Finsbury Food Group has added three new celebration cakes to its line-up, as well as six new luxurious lines to its Thorntons Cakes range.

The company’s celebration cake additions include the UK’s first emoji cake, said the company, which follows the rise of emoticons as a universal language. Shoppers are given the option to choose between a Cool and Joy emoji cake, featuring moist sponge filled with jam and buttercream. The cake is topped in soft yellow icing with edible decorations.

Other new celebration cakes include a Blaze and the Monster Machines sponge cake, reflecting the pre-school TV series which introduces children to science, technology, engineering and maths. Each Blaze cake features hand-moulded monster truck wheels, with stickers of Blaze and his friends.

The firm’s My Little Pony cake sees a hand-moulded Rainbow Dash surrounded by edible glitter. The cake comes with an icing pen to write the child’s age on the iced balloon.

Louise Hair, brand manager for Finsbury Food Group said: “With the huge success of film releases such as Frozen, the category has seen real growth with new customers attracted to licensed cakes. We are continuing to work hard to introduce fun and innovative designs to help retailers keep their ranges fresh and appealing, while attracting new shoppers of all ages.”

Meanwhile, Finsbury has added six lines to its Thorntons Cake collection, including:

  • Thorntons Indulgent Bites range in three flavours – chocolate, toffee and chocolate orange. They come in tubs and are available in Tesco and Asda from this month.
  • Thorntons White Chocolate Caramel Shortcake, featuring shortcake squares covered in a caramel layer and topped with smooth white chocolate. These are offered in Tesco and Asda.
  • Thorntons Champagne Bottle Sharing Cake, featuring a chocolate sponge with buttercream, moulded into the shape of a champagne bottle with an edible plaque and decorations to finish with an icing pen (included). The product is available in Asda.
  • Thorntons Creepy Caramel Shortcake – a seasonal extension for Halloween to the firm’s Milk Chocolate Caramel Shortcake line.
  • Festive Caramel Shortcake and Chocolate Orange Bites, both seasonal extensions for Christmas.

The new products are designed to build on current demand for the Thorntons Cakes range, which has seen sales increase by 15.4% year on year (IRI 52 w/e 13.08.16).

Finsbury recently launched sandwich thins under its Kara foodservice brand.