Osmanthus is one of the top ten famous flowers in China and blooms in autumn. Therefore, osmanthus cake was traditionally one of the festive pastries during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Osmanthus cake is a traditional pastry made with osmanthus, goji berries, rock sugar, and other ingredients. It has a fragrant and refreshing taste and is known for its beauty and moisturizing effects on the skin and lungs, making it popular among people of all ages and genders.
It is said that osmanthus cake has a history of more than 300 years and was a popular snack in the imperial palace. It was also Empress Dowager Cixi's favorite pastry. Legend has it that the osmanthus flowers in Guilin were actually picked by the famous Ming Dynasty scholar Yang Sheng'an from the Moon Palace.
One day, Yang Sheng'an dreamt of the God of Wealth, who sent the Dragon King of the Western Sea to take him to the Moon Palace. In the Moon Palace, Yang Sheng'an saw a magnificent palace and a tall osmanthus tree. He climbed the tree and picked some osmanthus branches to take back to his study. After this extraordinary experience, Yang Sheng'an even became the top scholar in the imperial examination and became a famous scholar of his time.
