• Preheat oven to 350℉ (175℃)

Make the Black Sesame Paste

• If using whole sesame seeds, toast them in a dry skillet over medium heat for about 3-5 minutes until fragrant.
• The seeds can burn quickly, so make sure you keep an eye on them.
• Set aside until cool to touch, then grind into a fine powder(similar to coarse sand) using a food processor.
• You do not want pieces of black sesame seeds in the powder. However, if you grind the black sesame too much, it will start to become a paste.
• In a bowl, mix the black sesame powder, honey, coconut cream, desiccated coconut, and salt until smooth.
• Using a large cookie dough scoop (2 tablespoon size) scoop out 12 even amounts and roll into balls. I use a scale, so that all the balls are an even weight and amount of black sesame filling. If you don't have a scale, just eyeball it!
• Put all the balls onto a parchment covered baking sheet and put in the refrigerator to cool, until ready to form the mooncakes.

Prepare the Dough:

• In a mixing bowl, whisk together the cake flour and bread flour.
• Add honey, vegetable oil, water, and a pinch of salt.
• Mix with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms, but the dough is still raggedy.
• Knead the dough by hand until it's smooth. If it’s too sticky, put a small bit of flour on your hands while kneading. (see video for reference)
• Plop the dough onto a large square sheet of cling wrap.
• Form the dough into a large disc about 1 inch tall. Cover with the cling wrap.
• The dough will be very soft because of the cake flour. This yields a very tender and lovely mooncake, but may be too soft to form into balls. Put the dough into the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes so that it can firm up a bit.
• When the dough is a little more firm, cut the disc into 12 even amounts and roll into balls. I use a scale, so that all the balls are an even weight and amount of dough. If you don't have a scale, just eyeball it!
• Put the doughballs onto a parchment covered baking sheet, or if there is room on the black sesame filling sheet, place on one side of the sheet.

Form the Mooncakes: (with my special wrapping method!)

• Use the sheet of cling wrap that you used to wrap the dough, and place it on your work surface.
• Place a portion of dough on it.
• Flatten the dough into a circle with your fingers. It should be approximately 4-5 inches in diameter.
• Place a ball of black sesame paste in the center of the dough disc.
• This is where you use my special wrapping method, because the dough is so soft.
• Use the cling wrap to gently lift and fold the dough up and over the filling, on all four sides.
• Pick up the ball in your hand, pinch the dough together, sealing it at the top.
• Roll the mooncake into a smooth sphere.
• Choose a pattern for the mooncake mold, and put the sphere of dough into the mold.
• Put the mold flat on the baking sheet and press down firmly on the plunger, imprinting the pattern into the mooncake.
• It may take a few times to get the correct amount of pressure to apply.
• But, once you figure it out, it'll be a piece of (moon) cake! See what I did there?
• Lift up the press, and push the plunger, releasing the mooncake onto your hand.
• Place back on the cookie sheet on top of the parchment until you have formed all 12 mooncakes. Place them evenly on the sheet with at least 1½ inches between cakes.

Bake:

• Bake for 10 minutes, until slightly brown.
• Take out of the oven, and let cool for 10 minutes.
• Prepare an egg wash by whisking the egg and water together.
• Brush each mooncake with the egg wash, making sure you brush not only the tops but the sides also.
• Blot the top of each mooncake gently with a paper towel. If there is eggwash sitting in the crevices of the mooncake top, the pattern will deflate and not be as crisp as it currently is.
• Put the mooncakes back in the oven and bake for another 10 minutes, until golden brown. The edges will be a darker brown, and the pattern will have some lighter brown on it. The mooncake will continue to cook a bit after you take it out of the oven, so don't worry about it all being a deep brown.
• Let cool slightly before serving.