Bako has unveiled its first-ever Young Bakers initiative – a project designed to help inspire the next generation of bakers while offering them hands-on experience of bringing products to market.
Partnering with Coleg Cambria in Wales and manufacturer Wrights which is part of The Compleat Food Group, Bako sought to create and launch three products which have been rolled out as part of its festive range for 2025.
The idea for the initiative grew out of discussions at the Wales Bakery Conference, hosted at Coleg Cambria in February this year, as Bako wanted to connect education more closely with industry.
This saw students on the Level 3 Diploma in Baking Proficiency course at Coleg Cambria – Naomi Spaven (29) and Ella Muddiman (25) – join the project where they were tasked with creating sweet and savoury festive lines.
The resultant products, which are available now, are:
- Black Forest Slice – a rich chocolate flavoured sponge cake, with a red cherry filling and cream topping
- Irish Coffee Slice – Moist vanilla sponge cake, with a coffee caramel filling and topped with Irish liqueur cream
- Bako Select Festive Slice – a savoury puff pastry slice, filled with chicken, stuffing, cranberries and brie in a creamy white gravy, glazed and topped with a crunchy crumb.
Working in their college bakery, the pair of students brainstormed, tested, and refined a series of recipes before presenting them to Bako and Wrights. They then spent time at Wrights’ factory, learning how to adapt their bakery recipes into large-scale production. Cost, consistency, and capability all had to be factored in, giving them valuable experience of the realities of NPD in a commercial environment. They were also involved in the product photography, artwork, and sales presentations, gaining a full view of how a new product moves from idea to market.
“Taking part in this project has been such a brilliant experience, it’s completely different to the artisan baking I’d done before,” explains Spaven, who was crowned Rising Star at the 2024 Baking Industry Awards. She described the experience as “mind-blowing” noting that it offered her the chance to see production lines in action, learn more about the technical side of baking (such as costings), and how to balance flavour with affordability.
“The whole project has broadened my view of the industry and shown me how many opportunities there are beyond day-to-day baking,” she adds. “I really want young people to see that there are so many different career paths in baking, from artisan bakeries to large-scale production and new product development. It’s made me even more certain that I’m in the right industry, and I feel really excited about the future.”
Close-up on the NPD process
Muddiman and Spaven were tasked with improving the Bako Select Festive Slice having proven to be ‘a very successful season product’ for the last four years, but one which could do with a refresh for 2025. They were also asked to create a seasonal version of the Bako Raspberry Trifle Slice. Part of the Cakes for Finishing range, the slice was introduced in 2024 as a limited-edition line for Bako’s 60th anniversary and was consequently added to the range permanently due to its popularity.
Having received the brief, Muddiman (who is in the running for the Rising Star Award at the 2025 Baking Industry Awards) says the pair were “buzzing” with ideas and questioned “what truly feels like Christmas luxury?” to help them come up with the concepts.
“Last year’s pastry was already a success, so we needed it to build on that and have an extra special twist,” explains Muddiman. “We wanted to keep the traditional flavours of meat and stuffing but knew we could do something more.”
The previous iteration of the savoury pastry featured seasoned chicken, sausage, bacon, and cranberry with a sage & onion stuffing crumb. After some brainstorming, the duo landed on brie and cranberry as a combination they wanted to include as it “just screamed Christmas”. Thinking about the wider eating experience, Muddiman says: “We wanted to add some texture and a huge flavour punch, so we decided to mix the stuffing directly into the pastry itself.”
As with all NPD processes, each concept went through several iterations between the test kitchen and the factory floor. For example, the first iteration of the festive slice created by the students used fresh cranberry. These were swapped for dried cranberries in the factory production to ensure a full flavour and reduction in moisture in the filling when baked.
When it came to the cakes, the inspiration arose from enjoying traditional Irish Cream over the festive period as well as luxury chocolate. “We wanted to create something that you automatically thought of Christmas when you saw the flavours,” Muddiman adds.
Changes were made to these products as well as they moved along the process. Caramel sauce was added to the Irish Coffee Slice to add a depth of flavour and enhance the taste of the Irish Liquor Cream on top. Meanwhile, the kitchen sample for the Black Forest Slice used a black forest base with cream and a glace cherry on top but when moved to the factory, premium cherry filling was added into the base to enhance the flavour profile and add moisture to the base.
“The reworked savoury Festive Slice was a smart seasonal upgrade, while the Black Forest Slice and Irish Coffee Slice filled a clear gap in the market and complemented Bako’s existing range beautifully,” notes Anthony Choi, senior commercial manager – foodservice wholesale at Wrights.
“It’s been a fantastic way to bring new ideas into the sector and showcase the potential of young talent,” Choi adds.
Bake to the future
Bako plans to repeat the initiative annually, setting aside a percentage of the profits from sales of the products to help with this. The project is also supported by the Craft Bakers Association and The Worshipful Company of Bakers.
“This is about more than launching three new festive lines,” adds Nicola Goodwill, senior trading manager at Bako. “It’s about showing young people that their creativity has a place in this industry and that their ideas can go all the way to market. Naomi and Ella have been outstanding, and we hope this becomes the first of many Young Bakers projects, building an annual programme to inspire students across the UK.”
No comments yet