Strawberries & cream macarons, raspberry & lychee pastries, and hot honey Jaffa Cakes are among the sweet innovations rolled out by bakery brands for the summer.
There are seasonal twists of signature bakes, refreshing fruity fillings galore, and even a cake made to look like a giant biscuit.
Check out the latest round-up of sweet bakery NPD below:
Caramelised Biscuit Cake, Asda
It may present the visual illusion of being a familiar biscuit but make no mistake, this is a massive bakery treat. So, maybe don’t try dunking it in your tea.
Under the retailer’s own-label brand, the Caramelised Biscuit Cake (rsp: £10.98 | serves 18) comprises sweet sponge layered with caramelised biscuit frosting and caramel sauce.
Asda revealed it had developed the product to tap into popularity of the Biscoff flavour in recent years – a trend which has continued to spike in 2025 with searches for ‘caramelised biscuit’ on its website rising by 76.2% over the past five months.
Pink Elephant’s Foot, Birds Bakery
East Midlands chain Birds Bakery is trumpeting a new variety of one of its most popular lines, the Elephant’s Foot. The seasonal update to the cream-filled choux bun is to include strawberries and a sweet syrup gel plus a dusting of sugar to finish, available at all 62 of its stores (rsp: £1.65).
Birds previously launched a mini version, the Baby Elephant’s Foot, in 2023. It said it would be going the other way this summer by offering a bigger size option of the new item at weekends.
“We are always looking for ways to develop and expand our product range at Birds and we love experimenting with customer favourites to create new products,” commented Jamie Bird, joint managing director at Birds Bakery. “Our Elephant’s Foot has been a bestselling product for years and, after seeing the popularity of the baby Elephant’s Foot, we decided to launch another version with a summer twist.”
Fruity Viennese pastries, Bridor
Bakery supplier Bridor has extended its collaboration with French pastry chef Pierre Hermé (which dates back to 2021) by launching two fruity Viennese pastries for high-end hotels and coffee shops.
The Raspberry Lychee Signature pastry was inspired by an iconic Hermé creation, the L’Ispahan – a giant rose-flavoured macaroon filled with raspberry and lychee. Bridor’s version is filled with a Californian almond paste enhanced with delicately sweet lychee and sour raspberry flavours. Chopped almonds are sprinkled on top for added texture and visual appeal.
The Lemon Sensation pastry features an elegantly folded shape with a centre of Californian almond paste mixed with Sicilian lemon juice and pieces of candied Italian lemons, a flavour combination that chef Hermé is said to particularly enjoy. A crêpe dentelle topping provides a delicate crunch, enhancing the richness of the pastry.
Both products are supplied frozen in boxes of 50.
Individual Tarts, Just Desserts Yorkshire
The Shipley-based handmade dessert specialist, owned by Regal Food Products Group since 2022, has unveiled a seven-strong range of individually packaged tarts for farm shops, delis, food halls, and retailers.
The collection has both timeless favourites and fruit-based bakes, including Treacle Tart, Bakewell Tart, Cornflake Tart, Coconut Tart, Pear & Almond Frangipane, Raspberry Frangipane, and Black Cherry Frangipane.
Presented in convenient retail-ready packaging, the individually portioned tarts allow retailers to tap into the growing appetite for premium, handcrafted desserts that customers can take home to eat. They are available in cases of nine, with a recommended retail price of £3.99 each.
Hot Honey Jaffa Cakes, McVitie’s
The ‘heat meets sweet’ flavour trend has been warmly embraced by Pladis-owned snacking brand McVitie’s to create a limited edition hot honey variant of its famous Jaffa Cakes, which has a retail sales value of £70.7m in the UK [NIQ data to 17 May 2025].
The NPD combines the sweetness of honey with chilli spiciness in a jelly covering of a light sponge base, coated in signature crackly dark chocolate. Packs have been initially launched into Asda (rsp: £1.50) prior to a roll out at supermarkets, wholesalers, and convenience stores – there’s also a £1.49 price marked product version.
“This launch builds on the success of limited edition Jaffa Cola Bottle, where hot honey is a flavour that’s trending globally amid a bigger movement that’s seen people embrace sweet and spicy across a wide range of food products,” explained Jessica Woolfrey, marketing manager at Pladis UK&I. “It packs a punch and has the ability to drive buzz, especially among younger consumers, just like Jaffa Cola Bottle did.”
Pink Raspberry & Cream Digestives, McVitie’s
Here’s another pink makeover for summer and another limited edition version of a classic McVitie’s product: the Pink Raspberry & Cream Flavour Digestives.
Billed as the bringing together of nostalgic flavours in a fun, fruity and moreish bite, it sees golden-baked digestive biscuits topped with a raspberry and cream coating. Packs will be available in Sainsbury’s from 16 June (rsp: £2.35 | PMP £2.25) before rolling out more widely from next month.
“We know consumers are currently enjoying nostalgic flavours across a wide range of food and drink products, and that nostalgia in food isn’t just about recreating the past, it’s about rediscovering it in a way that feels new and exciting. Meanwhile pink is also still trending as a popular colour across food and drink,” commented Pladis UK&I marketing director Benazir Barlet-Batada.
While the new raspberry and cream digestive is just around for the summer season, McVitie’s Chocolate Digestive is what it would call a True Original having celebrated its 100th anniversary earlier this year.
Soft-Baked Chunky Cookies, New York Bakery
The Grupo Bimbo-owned bagel brand has entered a new bakery category for the first time with its range of Soft-Baked Chunky Cookies. This marks a major step in its ambition to become the definitive New York-style bakery brand in the UK, it said.
Best served warm, the indulgent sweet treats and come in flavours of Chocolate Chip and Salted Caramel & Pecan and feature a crumbly exterior with a gooey centre for a classic NYC eat-at-home experience. They have been launched into Tesco (rsp: £3.99 | four-pack).
New York Bakery recently added ‘better-for-you options’ including Lighter, Protein Boost, and Fibre Plus bagels to its core range of five bagels. At the same time as the cookies move, it also launched a new range of NYC Subs – more details coming up in our next savoury NPD round-up.
Cerisier, Nicolas Rouzaud at The Connaught
A collaboration between master pâtissier Nicolas Rouzaud and jeweller Jessica McCormack – two creatives whose ateliers sit just moments apart on London’s Mount Street – has resulted in a striking new dessert named Cerisier.
Described as floral, fragrant and exquisitely textured, Cerisier (which means cherry tree in French) is composed of almond and sakura (cherry blossom) mousse layered over almond sponge with a crisp almond praline base. At its heart lies a cherry confit, complemented by cherry and sakura cream and finished with a glossy cherry gel. Adorned with jewel-like dots in varying sizes, the dessert mirrors the signature rubies of McCormack’s latest collection, Fruit Salad.
“Jewellery, like pastry, is about telling a story through the senses,” said Rouzaud. “Jessica’s designs are joyful and bold, and I wanted the flavours and form of the cake to reflect that same energy and elegance.”
Cerisier is available throughout cherry season, until mid-September, at the Nicolas Rouzaud patisserie inside The Connaught hotel in Mayfair (rsp: £17 to takeaway, £19 dine-in).
Wimbledon Specials, Paul UK
Paul is serving up a double of smashing sweet treats for bakery fans to love all during this year’s Wimbledon tennis tournament, with the bakery chain courting the quintessential pairing of strawberries and cream for a seasonal spin of its signature patisserie.
The Strawberries & Cream Gourmet Macaron (rsp: £6.50) is a supersized take on the classic macaron, filled with smooth vanilla mousseline cream, fresh strawberries, and a strawberry coulis. The Strawberries & Cream Éclair (£5.25) stars a crisp choux éclair filled with cream and fresh strawberries. Paul is also rallying to the matcha trend with a refreshing Matcha Latte (£4.25).
All NPD will be available at Paul’s 32 stores across London, Reading and Oxford from 30 June to 13 July.
The Matilda Cake, Studio Bakery
The Lancashire-based handmade dessert specialist has launched into Tesco its own version of the overly-indulgent chocolate cake inspired by Bruce Bogtrotter’s gluttonous punishment in the Roald Dahl novel of the same name.
Self-described as a ’Ginormous Chunk of Cake’, it features 24 layers of chocolate sponge and chocolate ganache that add up to a whopping 375 calories – no wonder it is said to serve 10. There’s also a version with vanilla sponge, raspberry jam, and buttercream.
Studio Bakery was one of the firms that secured financial backing from the Made Smarter Adoption programme last year. It used the funds to help create a digital roadmap and then invest in a new cutting machine.
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