Chinese Moon Cake

A little while ago my chinese teacher brough in for us a moon cake to try. I don't know where he got it, but he was really excited for us to try some. The outside was soft and sweet, like any pastry dough. That was arguably the best part of it. The inside is where it gets different. It's texture was of a thick paste, being very dense, and it had a very dark color. It's difficult to say exactly what it was. He told us it was mainly made of dates. At first it had a mild sweetness, like anything fruit. It was a lot like a fig bar. Once you got to chewing it, and this is kind of hard to describe, the flavor shifted into almost a sickly sweet smokiness, like woodsmoke infused molasses. It was very unusual. Not bad, per say, just different. I'm sure if we had grown up with it, like he had, we would have liked it a lot more. I don't think most Americans would like it initailly. It also had bits of walnut in it, which added variety to the flavor and texture. Frankly, they made it quite a bit easier for most of my classmates to eat. Overall, I didn't dislike it, but I don't think I'd try it again anytime soon.