Umai! : Wintermelon Cake

Last weekend we went to Seaside to visit my grandmother and my aunt (who was visiting from Sacramento). Travelling with her were some mooncakes and mooncake's cousin, the winter melon cake.

It's much lighter than a mooncake, with a flaky egg yolk-brushed crust and a sweet, almost-crystallized-candy interior.

The filling is made from winter melons, which my aunt says are grown fresh in Sacramento, and made locally. However I am a ridiculously bad blogger that forgot the name of the bakery she got them from.  Maybe I will ask here again later and then come back and edit, that way it looks like I knew what I was talking about from the beginning!

A winter melon. (source)

Part of the honeydew family. (source)

I've had plenty of failed winter melon cakes, and a bad one will be too heavy and chewy-like-a-gummy-bear.  These, however, were amazing.  You could even see the melon pieces in the filling, so you know it's legit. They go well with tea, but shouldn't necessarily need the tea as a mooncake would. Winter melon cakes are one of my grandmother's favorite desserts, so we always try to find a fresh, flaky tasty one for her when we're in Chinatown.

Incidentally, I don't think I've ever had fresh winter melon.  Have you had winter melon before? I hear it makes for a pretty tasty melon soup too.


Other Desserts:

Red Bean Mochi Soup
Hawaiian Bread Pudding
Mooncakes
Tofu Pie
Bibingka Galapong