Home baking launches summarised:
- Premium cake mixes and filled cupcake kits combine simpler preparation with more elaborate results.
- Regenerative flours, sourdough science kits and a free baking club offer home bakers ingredients and support to develop their skills.
- Edible flowers, glitters and flavoured cupboard staples give shoppers more ways to personalise their bakes.
Baking a cake is the enjoyable bit; finding half-used bags of ingredients in the cupboard months later is less appealing, as is spending an afternoon on something that bears little resemblance to the picture on the box.
British-owned cocoa specialist Food Thoughts, which is expanding into cake mixes, frostings and chocolate chips, asked more than 2,500 of its customers what stops them baking more often. They cited time, mess, waste and doubts about the finished result, yet 73% said they’d consider buying a ready-to-use cake mix.
Quick and easy baking kits can help when time is short, while sourdough asks families to be patient. Children have a starter to feed, measure and watch as it bubbles over several days before they can use it to make bread and crackers. The waiting becomes part of the activity.
But there’s room in the baking aisle for both approaches, provided the shortcut produces a cake worth serving and the longer project earns its place on the kitchen counter.
Making the shortcut worth buying
Pillsbury Baking’s Gingerbread Stuffed Cupcake Kit contains spiced cake mix and cream cheese-flavoured filling that bakes into the centre, removing the need to hollow out the cakes afterwards.
Each kosher-certified dairy 21.25oz box makes 24 cupcakes with added water, oil and eggs. A companion 16oz Gingerbread Frosting tub decorates approximately 24 cupcakes and is gluten-free and kosher-certified. Both are available at Walmart and selected retailers across the US.
“The stuffed cupcake format adds that extra element of surprise and delight – it’s the kind of treat that gets everyone excited around the kitchen,” says Dan Anglemyer, chief operating officer at Hometown Food Company.
Germany’s Hanover-based Rosie Rose offers home bakers edible dried flowers, glitter sprays and decorative finishes for cakes, cupcakes and desserts. Its range includes Glitter Dust icing sugar and cocoa powder, priced from €7.90, and Easy Drip in Gold, a ready-to-use cake drip that needs no heating, at €11.90.
The flower selection includes dried cornflowers, rose petals and whole blossoms, which can be used individually or combined to decorate cakes and pastries. A €24.90 tasting set contains five varieties in small portions, allowing home bakers to experiment with colours and shapes before buying larger packs. Products are sold through its online shop, with worldwide delivery.
Food Thoughts’ Beautiful Chocolate and Beautiful Ginger Cake Mixes have an RRP of £4.50 for 400g. Velvety Chocolate Flavour and Velvety Vanilla Flavour Frostings are £3.95 for 400g, while new Milk Chocolate Chips contain 41% single-origin Colombian cocoa and cost £2.75 for 100g. They join existing 70% Dark Chocolate Chips, Organic Cocoa Powder and Organic Cacao Powder.
Its new mixes need only oil and water, keeping the shopping list short and reducing preparation and washing-up. Developed with professional chefs using recipes tested in hospitality, they’re designed to give home bakers dependable results without measuring out every ingredient.
The five new lines are available through Sainsbury’s in the UK, accompanied by a rebrand. “Retailers aren’t looking for another cake mix,” says joint MD Mark Gould. “They’re looking for something that brings new shoppers into the category.”
Rainbow Dust’s Gold and Black & Gold Twinkle Dust edible glitters add metallic-style decoration to cakes, cupcakes and cookies. Developed and manufactured at its Lostock Hall site in Lancashire, both have E171-free formulas and an enhanced sparkle effect. They’re available through the UK brand’s online shop.
Gold is intended to give wedding and celebration bakes a luxurious finish, while Black & Gold offers a darker decorative effect. The additions serve home bakers as well as professional cake decorators, extending a range that includes food colours, lustres and cake craft pens.
“Decorative effects are a key trend in cake decorating, with bakers looking for products that help them create memorable celebration cakes,” says commercial director Kyle Rodgers.
Bringing more to bread baking
Matthews Cotswold Flour has launched five regenerative flours online and in selected Sainsbury’s stores across the UK. New Cotswold Crunch, with its malty aroma, has an RRP of £3.25 for 1.5kg, while new Strong White contains 12.5% protein, suits sourdough and costs £3 for 1.5kg.
They join Strong Wholegrain, with 14.3% protein, at £2.90 for 1.5kg; Eight Grain, blending wheat flour with rye flakes, oat flakes, malted wheat, maize grits, linseed, sunflower and millet seeds, at £3.70 for 1.5kg; and White Spelt, at £4 for 1.5kg.
The grain comes from farms using regenerative practices including crop rotation and animal integration. The listing follows expansion into Waitrose, which stocks regenerative Eight Grain, Pizza and Churchill flours.
BaKIT Box and Sourhouse’s Sourdough Science kit is a screen-free activity for children aged five to 12. Available for US shipping through BaKIT Box’s online shop at $79.99, it includes recipes for an Egyptian starter, American sourdough loaf and Italian crackers.
Children grow a starter over seven to 10 days, measuring by weight, tracking its rise and exploring yeast, gas, temperature and gluten. Dry ingredients, a pint-sized Sourhouse Starter Jar, Bread Blanket, instructions and a Sourdough Field Notes journal are included.
UK bakery Lovingly Artisan, based in Manchester and Cumbria, has relaunched its free Facebook Baking Club. Founders Aidan Monks and Catherine Connor welcome guests for regular live bakery broadcasts, sharing recipes, practical tips and breadmaking science.
Sessions cover starters, kneading, proving, shaping, scoring and storage, with members encouraged to ask questions and share successes and difficulties. “We started this club because we wanted to open our bakery doors, even virtually, and share everything we know with anyone curious,” says Connor.
Turning up the flavour
Carnation’s limited-edition Caramel Flavored Evaporated Milk gives US bakers toasted sugar, buttery toffee and vanilla notes in a familiar cupboard staple. Its first autumn flavour follows the earlier Kickin’ Jalapeño launch, this time offering a shortcut to caramel flavour in seasonal baking.
The brand is supporting the launch with a Caramel Apple Pie Bars recipe, while suggesting further uses in breakfasts, coffee and savoury dishes. The 12oz can has an RRP of $2.19 and is available online and through US retailers including Walmart and Kroger.
Simply Apple is also encouraging shoppers to bake, using its apple juice in a seasonal apple cider doughnut recipe. The activity accompanies limited-edition winter packaging on its 52fl oz bottles at participating US retailers nationwide.
The sweater-inspired labels feature red and green accents, snowflakes and apples. Inside is the existing 100% apple juice, never from concentrate and with no added sugar, with recipes spanning baking, warm drinks and festive entertaining.
The California Prune Board’s UK-facing campaign promotes prunes as both an everyday snack and a home baking ingredient, encouraging retailers to provide serving ideas and recipe inspiration. Their natural sweetness gives the campaign a baking connection, while the board’s wider nutrition research offers another subject for consumer communications.
“California Prunes offer a combination of health benefits, natural sweetness and versatility, whether enjoyed as an everyday snack or incorporated into home baking,” says Esther Ritson-Elliott, VP of international market development.
