By: Michelle Burnett, marketing coordinator

Consumers have an increasing desire for complex and nuanced flavors, all while keeping comfort and familiarity in their baked goods. This statement is according to Canada-based flavor and ingredients manufacturing company Embassy Ingredients, who predicts the latest trends the bakery sector can expect to see in 2023.

Michelle Burnett, marketing coordinator, expects to see a spike interest for nuanced citruses, fermented flavors, nostalgic flavors with a new twist, and complex heats mixed with sweets.

Nuanced Citruses

With this trend, the focus is to keep the familiar citrus zest commonly found in mainstream North American fruits like lemon, orange, and lime, while bringing new and exotic fruits to the mix.

Flavors like mandarin, yuzu, blood orange, clementine, calamansi, and grapefruit will bring an exciting twist to the classics. These bright citrus flavors are the perfect note in desserts like muffins, cakes, pastries, and beverages. These flavors will bring a fresh array of flavor profiles to our palettes.

Exotic and nuanced citruses have been on the rise over the past year, Embassy forecasts that this trend will rise through 2023 and beyond.

Tart, Sour, and Fermented Flavors

We’re seeing a spike in consumers desiring flavors that fall into the tart, sour, and fermented category. These unique flavors have been far less common in the baking industry in the past, although they’re on the rise and we’re anticipating this to continue and grow into 2023.

Flavors like dill pickle, black garlic, and beer will be seen in various baking applications in the coming year.

Dill pickle has been making moves in the industry this past year, with the pickle and chamoy social media trend. #Pickle has earned over two Billion views on TikTok.

Beer is an interesting newcomer to the baked goods industry; we expect to see it making an appearance in many forms – like stout beer chocolate cake, beer bread, and many other forms to create a beautiful and unique flavor.

A Twist on Nostalgia

Nostalgia has been trending since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, people resorted to familiar flavors that comforted them with the remembrance of simple times. This trend has shown no sign of stopping, but it is enhancing in complexity. When it comes to the baking

industry, we’re seeing this trend expressed by placing nostalgic flavors in new and never seen before applications.

We’re seeing this trend on the rise in many baking and snack companies taking inspiration from nostalgic ice cream flavors like Neapolitan or orange creamsicle and putting them in cupcakes, or nostalgic candy flavors like sour peach or sour watermelon and showcasing it in the icing of a dessert.

People are looking for flavors that bring them those warm and cozy, comforting feelings of the past to get them through day-to-day stresses, while still noticing subtle nuances in application and presentation.

Complex Heats

Spicy has been gaining interest in the baking industry for the past few years, so much so, that consumers’ desires in terms of the heat they find in baked goods have increased in complexity.

Consumers are no longer simply looking for generalized terms for spice like “spicy mango” instead they want to know what specific chili pepper was used and what degree this heat will provide. For example, instead of a spicy cornbread, they want to see a jalapeno cornbread.

Other complex heat applications include a habanero and cheddar bagel and an ancho & caramelized onion loaf.

“We’re in a historically unique period, we’re seeing consumers finally at a point where they are able to begin putting COVID behind them. We’re expecting something exciting and unique that will bring new flavor experiences and sensations to consumers' palates in 2023,” says Angel Wong, director of flavor development and master flavorist.

In the coming years, we expect to see nuanced and complex flavors, while keeping an array of familiar flavors in all segments of the market.