Largest mooncake in PHL unveiled for Mid-autumn Festival

The Chinese-Filipino community's celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival this year is made even more special because a Chinese deli shop has put on display the largest mooncake ever created in the Philippines.

Eng Bee Tin, a bakeshop known for selling Chinese delicacies such as hopia and tikoy, has crafted a 3-inch tall mooncake with a 24-inch diameter in commemoration of the occasion. In contrast, a regular mooncake only has a diameter of 3 inches.

The large cake is currently on display at the store's Binondo branch in Manila.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is the second most important feast for the Chinese after the Chinese New Year. This year, the occasion was observed on September 19, the 15th day of the 8th month in the Chinese lunar calendar. It is also known as the Moon Festival because its celebration coincides at the time of the year when the moon is at its roundest and brightest.

Mid-Autumn festival celebrations usually involve families and friends partaking of the mooncake, a rectangular or round-shaped pastry containing a thick filling made from red bean or lotus seed paste. Some mooncakes also contain yolks from salted duck eggs as a symbol of a full moon.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest mooncake in the world was made in 2001 in Toronto, Canada during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The 589-kilogram cake, which took 20 bakers two days to produce, measured 4.41 meters long and 2.74 meters wide. It was created with 589.67 kilograms of flour, over 2,000 eggs and 1,360.77 kilograms of lotus paste and red bean paste. — VC, GMA News