Special thanks to Vivien’s Home Made for extending this product review invitation.
Promotion: Vivien’s Home Made offers RM10 discount for purchase of at least 3 boxes of Shanghai Mooncakes, plus 2 free Shanghai Mooncakes for purchase of 4 boxes. Just mention “Penang Food For Thought” when placing order. Promotion is valid for limited time only. Terms and conditions apply. For details, please contact Vivien’s Home Made by phone at 012-224-4757, through WeChat (viviensoh87) or through Facebook.
Vivien’s Home Made is one of the many mooncakes sellers this year. Unlike most sellers, this brand is distinctive for using commercial-grade vacuum seal for each individual mooncake. As a result, the mooncakes of Vivien’s Home Made are highly presentable as gifts for this upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival.
The bestselling mooncakes are Shanghai Mooncakes (上海月饼), which use Golden Churn Butter, a premium brand of butter from Australia. Each mooncake is sold for RM14.50 with yolk, and RM13.00 without.
There are 3 types of flavors to choose from: Red Bean Paste (豆沙), Pandan Lotus (翡翠) and Yolk Lotus (莲蓉). Each type is differentiated with a different type of seed as topping: sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds and melon seeds respectively.
The Single Yolk Red Bean Paste (单黄豆沙) type is quite rich in flavor. The pastry layer is actually quite thin; red bean paste makes up most of its volume. Salted egg yolk is positioned right in the middle of the mooncake.
Meanwhile, Single Yolk Pandan Lotus (单黄翡翠) version is green in color due to the use of pandan leaf extract. Unfortunately, the fragrance of pandan is somewhat lacking.
As for Single Egg Yolk Lotus (单黄莲蓉), this mooncake is on the sweeter side of my comfortable zone. I think the level of sweetness should be toned down.
Gong Zai Cookies (公仔饼) is an experimental product by Vivien’s Home Made. Meaning “doll cookies”, these cookies come in various shapes such swine, fish and car. I feel that the pastry layer is too tough. By right, the pastry should be able to crumble easily in the mouth.
Vivien’s Home Made also features Snow Skin Mooncakes (冰皮月饼). There are two types of flavors available: Pinky (甜根菜) and Blue Sky (兰花). Both are filled with black sesame paste, so only the type of skin differs.
The Pinky Snow Skin (甜根菜冰皮) has pink-colored soft skin made from beetroot. Like some of the Shanghai Mooncakes, I feel that the level of sweetness should be reduced.
As for the Blue Sky Snow Skin (兰花冰皮), the skin is dyed blue using butterfly-pea flower. This type of natural dye is seldom used in mooncakes.
Vivien’s Home Made does not use artificial preservatives, so the mooncakes are baked one day beforehand to maintain freshness. Customers can arrange to collect their orders at pick-up points at Auto-City and e-Gate every Friday and Saturday.
Name: Vivien’s Home Made
Address: N/A
Contact: 012-224-4757
Business hours: N/A
Website: https://www.facebook.com/vivien.soh.1
Coordinates: N/A
Directions: N/A
