Key takeaways:
- High-contrast flavours such as swicy, fricy and botanicals are moving from niche experimentation to mainstream bakery and snack innovation.
- Elevated comfort – from brown butter to miso caramel and baklava-inspired formats – is reshaping indulgence with deeper, layered profiles.
- Texture, fermentation and visual impact are becoming baseline expectations as products compete for attention both on shelf and on screen.
After several years dominated by reformulation, HFSS workarounds and protein positioning, flavour is pushing back and it isn’t doing it quietly. Across outlooks from Synergy Flavours, Kerry and Puratos, the tone is noticeably different this year. Less restraint. More contrast. More depth.
Consumers haven’t stopped caring about health. GlobalData’s latest multi-market survey shows 60% still say health impact influences purchase decisions. But that scrutiny hasn’t translated into timid flavour. If anything, it’s raised expectations. If shoppers are being selective, the product has to deliver.
Kerry has reported a sharp rise in mentions of baklava-inspired formats in tracking data – up to 400% in some channels. That’s not about sugar but layering honey, nuts, syrup and spice. In other words, intensity.
Meanwhile, ingredient suppliers are seeing triple-digit growth in certain emerging flavour mentions, from pickle-led applications to botanicals that would once have stayed niche. The market isn’t flattening. It’s fragmenting and getting louder.
Sweet and heat stop flirting
The sweet-and-spicy trend has matured. It’s no longer a garnish; it’s baked in.
Synergy Flavours has identified ‘swicy’ as a continuing force into 2026, but the way it’s being executed now is different. Instead of a chilli drizzle on top, you’re seeing heat integrated structurally – chipotle folded into chocolate, habanero honey worked through glazes, chilli embedded in ganache or jam layers.
Snacks are running with the same logic. Honey and cayenne seasonings are intensifying. Sweet chilli isn’t new but it’s sharper, less sugary, more assertive. Fruit flavours are being tightened with lime and heat rather than softened.
Then there’s what some developers refer to as ‘fricy’ – fruity plus spicy. Chamoy. Yuzu kosho. Fermented chilli pastes crossing into sweet bakery applications. It works because contrast sticks. A purely sweet biscuit is pleasant. A sweet biscuit with heat has memory.
Flavours that would once have been risky
Some of the ingredients flagged for 2026 wouldn’t have made it past a buyer meeting five years ago. Dill pickle, for example, has expanded well beyond crisps and into bakery-adjacent formats and savoury crackers. Not as a gimmick, but as a flavour shorthand for boldness.
Botanicals are shedding their delicate image, too. Lavender isn’t just for cupcakes anymore. Jasmine is being paired with fruit. Hibiscus is showing up in glazes and snack coatings.
Kerry’s flavour outlook includes forest pine – pine, ginger and sage – which reads less like festive nostalgia and more like something green, resinous and fresh. It’s the kind of profile that signals experimentation without abandoning familiarity altogether.
Ube continues to gain space across cakes and sweet snacks. Its nutty sweetness is helpful; its colour is decisive: purple commands attention in a sea of beige pastry. Charcoal, similarly, isn’t about taste. It’s about visual authority. Products don’t just have to taste different now. They have to look it.
Comfort isn’t disappearing
If there’s one mistake to avoid, it’s assuming bold means unfamiliar. The nostalgia play is still very much alive; it’s just being handled differently. Take brown butter, which has become a baker’s secret weapon. It’s the same base ingredient, simply pushed further. Toasted, nuttier, more complex.
Salted caramel has fractured into miso caramel and smoked caramel. Tahini is sliding into sweet formats for savoury depth. Blackcurrant is re-emerging not as retro filler but as sharp, tangy contrast. These aren’t radical departures, just recalibrations.
Fermentation spreads
Sourdough isn’t staying in bread. Puratos UK has highlighted what it calls a sourdough revolution moving into pastries – sourdoughnuts, cinnamon rolls, enriched doughs with fruit. The tang does something important. It reins sweetness in. It adds chew. It signals craft without needing explanation.
Tea is performing a similar role. Matcha hasn’t gone anywhere, but it’s being paired more aggressively – strawberry, yuzu, citrus. Beyond matcha, chai and Earl Grey are working their way into creams and biscuit inclusions, adding bitterness and aroma.
Even in snacks, fermentation cues are surfacing in seasoning systems. Tang refreshes. It prevents flavour fatigue.
Texture is no longer optional
Perhaps the most consistent thread across bakery and snacks in 2026 is texture. Crunch isn’t a bonus feature anymore; it’s a baseline expectation. Crinkle cookies. Layered snack clusters. Biscuit pieces embedded in brownies. Glazes that crack, not just coat.
Texture justifies price. It also slows consumption, which matters in a market where indulgence is increasingly measured.
Mini formats are rising too, but not in a moralistic way. Smaller cakes, snack bites and portioned desserts lower the commitment barrier. They let consumers experiment with bolder flavour without over-investing.
There’s a clear pattern emerging. Sweetness is being sharpened with chilli. Caramel is being smoked. Dough is being fermented. Pastry is being coloured deep purple or charcoal black. Nuts and spice are replacing flat sugar. This isn’t chaos. It’s confidence.
After years of quiet reformulation and cautious health positioning, bakery and snacks are rediscovering drama. And in 2026, subtle may simply not be enough.
