Mooncakes have a rather interesting history. During the Yuan dynasty (1280-1368), much of China was under Mongolian rule. The leaders of the preceding Song dynasty (960-1280) were not at all happy with the situation and decided to take back control of the territory. In order to hide their plans of rebellion from the foreigners, the leaders of the insurgence ordered a special batch of cakes to be baked. Well aware of the fact that the Moon Festival was drawing near, the rebels placed messages containing the plan of attack inside the cakes. On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), as well as the start of mooncake eating. Today, mooncakes are still eaten to commemorate this legend. 

Mooncake lovers of today have plenty of stuff to choose from. Regional differences have resulted in mooncakes of various appearances, flavors and tastes. Traditional Beijing mooncake, like sesame cake, is very crisp. Jiangsu mooncake have many thin flakes of dough cover. And when it comes to Guangdong mooncake, it is more like a pastry with stuffing. 

Recently, a bunch of new mooncakes have emerged. Here are some examples of new, inventive options: 

Snowy mooncake 

Snowy mooncakes made their first appearance on the market in the early 1980s. The name "snowy" comes from the fact that it is a non-baked, chilled mooncake. Initially, snowy mooncakes were filled with traditional fillings such as lotus seed, red bean, or mung bean paste. However, after Raffles Hotel in Singapore successfully launched a champagne truffle snow-skin mooncake in 1994, a wave of modern mooncakes followed. Ice cream giant Häagen-Dazs quickly followed on from this innovation, and were one of the first to create an ice-cream mooncake, with a choice of either the "traditional," snow-skin, or Belgian white, milk, and dark chocolate crusts. 

Fruit mooncake 

This is more like a desert as the stuffing is made of fruits, including honeydew, pineapple, litchi, strawberry and orange. The fruit is then mixed with fruit juices, and gives a fragrant and sweet taste. 

Coconut cream mooncake 

Yet another desert version. Here, the filling is made if freshly extracted coconut cream, evaporated milk and melon or fruits. This kind of cake is especially popular amongst ladies as it is said to have beautifying effects. 

Tea leaf mooncake 

In a country where there's green tea lattes and pastries, there obviously also needs to be tea leaf mooncakes! In this cake, the fillings is made of fresh green tea. With a delicate fragrance, this cake us much nicer than some of the green tea pastries we have come across. 

There are also ginseng mooncakes, cream cheese mooncaske, bird's nest mooncakes, durian mooncakes, chocolate mooncakes and so on. And over the years we will probably continue to see new versions emerge. 

A health note 

We can only hope that those new mooncake versions are healthier than what they used to be. Over the years a lot of newspapers around the world have written libraries of articles about what a calorie bomb mooncakes in fact are. According to an analysis by Singapore's Health Promotion Board, a baked mooncake with four egg yolks contains 975 calories and 46 grams of sugar - half the recommended daily calorie intake for an adult. Many shops have recently started to offer healthier versions though, with less salt and white sugar.