Moon cake mission Alhambra

The harvest moon will light up the sky Monday night, signaling the Asian mid-Autumn festival, known in Chinese as Zhongqiu Jie (中秋節). For weeks leading up to the holiday families and friends have given these cakes as gifts to friends and relatives.

But the LA Times reports from Beijing that the moon cake is like the Asian version of the fruitcake: The holiday specialty that almost noone really likes.

Back in the era of scarcity, they were a rare calorie-rich treat to fill the chronically hungry belly. Nowadays, the mooncake has become the Christmas fruitcake of China, passed around and regifted ad infinitum.

A typical 6.3-ounce mooncake has about 800 calories. By contrast, a McDonald's hot fudge sundae, which weighs the same, has only 330 calories.

Last year, health officials in Taiwan warned the public to lay off the mooncakes and instead indulge in fruits and vegetables. But mooncake-haters notwithstanding, nutritionists and dietitians in Beijing doubt that health warnings will dissuade people from eating them.

The traditionally lard-based pastry can be filled with anything from red bean to lotus paste to green tea. But, the quality of the moon cake traditially depends on the egg yolk found in the middle of the cake. It represents the harvest moon, which is believed to be the roundest and brightest on Zhongqiu Jie.