As we are currently in the peak season for mooncake sales, major bakeries in Hong Kong have been engaged in a "mooncake war" since a week after the Dragon Boat Festival. With a dazzling array of varieties such as double yolk lotus seed paste, jujube and walnut, custard, and snow skin, it is easy to be overwhelmed. However, none of these can compare to the Piggy Basket Cake (Zhulong Bing) in the memories of Hong Kong people. It is a mooncake that every Hong Kong person has tasted, and for most, it was the very first mooncake they ever ate. Its flavor is simple, yet the aftertaste is profound.
The Piggy Basket Cake, as the name suggests, consists of a pig-shaped cake placed inside a small bamboo basket. It is a traditional food that Cantonese people would give to elders or children during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Nowadays, it is rarely seen outside of Hong Kong. The Piggy Basket Cake is made from flour mixed with sugar, with no other fillings. The appearance of the mooncake is quite detailed, featuring distinct eyes, ears, a nose, and a tail, making it look remarkably lifelike. In the eyes of Cantonese people, the plump, round shape and the simple, endearing expression of the piggy symbolize having a large, well-fed pig at home, a good omen that is deeply cherished. The most unique feature of the Piggy Basket Cake is that it is not packaged in a box, but rather in a plastic or small bamboo basket. These baskets are colorful, sometimes adorned with ribbons and plastic flowers, making them a favorite among children who can both eat the cake and play with the basket.
In the era when mooncakes were still a luxury item, not every Hong Kong family could afford to buy them for the Mid-Autumn Festival. When bakery workers were making mooncakes, they would take the leftover dough, roll it into small portions, and place them in the brick oven to test the temperature and the texture of the crust; this was the prototype of the Piggy Basket Cake. Later, in search of good fortune, these unfilled dough portions were shaped into little pigs—symbolizing fertility and prosperity—and placed in small bamboo baskets as a complimentary gift for members of "mooncake clubs." The remainder were sold at a low price to families in financial difficulty, ensuring that everyone could have a cake to eat during the Mid-Autumn Festival. This is the origin of the Piggy Basket Cake.
Today, mooncakes are no longer an unaffordable luxury, but one can still find Piggy Basket Cakes when walking into traditional bakeries in Hong Kong. In the past, when people could not afford mooncakes, eating a Piggy Basket Cake was a bittersweet joy; today, picking one up evokes more of a sense of nostalgia and sentiment for the innocent days of the past. (Text source: Takungpao)