Yang Guang Ke Le Is Selling $58 Mooncakes, Will Personally Deliver If You Order 10 Boxes
If you've been seeing snapshots of Malaysian actress and getai star Yang Guang Ke Le dressed in Chinese period costume on social media, it's not for a new Mediacorp period drama or getai performance. The 27-year-old is selling mooncakes for Mid-Autumn Festival and decided to dress up as, um, Chinese moon goddess Chang’e to promote her offerings.
The entrepreneurial star, who runs a café in Johor Bahru with her older brother, has always wanted to start her own line of festive treats. After much procrastination, she finally got down to planning her first offering – traditional mooncakes – and launched it earlier this month.
The mooncakes are a collaboration with Pink Ice Cream Café, a pink-themed joint which specialises in gelato and desserts in Kallang. Together, they invested a mid five-figure sum on the passion project.
“I’m friends with the lady boss and one day I shared with her my wish to create traditional mooncakes. She also had plans to offer mooncakes at her café, so we decided to work together. It all happened very quickly,” Ke Le tells 8days.sg.
Taste that takes her back to her childhood
The idea was to introduce a healthier alternative to the indulgent treat as well as “recreate nostalgic flavours” from Ke Le’s childhood.
“When I was young, I would look forward to festive occasions when the family would gather to eat and celebrate together, so I wanted to evoke the feeling of family bonding over mooncakes together. I hope customers will have nostalgic ‘feels’ too when they eat my mooncakes,” shares Ke Le.
Which is why she only offers traditional baked mooncakes in classic flavours like lotus paste and red bean. None of those new-fangled fillings or iterations with snow skin, ice cream or durian.
Halal mooncakes in 4 flavours
Produced in the café’s central kitchen, the hand-crafted gems are halal and contain less sugar. Each box comes with four mooncakes: red bean, pandan, lotus paste, lotus paste with single yolk. The fillings, which are from a supplier, contain a sprinkling of melon seeds for crunch.
Ke Le worked with the café’s pastry chef to perfect the taste, and while it is not 100 percent the taste of her childhood, she says it is close.
“What I like about the mooncakes is they are very aromatic and not too sweet or cloying, so you can eat an entire mooncake in one go. The skin is also not too thick,” says the bubbly host, adding that pandan is her favourite.
Mooncake box features Ke Le as Chang’e
But what she’s most proud of is the cutesy pink packaging, which reflects her quirky personality.
Designed and conceptualised by Ke Le, the box features a cartoon bunny that reminds us of Cony from LINE Friends on the exterior. When you open it, you will be greeted by a 3D pop-up of Chang’e.
“This is what I would imagine myself to look if I were a cartoon version of Chang’e,” laughs Ke Le.
The box is designed with a handle so it’s easy to carry and comes with a stainless steel fork and knife.
1,000 boxes available
The mooncakes are available for order via WhatsApp at 8886 8997 at $58 a box. If you order three boxes and above, you can get them at a discounted price of $46 each, inclusive of delivery.
“If customers purchase 10 boxes and above, I will personally deliver the mooncakes to thank them for their support,” declares Ke Le.
But don’t expect her to come all dressed up like Chang’e like her promotional pics.
“Too effort already lah! It takes too much time to dress up in period costume. The hair alone took me an hour to fix. It’s not a hair piece, but my real hair. I modelled my look after [Chinese actress] Zhao Lusi but am not as pretty. I am the pirated version,” she laughs.
Ke Le, who has been promoting her mooncakes on live stream and at getai shows, shares sales have been encouraging, with more than half of the 1,000 available sets snapped up.
She also plans to sell her mooncakes at her getai gigs.
“I host getai shows at different venues every night, so it is a good chance to sell my mooncakes there. I don’t think the organisers mind as it doesn’t interfere with my hosting work,” she says.
WhatsApp 8886 8997 to order. More info on Instagram.
Photos: Yang Guang Ke Le
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