BUKIT MERTAJAM: A group of eight pastry workers has come up with a 218kg fragrant mooncake, which has been billed as the largest and heaviest handmade mooncake in Penang.

Eight people are needed to carry the “rainbow” mooncake, which is multicoloured and has eight layers of filling. When cut into bite sizes, it can feed 6,000 people.

The mooncake, which costs RM18,000, will be a major attraction at the state-level Mid-Autumn Festival 2010 celebrations in Kampung Baru here tomorrow.

The workers spent 12 hours baking the mooncake, which has a height of 33cm and a diameter of 96.52cm.

Leong Yin Pastry Sdn Bhd chairman Leong Seng Yoon, who headed the team, said the baking on Wednesday took merely an hour but the preparation of the ingredients consumed a longer time.

Big yummy treat: Leong showing the mooncake at his factory in Juru yesterday.

“We used 21kg of wheat flour to make the hand-carved crust while pure lotus paste was used to prepare the mooncake filling, which was separated into eight portions and blended with different flavours.

“The pastes were arranged in layers from blueberry, cranberry, emerald pandan, white lotus, US lemon, apple and white coffee to the original lotus paste on the top,” he said at his factory at Jalan Industri Beringin in Juru yesterday.

The 65-year-old said the mooncake would be served to the people who attended the celebrations.

Leong, an international juror and adviser in mooncake-baking competitions with 30 years of experience, said that among the difficult tasks when making the pastry was to ensure the mooncake’s crust did not get burnt as it was a mere 4mm.

Leong’s son, Kok Fei, who is the firm’s managing director, said the 20-year old company, which supplies high-quality lotus pastes locally and internationally, had over 100 lotus paste flavours to its record.

The company, which has its own research and development unit and laboratory, also received gold awards from the China Food Industry Association for its white coffee, pure lotus and emerald pandan pastes recently.

Kok Fei said the eight tiers for the filling was made possible because of the 100% usage of pure lotus paste that enabled the structure to “stand firm”.

“We will give away three replicas of the eight-layer mooncake, weighing 1.25kg each, to those who answer a quiz on the history of the Mid-Autumn festival during the event,” he added.

• Alliance full year profit up 7% to RM538mil
• Bumi Armada's earnings up 22% to RM109.67mil, order book RM12.2b
• Dayang bags RM2bil contract from Shell
• CIMB earnings up 37.1% to RM1.386b in Q1, 2013
• MMHE Q1 earnings down 35% to RM50.59m
• KLCI closes a shade below record high
• AmIncome Flexi bond fund to attract RM200m investments
• EPF invests additional US$1.3b overseas
• MIDA: Investments up 44% on-year to RM49.3b in Q1
• Prague metro plans to launch love train for singles
• iGate sacks chief executive Murthy after sexual harassment probe
• Eversendai Q1 earnings slip 13.1% to RM23.68m on timing differences
• US asks judge to deny S&P's motion to dismiss fraud lawsuit
• Perdana Petroleum bidding for over RM1b contracts
• IOI Corp Q3 earnings up just 2.8% to RM567.8m (Update)

• 6.0 quake off Russia's far-east Kamchatka coastline: USGS
• Death toll rises to 21 in Indonesian mine collapse
• Dozens dead as tornado hits Oklahoma City (Updated)
• No new H7N9 cases in China for a week: government
• Villagers discover ancient ball game statue in Mexico
• British PM survives gay marriage vote
• Kerry to help ink $2.1 bn defense accord with Oman
• Yahoo unveils makeover of flickr site

• China crush arch rivals Indonesia
• Former Asian phenom takes slow route to success
• Plenty for Hafizh as 55 is significant in his early racing career
• Yi Ting on a mission
• Razif: Indiscipline the cause of senior players’ poor performances
• Cool V Shem believes he will be too hot for rivals to handle
• Spirited Malaysian team vow to deliver against Germans
• Japan hope to reach their first semis in tourney
• KLHC to rule the roost if other teams don’t raise their game
• Malaysia have their work cut out in the World League
• Gobi’s fate to be decided by MHC’s administrative committee
• Andre nails it with last jump
• Grace hammers home a point with two golds
• Delia one step away from main draw after easy win
• Sharon believes KPT circuit is excellent for squash’s future

• Please wait.

• Sarawak ministers, assemblymen get three-fold pay hike
• Rape accused defends marriage to 13-year-old, says it was mutual
• Kerry visits Oman for arms deal, talks on Syria, Mideast
• Malindo set to operate from Subang Skypark
• MAS flew baby home with doctor's certification, says CEO Ahmad Jauhari
• Cops urge motorists to avoid roads near Dataran PJ Thursday evening
• Coconut yogurt anyone?
• AmIncome Flexi bond fund to attract RM200m investments
• The best ways to national unity
• ‘Boycott will be self-defeating’