Little flower-shaped mooncakes in white, orange, pink and purple, with a pocket of blueberry jam hidden inside. These Chinese yam mooncakes are one of the recipes from our YouTube channel, and the surprise is what they are made of: steamed Chinese yam and sweet potato. There is no flour, no starch and no oven.
Chinese yam (the long, white “iron stick” yam) and sweet potato are peeled, cut and steamed until soft. The sweet potato is mashed for the orange color. The yam is mashed with a little white sugar into a smooth white paste, and some of it is colored pink with dragon fruit juice and purple with blueberry jam. No food coloring goes in.
Then it is play-dough time. The pastes are rolled into small balls of about 20 grams, two colors are pressed together, a spoonful of blueberry jam goes in the middle, and each ball is sealed and pressed in a mooncake mold. When you bite into one, the jam bursts out, which is why the video calls them “explosion” mooncakes.
They are soft, lightly sweet and fun to make with kids, and they look far fancier than the work they take. You do need a mooncake press for the flower pattern.
What you need
- Chinese yam (iron stick yam).
- Sweet potato, for the orange color.
- White sugar, some, mixed into the yam.
- Dragon fruit juice, for the pink color.
- Blueberry jam, for the purple color and the filling.
- A steamer and a mooncake mold (press).
Our video doesn’t give amounts for the yam, sweet potato, sugar, juice or jam. The one number it gives is the size of each small ball: about 20 grams.
Chinese Yam Mooncakes
Ingredients
Method
- Peel the Chinese yam and the sweet potato and cut them into small pieces.
- Steam the yam and sweet potato until fully cooked. No flour or starch is needed.
- Mash the sweet potato into a smooth paste and roll it into a ball.
- Add some white sugar to the yam and mash it into a smooth paste. Roll it into balls.
- Color some of the yam paste: mix dragon fruit juice into one part for pink and blueberry jam into another part for purple, until the color is even. Keep some plain.
- Roll all the pastes into small balls of about 20 grams each.
- Press two small balls of different colors together and make a hollow in the middle.
- Fill the hollow with blueberry jam, seal it well and roll it into a smooth ball again.
- Press each ball in a mooncake mold to give it a flower pattern.
- Serve. When you bite into one, the jam filling bursts out.
Video
Notes
Tips
- Steam until fully soft. The yam and sweet potato must mash smooth, or the mooncakes will crack in the mold.
- Mix the color in well. Knead the juice or jam through the paste until there are no streaks.
- Seal the jam in. Pinch the paste closed around the filling and roll it smooth before pressing, so the jam stays inside.
- Press gently. A soft press is enough to print the flower pattern on a paste this soft.
Questions people ask
Is Chinese yam the same as a sweet potato?
No. In the US “yam” often means a sweet potato, but Chinese yam is a different root: long, thin, with white flesh. This recipe uses both, the white yam for the main paste and the orange sweet potato for color.
Do these mooncakes need flour?
No. The steamed yam and sweet potato hold together on their own once mashed, so no flour or starch goes in.
Can I use another jam?
Our video uses blueberry jam. Another thick jam would likely work, but that would be your own change, not what the video shows.
You might also like
- Air fryer sweet potato chunks, another easy sweet potato recipe from our channel.
- No-bake chocolate lava cake, a four-ingredient dessert with no oven.
- Air fryer pineapple pie with a lattice top, a quick dessert from our channel.
