Milo jelly mooncake with cream cheese filling.

Mid-Autumn Festival is coming in two days. A little discouraged by my past efforts in trying to make snow skin mooncake, this year, I had picked up the courage to try making jelly mooncake.

My first attempt did not end well. Instead of measuring the agar agar powder using a weighing scale, I used teaspoon as called by the recipes. As a result, the jelly fillings ended up a little runny instead of firm. I didn't even get to the stage of making the mooncake "skin" since the fillings would not set.

My second attempt was better. I read through this article on using agar agar. But the discouragement I received from my first time prompted me to pour in more than enough agar agar. The jelly mooncakes turned out stiff.

My third attempt was much better. For this Milo Jelly Mooncake with Cream Cheese Filling, I referred to Ellena Guan's recipe for Chocolate Jelly Mooncake with Milk and Cream Cheese. I replaced cocoa powder with Milo powder.

Instead of the more conventional jelly mooncake plastic mould, I used silicone mould bought from Jadi. Jellies can be unmoulded easily when using a silicone mould. Besides, silicone is more resistant to heat and pressure compared to plastic mould (usually made from polyethylene terephthalate) which is not really heat-safe. 

Milo Jelly Mooncake with Cream Cheese Filling (makes 6 small jelly mooncakes)

For the fillings:

100 g cream cheese

200 ml full cream milk

4 tbsp granulated sugar (feel free to adjust accordingly)

5 g agar agar powder

1. Heat milk and cream cheese in a pan. Stir until cheese has completely melted.

2. Add in sugar and agar agar powder. Keep stirring to incorporate powder into liquid.

3. Boil liquid for 2 minutes while stirring constantly.

4. Remove from heat. Scoop fillings into 6 muffin cups. Cool fillings at room temperature and then chill for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, make the "skin".

5. Remove fillings from muffin cups. Make a few scratches on top of each jelly using a knife or a toothpick on the surface.

For the "skin":

5 tbsp Milo powder

500 ml water

3 tbsp granulated sugar (feel free to adjust accordingly)

7.5 g agar agar powder

1. Boil water in a pan, then add Milo powder and stir until it has completely dissolved.

2. Add in sugar and agar agar powder. Keep stirring to incorporate powder into liquid.

3. Boil liquid for 2 minutes while stirring constantly.

4. Remove from heat. Scoop about 2 tbsp of Milo jelly liquid into each mooncake mould. Chill for about 5 minutes. The jellies would form a thin film on the surface.

5. Carefully place filling into the middle of each mooncake mould. Scoop in the rest of the Milo jelly to cover the filling.

6. Chill for at least 15 minutes before unmoulding.