Dawn Foods unveils Delicream cocoa filling range featuring alternative fats and long shelf life

03 Feb 2022 --- Dawn Foods has launched a new range of fat-based, pre-and post-bake, ready-to-use Delicream cocoa fillings for croissants, cookies or muffins and other sweet bakery items.

With the global confectionery fillings market projected to reach US$2.24 billion by 2028, there is an expanded market for chocolate fillings, Abigail Shirley, category manager UK and Ireland at Dawn Foods tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

The new Delicream Cocoa Fillings have been introduced as part of Dawn Food’s commitment to using more sustainably produced fats in its ingredients. 

“Unlike some other fillings on the market, our new cocoa Delicream products do not contain water and are made with non-hydrogenated fats. This offers real bake stability as well as freeze-thaw stability – essential for use in the manufacture of a variety of sweet bakery products,” explains Shirley.

Chocolate products in demand
Demand for chocolate products is increasing every year, according to Dawn Foods. Innova Market Insights research shows that 44% of consumers say that they have bought desserts and ice cream to treat themselves in 2020.

The most popular flavors in 2021 in bakery product launches were milk and dark chocolate with 27.2% of launches. 

Chocolate is no longer just a sweet treat, with the ingredient now appearing in applications from meat and bread to alcoholic beverages. The COVID-19 pandemic has also given a new twist to this space as people turn to cocoa’s mood-boosting properties.

Dawn Foods has also expanded its range of fudge icings with two vegan-suitable fudge icings, both made with natural fruit flavors and colors, blackcurrant and banana.

Sustainably produced fatsDelicream cocoa fillings are part Dawn Food’s commitment to use sustainably produced fats.
The Delicream range has a smooth, creamy texture and includes Cocoa Bake, Cocoa & Caramel Bake, Hazelnut & Cocoa and Nut Bake, all of which contain Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) palm oil. The company only uses RSPO palm oil in recipes where palm oil is required.

The Cocoa Bake with shea butter provides an alternative to palm oil as a naturally renewable raw material.

Shea butter is made from the shea nut or shea tree which grows naturally in the “shea belt” in Africa. The shea tree is difficult to cultivate in plantations and new trees are a result of carefully targeted regeneration by farmers, with all nuts harvested by the local population and provides an environmentally friendly fat alternative.

“One of our products has been developed using shea butter instead of palm oil with added sunflower oil to create an even more creamy texture,” explains Shirley. 

“Even though the other products in our range are all created with sustainable RSPO palm oil, the Dawn Delicream Cocoa Bake with shea butter was created to appeal even further to consumers that are environmentally conscious and would like to reduce their consumption of products containing palm oil”, she says.

Traditional way of creating fillings
“We use a simple method of making fat-based fillings. This involves a gentle process to smooth and break down the cocoa and sugar, and once this is done, the fat is added. This refining method enhances and creates the smooth texture you get from the filling,” Shirley explains.

“It is very much a traditional method too, rather than one which uses advanced technology. We produce the fillings in small batches – which allows us to ensure consistently high quality,” she says. 

The cocoa fillings are easily spreadable and ready-to-use in baked and unbaked applications. It does not contain water and is suitable for longer shelf life products. Cocoa Bake, Cocoa Bake with shea butter and Cocoa & Caramel Bake contains sunflower seed paste for added creaminess and spreadability. 

Hazelnut & Cocoa can be used after baking, ideal for filling muffins or spreading on baked products. 

By Inga de Jong