Spotlight: How to be indulgent without the calories?
You wouldn’t believe that the promotions of sinful products of high fats and sugar were on the decline, as we find ourselves sandwiched between the season of love and the easter bunny – but in today’s cost-aware market, what is the greatest priority for the consumer ‘price’ or ‘quality’?
Own-label brands dominate, but by changing the rules, supermarkets like Tesco and Sainsbury offer Aldi price matches instead of the traditional two-for-one offer, not only matching their competitors and appealing to the cost-of-living crisis but ensuring they retain their market share and improving margins. Big named brands must consider a different approach to stay in the game, as we see Cadbury’s launch a re-worked fruit and nut, offering more fruit and nut and reducing the chocolate element along with the size of the product, in both bar and trawl mix – appealing to a healthier snack market. Whereas Kellogg’s is tackling the cereal market by offering their cocoa pops with 30% less sugar in both their standard and hazelnut varieties.
Keeping up with the ever-changing demands of the market can often create challenges, like trying to retain the overall flavour impact when removing keys ingredients. A chocolate cake is nothing without its rich indulgent chocolatey flavour, however companies are battling against cost and government guidelines, so reducing the chocolate content may seem like the only option – How about a flavouring solution? Natural liquid flavourings can provide that missing depth, chocolate flavouring uses aroma molecules to generate a chocolate, milky indulgent impact, and work alongside the available cocoa powder in the recipe to achieve the desired taste. Although the equivalent to comparing Cadbury with Lindor, all chocolate is different and therefore so are chocolate flavourings. From the rich intense roasted bitter notes of dark chocolate to creamy sweet notes of white chocolate, a chocolate flavouring can balance different aroma molecules to best match the desired finish of the chocolate – dosed correctly you won’t notice the change in levels of the key ingredients.
Cutting cost can be difficult, especially when the price of key ingredients like chocolate continue to rise. Comparing side by side to the control cupcake, containing 100% chocolate, these chocolate cupcakes successfully reduce the cocoa power and chocolate both by 25%. Using Chocolate 85/20508 we managed to still provide that rich, extravagant, slightly creamy, taste, whilst using sodium bicarbonate to put the missing colour back in – after all, ‘we eat with our eyes!’
How could you go wrong with a babka? This sweet braided bread is known for its rich, chocolaty flavour – but what if we reduced 25% of the chocolate required from the recipe and still provided a great taste. Using our Chocolate flavouring 085/20508 we were able to decrease the cocoa powder by 20% and chocolate by 5% and still achieved the same chocolatey heaven, just with a little fewer calories.
