What is the Apple iOS 12.1 brown cake emoji?
Emoji lovers with iPhones or other Apple products will rejoice at the 70 new emojis soon to be on offer.
The subtle art of emoji use has become an integral part of how we communicate in the age of smart phones and instant messaging.
Which is why the latest Apple iOS update has gifted its users with a whole new emoji vocabulary. From lobster icons to a handsome freezing face emoji that arrives just in time for winter, the new emoji list is already highlighting some desperate gaps in the emoji landscape which previously went unfulfilled.
But not all of the new icons are quite as easy to decipher, especially if they reference cultural traditions from a different part of the world to where you live.
One such emoji which might look unfamiliar to some is the new brown cake symbol. So what exactly is it?
What is the new brown cake emoji?
CREDIT: APPLE
This rather lovely looking piece of bakery is known as a mooncake. This is a traditional sweet treat prepared during the moon watching festivals which are traditionally celebrated in China and other East Asian countries at specific times during the lunar calendar.
The mooncake itself is most commonly seen in areas of Southern China (i.e. Guangdong, Guangxi) where it is synonymous with the Mid-Autumn Festival: a harvest festival tradition taking place in late September or early October.
The ornamentation on top of the cake will typically use Chinese characters which offer good-luck messages and can include other more intricate decorations. An image of Chang’e – the Chinese moon goddess – is often included when decorating the cake.
The cake itself is quite small with a dense, sweet filling made from lotus seed paste or similarly sugary ingredients. A salted duck egg – which symbolises the moon itself – is often baked into its centre.
