With about a month to go before the Mid-Autumn Festival, chefs are pulling ever-more fantastical mooncakes out of the box to draw customers.

From Meritus Mandarin's one kg Celestial Moon Pie and Ritz-Carlton Millenia's lychee martini-laced treat to a mooncake from St Regis that is made with bird's nest and gilded in gold, this year's offerings are set to captivate - or confuse, depending on how you see it - local palates.

While many of the creations have been cooked up by established players, several new outfits have entered the fray with equally unusual recipes. London-based chocolate-maker Prestat, for one, has come up with a series of mooncakes named after the different lunar seasons that combines exotic ingredients such as sea-salt caramel truffle and pink champagne with the company's premium chocolate.

At 2amdessertbar, you can tuck into mini snowskin mooncakes infused with Chivas Regal and filled with Valrhona chocolate. Or, sink your teeth into the pungent pleasures of another variety from the Holland Village cafe which contains premium durian paste extracted from mao shan wang and D24 durians.

The recipe that takes the (moon)cake, however, is perhaps the Snowy Moon Cake from Hong Kong brand Taipan. Available in a range of more than 40 fillings at the upcoming mooncake fairs at Takashimaya Square and Junction 8, the dough of this icy treat is blast-frozen at minus 18 degrees Celsius to produce a skin that is as soft and pliable as the usual snowskin, yet does not dry out when left out of the refrigerator.

Says its creator and chief executive officer of Taipan, Kwok Hung Kwan: 'Taipan wanted to differentiate itself from the numerous mooncake makers in Hong Kong by producing an innovative, healthy and tasty new sensation. So, we came up with this recipe that has struck a chord with diners - we've sold more than 50 million pieces so far and have won 18 local and international awards for it.'

Because it does not contain any oil, the Snowy Moon Cake also has a lower fat content than traditional mooncakes - and that's something that should send weight-watchers over the moon.