Zeelandia UK
Explores 2024
Doughnut Trends
At Zeelandia UK, we supply a range of doughnut mixes, jams, curds, custards and fillings to meet the needs of every baker and the desires of every consumer. But how has the doughnut market changed over the years?
As an extension to our recent comments in British Baker’s Doughnut Trends feature, Andy Taylor, NPD Manager at Zeelandia UK discusses what trends customers are exploring and how timeless traditional recipes are.
“If you’d asked consumers five years ago what their favourite ‘Doughnut’ was, it would have been a close call between a ‘filled’ round doughnut and a sugar ring doughnut.
From Yum Yums, finger doughnuts, doughnut holes and giant doughnut cakes, today, the very definition of this popular sweetened dough spans many shapes, sizes, and flavours alike.
Indulgent Gen Z consumption is key to market trends, with retailers and bakeries alike appealing to the masses with ‘thematic’ and seasonal doughnuts.
From a ‘Spooky’ Halloween doughnut filled with green sour apple jam to luscious pink Barbie ring doughnuts, craft and industrial bakers continue to excite customers, matching their demand for sweet treats by creating new recipes for seasonal events and using fillings and toppings to develop new concepts throughout the year.
A common theme here is that colour, branding and social marketing can play a huge part in enticing consumers, making it more than an indulgent treat, but something to talk about on social media.
In other areas, the newstalgia trend continues to grow, with bakers taking on classic flavour combinations such as sticky toffee pudding doughnuts with a toffee icing and a creamy custard filling or topped with popular biscuit choices such as crushed Biscoff.
So, is the demand for a traditional filled doughnut over? Certainly not.
The classic jam doughnut is still a consumer favourite, with 52% of Britons opting for a sugar-coated jam-filled ball doughnut and 39% of those opting for a Raspberry jam filling – according to a 2022 Yougov survey. Understandably, with minimal toppings and simple fillings, these doughnuts can be easily mass-produced and Zeelandia have developed doughnuts optimised for these processing conditions, bringing quality, consistency and economy.
What we have seen is that bakers are being more experimental with their doughnut jams, using alternatives such as pineapple, blueberry, apricot, or even more indulgent fruit fillings such as red cherry. Combining several jams or adding a flavoured icing evokes flavours of classic cocktails- an emerging trend across the bakery and desserts sector.
Interestingly, on the survey, 18-24’s were a little more divided with their filling choice, with a quarter opting for simplicity and choosing classic custard or chocolate fillings, like the traditional Boston Crème Donut.
Finally, harnessing our global expertise from the Royal Zeelandia Group, we are also seeing some emerging trends from the U.S., where doughnuts are considered more than a sweet dessert and are often eaten any time of the day. We have seen doughnuts used as a ‘bun’ for burgers, fried chicken and for the very daring in a fried chicken and ice cream sandwich!
It goes without saying that the doughnut is a canvas for creativity and innovation for craft and industrial bakers in 2024, and that there is love for both tradition and experimentation to achieve market growth.
Explore our range of added-value Doughnut fillings and toppings
