Guilt-free indulgence

Low fat and low sugar cakes, eh? Sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it? After all, why would you want a low fat and low sugar cake for a treat if it isn't going to taste nice? Unless you were on a diet, of course, and then you are used to suffering and not eating what you want!

And this is certainly a perception attributed to low fat or healthy style cakes over the years. Many of them have tasted more like cardboard to taste, and with a similar consistency. But when Mr Kipling launches a lighter version of its signature range, then healthy must be moving into the mainstream.

The new Delightful cakes hit supermarket shelves in January and some contain less than 10% fat (the Cherry Bakewells contain 30% less fat than the standard product). They are billed as an ideal option for health-conscious consumers.

The range has been developed using Mr Kipling's expertise to offer a softer, lighter selection of cakes. Containing no artificial colours nor flavours, and with a lower fat content, the Delightful cakes are designed to provide consumers with an everyday choice of cakes without compromising taste or quality.

Bearing in mind there have been several low fat cakes brands around for a while, as well as a raft of own-label, reduced calorie variants, it seems strange that it has taken brand leader Mr Kipling so long to catch up. "We have certainly entered the healthy cake market not a moment too soon," admits Emma Chamberlain, head of marketing for Mr Kipling at RHM owned Manor Bakeries.

"Our new recipe formulation has taken some time to develop to ensure we produce a cake worthy of the Mr Kipling name," she says. "We have introduced a special baking process to mimic what the fat used to do.

"By expanding the Mr Kipling range with the new Delightful product, we're hoping to provide both consumers who want to enjoy cake and those who have previously omitted it from their diet with the ideal opportunity to do so," she adds. Currently, four different options have been launched: Apple Slice, Lemon Slice, Chocolate Slice and Cherry Bakewell.

But does offering a lower fat version of the original cake mangle sales of the original? "We believe that at least three quarters of people who will buy the Delightful range will come from private label," says Chamberlain. "It is more about enhancing the range and delivering on taste."

Chamberlain is keen to stress that this new range is not aimed at dieters, but at people who want to eat more healthily. "Most people still want a treat as part of a healthy lifestyle," she says. Indeed, the so-called healthy cake market is at present only worth about £36m of a total cake market valued at nearly £946m up to October last year (ACNielsen).

In the same period, the total cake market rose a respectable 3.1%, driven by own-label which has 43% of the market and showed growth of 10.8% to nearly £453m. Healthy cakes are estimated to be growing at about 3% a year.

As cake is perceived as a treat, it seems that low fat cakes might be a gamble for any established brand. Not, however, if your company produces cakes under a Weight Watchers licence, which is exactly what Anthony Alan Foods has done. Four years ago, its founder cracked the code in terms of reducing fat without compromising taste and the company was born.

It took over 50% of the healthy cake market in its first year and has continued to thrive ever since. According to md Matt Carr, Weight Watchers is a trusted brand and one that demands a high quality product. "Our products have to be worthy of the Weight Watchers name and have to taste as good as a full fat version of the product," he says.

He says that as leading retailers go low fat, the battles are being fought on own-label and he has been surprised at how slow other brands have been to enter this sector.

But as more companies meet the technical challenges healthy cakes present "our challenge is to keep one step ahead of the market", he says.

And it is not as though using the Weight Watchers brand name is putting off people who are not on a Weight Watchers programme or even on a diet. "We sell more cakes in a week than there are Weight Watchers members," he explains.

The Weight Watchers carrot cake received yet more recognition at the beginning of this year when The Guardian said it "delivers post-Christmas dieters a sense of indulgence for not many more calories than a carrot". This follows on from the carrot cake being voted 'Best Cake' in Slimming Magazine's 2005 Slimming Awards by magazine readers.

"It's easy to see why this is among our best sellers as it's indistinguishable from a 'full fat' version and is only 79 calories," says Carr. The company's muffins are now available as a handy snack, ideal for impulse buying during a lunch break. Available in packs of four or individuals, the muffins are an easy way for bakers to generate extra sales.

David Powell Bakeries has been at the forefront of low fat product development since 1998 when it produced its first low fat muffins for The Seattle Coffee Company (now Starbucks). At the time, the company was a speciality bread maker but with a proven development capability. As David Powell says: "It was an absolute ground up development. We had a complete clean sheet of paper: they had clear ideas, we listened, and we took it from there."

Originally, the company supplied two low fat variants but today it produces four 'skinny' muffins for Starbucks out of its range of 10. "Over the years," says Powell, "we have got very serious about cakes."

Last year, the company was acquired by Rich Products but Powell has stayed on as director of innovation. "Not every customer is asking for a low fat option but we do suggest they probably need one to compete in today's market," adds Powell.

He does believe, however, that it is odd to call a cake healthy. "You're not eating a cake to survive, but as a treat or an indulgence," he says. "You have to try to come up with this while adding a healthy edge to it when developing a new product."

He believes this is all based on a slightly confused logic, which is what he employs when he goes to Burger King and orders a double cheese and bacon whopper with large fries, but washes it down with a Diet Coke. "It's about creating a balance," he suggests.

Independent bakery manufacturer Dawn Foods has also started producing a number of products that are low in salt, low in fat and trans fat free to meet the growing demand for healthier options. The newest addition is a low fat and low sodium muffin concentrate that meets the need of an increasingly health conscious consumer.

Developed to reach the criteria of 97% fat free and with a sodium content of less than 300mg per 100g serving, the concentrate enables bakers to produce a range of muffins to meet healthier lifestyle needs. The concentrate simply requires the addition of flour, sugar and water.

Dawn Foods says the concentrate produces a final result that is a soft, moist textured eat with none of the 'rubbery' mouth-feel often associated with low fat products. The company has also just launched two new Bakers Select mixes: the Genoese cake and Madeira cake both of which are hydrogenated and trans fat free.

All this new product development is part of a drive to make its pre-mixes as healthy as possible.

Although the low fat cake sector is a very small slice of the whole market at present, it is set to accelerate in the coming years in both numbers and variants.

The key to success in meeting consumers' changing needs for healthier cakes is simple: it just has to taste good. But as we all know, if it was that simple, everyone would have done it by now. FM