Mooncarons: the mooncake gets a French makeover

It seems mooncakes can be made of anything these days. From the traditional red-bean- and lotus-seed-paste-filled pastries of yore has flowed a stream of variations, made with ice-cream, coffee and jelly, and even in the shape of bottoms (we're looking at you, Goods of Desire).

Now, another variety has emerged: mooncarons feature the caramelised crust and custardy centre of Bordeaux speciality the canelé topped with Lyon delicacy the macaron, and are designed to visually resemble the Chinese mooncake.

The brainchild of Louis-Antoine Giroud, the French chief executive and head chef at IPC Foodlab, in Fanling, mooncarons are made with French ingredients, even down to the water used, and come in six flavours: strawberry, chocolate, lemon, vanilla, toffee and pistachio.

While he respects the tradition of classic mooncakes, Giroud, who has lived in Hong Kong for several years, believes "people are understandably bored with having the same thing year after year".

"So I thought about a new kind of mooncake as a bridge between East and West," he writes on his website.

Giroud might have come up with the concept of the mooncaron in a day, but he spent considerably longer tinkering in the kitchen to perfect its recipe.