New ingredients have been unveiled to help enhance gut-healthy fibre content, gluten-free structure, and sodium reduction in bakery.
Meanwhile, other innovations from suppliers are less focussed on supporting functional benefits, but rather in elevating the indulgence, flavour, and visual appeal of bakes.
Check out our round-up of ingredients freshly rolled out for UK bakers below:
Cocoa butter equivalent, AAK
Helping navigate the volatility of cocoa price and availability is a new vegetable fat alternative to cocoa butter, Illexao EN 10, from AAK.
The Malmo-headquartered vegetable fat and oil supplier said that standard cocoa butter equivalents can thicken chocolate mass, destabilize flow, and lead to buildup in enrobing equipment, impacting processing efficiency and product consistency. Its new product has been developed specifically to address these challenges, it added, behaving much closer to the real thing even at high content levels.
AAK said the Illexao EN 10 offers a clean, fast melt without waxiness, a crisp snap with a smooth texture, authentic chocolate flavour release, and a glossy, stable appearance, as well as resistance to fat bloom and stable crystalisation support. It is suitable for any enrobing application including chocolate bars, cookies, cakes, sandwich cookies, and wafers.
Fudge icings, CSM Ingredients
Three new flavours – Mango & Passionfruit, Coffee, and White Chocolate – have been added to the Craigmillar Crembel range of ready-to-use fudge icings, supplied by CSM Ingredients. These join existing flavours including Chocolate, Vanilla, Caramel, and Lemon on the range, which is said to ensure a high sheen glossy appearance and smooth texture when melted.
According to CSM Ingredients, the new flavours have been carefully developed with natural colours to offer distinct and appealing profiles. Mango & Passionfruit has a golden hue and exotic tropical taste; Coffee offers a rich, full-bodied flavour with earthy aroma and nutty notes; and White Chocolate is smooth, creamy and indulgent with an ivory colour.
The Crembel icings are non-tacky and freeze thaw stable, and can be used across topping, piping, dipping, and filling, with an option of adding margarine for a lighter frosting and increased yield. They are available in a 12.5kg bag-in-box format.
Gut-healthy corn fibre, ClonBio Foods
FibAX is a high-molecular-weight corn arabinoxylan (prebiotic fibre made from arabinose and xylose) that Ireland-based ingredients specialist ClonBio Foods is set to mass produce at its new custom-built facility in Hungary. Through a process that took eight years to develop, the fibre is isolated intact from the cell wall of the corn bran grain, preserving its natural length and native branched structure. This determines how FibAX is fermented by the consumer’s gut microbiota and helps explain its slow, sustained activity therein, noted the company.
“Arabinoxylan fibres have been studied for years and the science behind them is strong, but nobody has produced them at commercial scale in their native form,” said Enda Ryan, CEO of ClonBio Foods, adding that one of its biggest advantages is it delivers gut health outcomes at lower doses.
ClonBio has done successful trials using FibAX in tortillas to replace guar gum and carboxymethyl cellulose, finding it enhances flexibility, preserves appearance and texture, and increases moisture retention, which helps extend shelf life. The fibre has also shown promise for sugar reduction, with a reformulated cake with 1.5% FibAX achieving a 30% sugar reduction and a lower post-meal glucose response.
Fat-based fillings and cookie mixes, Dawn Foods
Another ingredients supplier expanding its existing range with a trio of new flavours is Dawn Foods. The company’s UK and Ireland division has unveiled new Pistachio, Crunchy Bueno, and White Choc varieties of its Delicream range of fat-based fillings, which are said to help capitalise on the ‘elevated indulgence’ trend currently sweeping the sweet bakery category.
Delicream Pistachio is made with 15% pistachio paste for a natural green colour and smooth texture with a rich and creamy, roasted pistachio taste. Delicream Crunchy Bueno delivers the familiar creamy confectionery hazelnut flavour with added crunch from 14% real hazelnuts. Lastly, Delicream White Choc pairs well with the likes of dark chocolate, vanilla, and caramel, and looks best when contrasted with red fruits or pistachio, for example.
The fillings are made with RSPO certified palm oil and are described as easy to use, pipe smoothly, spread evenly, and hold their structure well in viennoiserie and American-style bakes such as doughnuts, muffins, and cookies.
Dawn Foods UK and Ireland has also launched two Chunky Cookie Mixes in plain and chocolate flavours, designed to deliver the classic American-style cookies experience – crisp on the outside with a soft, chewy centre – whilst offering the structure needed to hold generous fillings or inclusions. Both mixes grant a longer shelf-life than standard cookies, with the chocolate variant made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa.
Gluten-free bread binder, Ferm Food
Loose structure and crumbliness are some of the well-known challenges to overcome in gluten-free sourdough bread, and are exactly what the new binder from Ferm Food ApS claims to solve. Made from EU-sourced buckwheat and fava beans fermented with lactic acid bacteria, the ingredient has already been successfully tested at industrial scale in both white and dark loaves.
As well as supporting a cleaner label, reported benefits include reduced crumbling, improved sliceability, increased water binding and softness retention, more uniform dough handling and volume, increased flavour complexity and a golden crust.
“When one binder can replace several functional components, it becomes easier for industrial bakers to standardise recipes, cut down on the number of ingredients, and add a deeper, slightly tangy, and more complex flavour – similar to what you know from sourdough bread,” comments Søren Lange, head of development at Ferm Food.
Sugarpastes, Squires Kitchen
Cake decoration brand Squires Kitchen has revamped the recipe for its sugarpastes in collaboration with baking ambassadors from Rainbow Dust, the company which acquired it in 2024. Improvements include better performance and malleability – which allow the sugarpastes to be rolled extra thin and create sharp edges – as well as a pleasing vanilla aroma.
In addition, the packaging has undergone a modern update and is now made from recyclable film. The vegan sugarpastes offer an 18-month shelf life and are available in colours of Bridal White, Vintage Ivory, Tuxedo Black, Glamour Red, Cosmic Blue, Delicate Lemon, and Leaf Green, with pack sizes of 250g, 1kg, and 2.5kg.
Investment in new machinery at Rainbow Dust’s Preston HQ also means the sugarpastes can be manufactured to order, providing capability for private label opportunities.
Low sodium salt, Cornish Sea Salt
A new mineral-rich salt innovation is looking to turn the tide on sodium reduction at food manufacturers and challenge long-standing trade-off between health and flavour.
TekSalt from Cornish Sea Salt helps deliver healthier menu development without compromising taste. Using an optimised version of ‘bittern’, a natural derivative of the sea salt harvesting process, it laminates salt crystals and creates a concentrated blend of electrolytes including calcium and magnesium with lower sodium but higher flavour intensity.
It is engineered to be free-flowing and production-ready, ensuring consistent dosing, ease of handling, and reliable performance at scale. Bakery is among the categories it has demonstrated potential in, with one example being up to 20% sodium reduction in savoury pastries.
The TekSalt range includes Coarse and Fine varieties (from £1.95/kg) plus the same infused with cold smoke from oak, cherry, and applewood (from £4.17/kg) – these are available in bags of 15kg upwards.
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