Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and food manufacturers and bakers are set to stock shelves and adorn counters with seasonal NPD to tempt loved-up consumers. British Baker rounds up the new launches.

Paul

French artisanal bakery Paul has created a duo of ‘Sweetheart’ patisserie products (rsp £5.25 each or £10 for two). The Sweethearts are available in two flavours: Coeur Craquant St Valentin, which combines dark chocolate sponge and a rich chocolate mousse filling, finished with a sprinkling of gold dust; and Coeur Fraisier St Valentin, which includes fresh mousseline cream, strawberries and pink marzipan.

Gail’s Bakery

Following its success in previous years, Gail’s has brought back its Chocolate Sourdough; made with pure cocoa powder, bitter sweet chocolate chunks and malt. Also included in the Valentine’s line-up are a French Dark Sourdough 2KG Stencil Lips, Heart Shaped Biscuit and a Salted Caramel, Chocolate & Hazelnut Tartlet.

Fortnum & Mason

Alongside its range of luxury hampers for Valentine’s Day, Fortnum’s has released a selection of baked goods including iced biscuits and sourdough pretzels. The biscuit range comprises the Fortnum & Mason ‘You’re My Lobster’ Iced Biscuits (rsp £12.95), Fortnum & Mason Cupid’s Angels Iced Biscuits (pictured, rsp £16.95), Fortnum & Mason Anatomical Heart Iced Biscuit (rsp £6) and the Fortnum & Mason Secret Admirer Iced Biscuits (rsp £28.95). The sourdough pretzels are coated with milk and dark chocolate, pink Himalayan salt and dried raspberries.

Konditor & Cook

Cake specialist Konditor & Cook’s Valentine’s range is this year entitled ‘Pop Goes My Heart’, and features pop-art-inspired designs and cheeky sayings. The range comprises the Mini Curly Whirly cake, a dark chocolate sponge topped with cream cheese frosting and a personalised pop art plaque; Dodgy Jammers, vanilla biscuits with a collection of cheeky words in raspberry jam; the Valentine’s Treat Time Box, which includes nine Curly Whirly and Red Velvet mini bakes topped with chocolate hearts; and Chocolate Treats, which include chocolate noisette hearts and chocolate caramel lips.

Greggs

Greggs has given its ring bun a makeover for Valentine’s Day. The latest edition of the vanilla flavour fairy bun is dipped in white fondant, decorated with red, pink and white sugar sprinkles and topped with a plastic love bug ring.

Hummingbird Bakery

The Hummingbird Bakery has unveiled a selection of Valentine’s bakery, including cupcake gift boxes, 6” and 8” cakes, a red velvet cheesecake and a red velvet whoopie pie.  The cupcake boxes contain six cupcakes in chocolate, vanilla and red velvet flavours, and are available in vegan and made-without-gluten variants as well as the traditional recipe. The cakes take the same range of flavours and come in various sizes and formats.

Cutter & Squidge

Cutter & Squidge launched its 2019 Valentine’s collection in conjunction with the opening of its new store at The Royal Exchange. The range includes the Chocolate Fondue Love Kit for Two, which contains dipping items including slogan cookies, cake bites, honeycomb and toasted marshmallows (rsp £22.90); the Bee Hive Valentine Biskie, made up of layers of pistachio and salted honey lightened buttercream sandwiched between a stack of vanilla biskies (rsp £4.10); and the Valentine’s Chocolate Fudge Cake, a chocolate sponge liberally coated in fudgy chocolate ganache frosting (rsp £19.50).

Mr Kipling

Mr Kipling has put a romantic twist on its classic Viennese Whirl, creating the Flower Whirl for Valentine’s Day. The biscuit comprises flower-shaped shortbread filled with a strawberry jam and cheesecake filling. The biscuits are sold in boxes of six (rsp £1). Mr Kipling has also given the packaging of six of its most popular products a Valentine’s update. This includes the ‘You’re Heavenly’ Angel Slices (rsp £1.70/6-pack), ‘You’re Simply the Zest’ Lemon Slices (rsp £1.70/6-pack), ‘Love at First Slice’ Chocolate Slices (rsp £1.70/6-pack), ‘I Fancy you’ French Fancies 8-pack (rsp £1.99/8-pack), ‘There’s no one Batter than you’ Mini Battenbergs (rsp £1.70/5-pack) and ‘You’re the Apple of my Pie’ Apple Pies (rsp £1.70/6-pack).