Are you ready to amaze your family with these ice cream mooncakes. They are a must-have to celebrate the Chinese New Year. This year, you can add a twist to this sweet tradition with Ice Cream Mooncakes. Handcrafted using the finest ice cream coated in dark chocolate, these tantalizing mooncakes promise slow-melting moments of pleasure. One slice simply isn’t enough.
Traditional Mooncakes. Or Chinese Mooncakes. Have you tried these yet?
A traditional mooncake is a Chinese bakery product that you can find mostly during the Mid-Autumn Festival and Lunar New Year. It is a celebration cake with thick filling made from red bean to lotus seed or salted egg yolks, usually, duck eggs.
However, these days you can easily find mooncakes with decadent, creative fillings, such as green tea, just like they have in Hong Kong. Since the cake is rich in texture and flavor, Chinese mooncakes are usually eaten in small wedges with a cup of tea to balance the richness.
Contemporary mooncakes are yielding some interesting versions, with one of the most popular being ice cream mooncakes. Ice cream mooncakes are normally a square or round shape that have the same product make-up as traditional mooncakes. You make the crust from white chocolate or dark chocolate for a variance in flavor and color.
You fill an ice cream mooncake with your favorite flavored ice cream, but you can also find an “egg yolk” inside. This egg yolk is round and orange (or a similar color) which creates a similar look to egg yolk in traditional mooncakes.
Ice cream mooncakes look just like traditional mooncakes. The main difference is the key ingredient used to make the mooncakes. Similarly to snow skin mooncakes, you need to refrigerate ice cream mooncakes.
The most popular ice cream flavors used for ice cream mooncakes are chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, coffee, cookies & cream, macadamia nut, durian, and rum raisin. You can even get creative and add Baileys if you want.
Many companies like Häagen-Dazs and Starbucks don’t offer any Chinese items on their menu. Ice cream mooncakes are only offered as a seasonal specialty product during the Chinese New Year festival mid-autumn.
Lunar New Year is just a few days away, and it is a tradition to get together with family over dinner, called “reunion dinner.” We have been discussing this for quite some time since our family has grown. We try to keep the tradition alive although we, too often, have to adjust it quite a bit. Usually, Mom cooks eight dishes since eight represents good luck, gaining prosperity, and ‘perfect’ (infinity symbol) in Chinese tradition. However, in this case, Mom will cook eight of our favorite dishes.
Lunar New Year is also a celebration of hard work put in over the past year as well as well wishes for a prosperous new year. So, there will be lots of firecrackers, gold and red colors and decorations, and festivities that go on for two weeks.
In case you are interested in other easy Chinese New Year recipes, here are some ideas:
And this year, I’m bringing more sweets to the table with this mooncake ice cream. The idea has been around for years, and Häagen Dazs also makes this ice cream-flavored mooncake popular. Skip preheating your oven and forget about egg wash to make your homestyle mooncakes golden brown because this ice cream mooncake is so easy to make at home and I’ll show you the step-by-step tutorial in this video.
The only downside is that my silicone mat is too shallow so I could not add a second layer of different ice cream into this mooncake to represent egg yolk. But this is still a good one to enjoy and share during Lunar New Year.
Ingredients
- 10 oz chocolate dark melting wafers
- Your favorite ice cream or Taro ice cream
Instructions
- Melt the dark chocolate and let it cool down slightly. Coat mooncake molds with chocolate and place in the fridge for 15-20 minutes until fully set.
- Fill 2/3 of the mold with ice cream and put it into the freezer for 30 minutes.
- Melt the rest of dark chocolate and let it cool slightly. Cover the mold with melted chocolate and freeze it overnight.
Oh my! That looks so good! I want one!
Belle | One Awesome Momma
Thank you, Belle!
Omg! Ice cream mooncakes recipe looks super delish! I’ve never eaten them but they sound so yummy!
Thank you, Jessica. I’m sure you’re gonna like it 😉
I need to make these for my best friend. I never thought of making ice cream mooncakes! We are going to celebrate with dim sum, maybe I’ll make them have a clementine ice cream for luck!
Wow that sounds good, Krysten. Awesome idea 😉
These look so good! I’ve been looking for a recipe for dessert to take to a party this weekend – I may be trying these out!
Thank you, Ali! I hope everybody loved this recipe at the party 😉
LOVE THIS MOONCAKE! Anything with ice cream and chocolate will make me happy! I love that your mom will be making you guys’ favorite dishes for reunion dinner. That’s what I would want to! Happy New Year to you and your family, Linda!
Thank you, Lokness! I hope you had a great time and Happy New Year to you and your family, too!
These are so pretty and look delicious! I want to try these now!
Thank you, Cara!
Oh my goodness, all of this food sounds delicious! I have to get some ice cream now ASAP.
Thank you, Cori! There’s no such thing as too much ice cream 😉
These look insanely good!
Thank you, Lane & Holly!
Such a creative idea!
Thank you, Megan!
These mooncakes look so delish! Taro ice cream and moon cakes! And chocolates? This is dessert’s lover heaven! Happy New Year to you and your family!
Thank you, Amy!
OhhEmmGeeee I need these in my life!!
Thank you, Bobbi! I’m glad you feel the same way with me 😉
These look so yummy!
Thank you, Rachel!
Those all look delicious! I’ve never tried one.
Chelsea – http://www.binkiesandbaubles.com
Thank you, Chelsea! Hoping you get a chance to try one 🙂
Wow, these cakes are so pretty! I love the detail on top!
Thank you, Madi! I also fell in love with the detail 🙂
I have been wanting to check out your recipe for weeks!! It’s so creative and any ice cream recipe will be my favorite! Where did you find a silicon moon cake mold?
Thank you, Sharon. I got the mold online from Amazon 🙂
you are so so talented! this is amazing!
Thank you so much, Deb! Same thing goes to you 🙂
Loving all of the ideas for Chinese New Year! Definitely going to try the mooncakes!
Thank you, Natalie! Have fun with the recipe 🙂
Your mooncakes are spectacular! Love your molds, too!!!
Lisa, those Ice Cream Mooncakes look soooo delicious. I’m going to ask my wife to make me some. I love ice cream. Thank you for sharing the incredible recipe!
SeekAndRead | SeekAndRead | Family Lifestyle
These look so good! I’ve been looking for a recipe for dessert to take to a party this weekend – I may be trying these out! thanks for sharing this article
This recipe is a fun twist on traditional moon cakes. I want to get a mold and make these myself. When we are in Chinatown in San Francisco we also get a couple of mooncakes.
I have never tried to make it, but it looks easy and delicious.
I am going to prepare this for my kids.