake flour and salt in the food processor for a few seconds to mix it up. Add the vegetable shortening and blitz till small clumps.
• Pour out the clumps onto parchment and press into a dough ball (the clumps are malleable and do not stick to the hand).
• Form the dough into a rough cylinder and divide into ~ 4 equal parts.
• Color each part with your desired gel coloring. Cover loosely with parchment to prevent drying & set aside.

Option 1: Plain Yam Filling

• Measure and divide the yam filling into ten 50g portions. This recipe makes 10 rainbow mooncakes,
• Roll each filling into a ball (Optional, for added texture, I added some sunflower seeds and rolled them into each ball).
• If not immediately assembling the mooncake, always cover with parchment or cling wrap to prevent drying.

Option 2: Yam with Salted Yolk Filling

• Separate the salted yolks from whites and rinse lightly with water to cleanse.
• To remove any strong yolky smell, dip each yolk in mirin before baking.
• Bake the cleansed yolks for ~ 3 min @150C. Once cooked, set aside to cool for 15 min.
• To make the filling, measure each yolk and yam paste into 50g portions. Wrap the yolk in the yam paste and roll into a ball

Assembly

• Weigh and divide the water dough and oil dough into 5 equal portions.
• There are 2 ways of rolling the rainbow pastry. For pictorial steps, please refer to the post above.

*The Free Form Roll*

Step 1: Combining the water dough and oil dough

• Roll out the water dough (1 portion) into a rough circle. Place the colored oil dough (1 portion each) onto the circle, close up and seal the seams well.

Step 2: Vertical Straight Roll

• Press out the combined dough vertically into a long rectangle. Starting from the bottom, roll the dough vertically straight up into a cylinder.

Step 3: Horizontal Angled Roll

• Turn the dough cylinder vertical and press out into a long rectangle. Roll the dough horizontally at an angle into a narrow long row.

Step 4: Vertical Inward Roll

• Again turn the dough vertical and press out into a long meandering line. Then choose your color tip. The tip that you start rolling from will be the color at the top of the mooncake. From the chosen tip, roll the dough inward to form a compact rainbow roll. Cut the roll into half and you will see the beautiful rainbow pastry formed.

Step 5: Wrapping the Filling

• Take one half of the rainbow dough, placing the cut side facing down, roll out into ~ an 8cm round. Place in the filling and slowly wrap the rainbow dough around the filling. Check the flip-side to see that the apex of the rainbow is properly centred. Close up the dough and seal the seams well and the rainbow mooncake is complete.

*The Structured Roll*

Step 1: Combining the water dough and oil dough

• Roll out the water dough (1 portion) into a rough rectangle. Shape the colored oil dough long (1 portion each) and place them horizontal one after another onto the water dough. Close up and seal the seams well.

Step 2: Vertical Straight Roll

• Turn the combined dough 90 degrees and then press out vertically into a long rectangle. Starting from the bottom, roll the dough vertically straight up into a cylinder.

Step 3: Horizontal Angled Roll

• Turn the dough cylinder vertical and press out into a long rectangle. Roll the dough horizontally at an angle into a narrow long row.

Step 4: Vertical Inward Roll

• Again turn the dough vertical and press out into a long meandering line. Then choose your color tip. The tip that you start rolling from will be the color at the top of the mooncake. From the chosen tip, roll the dough inward to form a compact rainbow roll. Cut the roll into half and you will see the beautiful rainbow pastry formed.

Step 5: Wrapping the Filling

• Take one half of the rainbow dough, placing the cut side facing down, roll out into ~ an 8cm round. Place in the filling and slowly wrap the rainbow dough around the filling. Check the flip-side to see that the apex of the rainbow is properly centred. Close up the dough and seal the seams well and the rainbow mooncake is complete.

Bake

• Preheat oven to 150C. Bake the Rainbow Mooncakes for 25-30 minutes. Cool for 10-15 minutes and serve warm.