Hybrid baked goods show no sign of slowing down, according to supplier Macphie, which said it has seen a rise in requests for bakery mash-ups from customers.
The Aberdeenshire firm, which supplies ingredients and base recipes to UK restaurants and foodservice outlets, said requests for these types of items from restaurant and pub-chain customers had risen 16% in the last quarter of 2023 alone.
Hybrid bakery items aren’t new – they were touted as one of the big trends for the bakery market in 2022 – but like the baked goods involved, it is a trend which is continually evolving.
As such, Macphie believes the out-of-home market is starting to open its doors to more unusual sweet and savoury combinations on menus.
“Food mashups and combinations have been key to reinventing menus for years but not quite in the way as we are starting to see now,” said Kirsty Matthews, brand manager at Macphie. “It all comes back to satisfying consumer needs and more often than not, customers are increasingly being drawn to slightly quirkier combos – especially when it comes to sweet treats.”
This is fuelled by consumers’ need for adventure and novelty in their diets, as well as to hunt down treats which stand out on social media, Macphie said. Tapping into this allows operators to innovate in a ‘low-risk way while doubling down on a fear of missing out (FOMO) culture’.
Know your hybrids
- Biskie – biscuit meets cookie meets cake (synonymous with London bakery Cutter & Squidge)
- Biscake – biscuit combined with a cake
- Brookies – brownies crossed with cookies
- Cronuts – croissant meets doughnuts (although this combination goes by other names as the cronut is typically associated with pastry chef Dominique Ansel)
- Duffin – doughnut meets muffins
- Cruffin – croissant mashed-up with a muffin
- Fluffins – flapjacks combined with muffins
- Yumnut – yum yum meets doughnut (as debuted by M&S in 2020)
The trend is expanding beyond bakery with the likes of sushi doughnuts, sushi burritos, and ‘machos’ – macaroni cheese and nacho hybrid – also hitting the scene.
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