Tried-and-true flavors like chocolate, apple and vanilla continue to lead the way across dessert offerings, but brands are finding ways to elevate these classic sweets.

“For chocolate, it’s adding even more chocolate than before,” said Melissa Altobelli, principal, client insights, dairy and bakery vertical, Circana. “Brownies were double chocolate, now they’re triple chocolate. For cakes, the confetti and birthday cake varieties are everywhere. It doesn’t have to be something brand new and different; it’s mixing things that haven’t been done before or adding something new or a twist to something current.”

Paul Stippich, director of marketing for Otis Spunkmeyer, a brand of Los Angeles-based Aspire Bakeries, echoed this point, noting that “newstalgia” is back in vogue. 

“It’s about delivering a homestyle brownie, then elevating it with premium chocolate and ingredients,” he explained. “Appealing to familiarity but with a twist and reminding consumers of what they love, is better than forcing them to spend a lot of time trying to get the ideas of what you’re introducing.”

In the perimeter, double/triple chocolate, peanut butter, confetti/rainbow and lemon are the fastest-growing dessert flavors, each posting more than 10% unit and dollar growth, Circana found.

Citrus flavors especially have reemerged across desserts, Mr. Stippich said. Otis Spunkmeyer, for example, recently reintroduced its individually wrapped, 4-oz lemon loaf cake.  

“The sweet baked goods category is experiencing bursts of lemon, lime and orange,” he said. “Expect to see this flavor profile continue to emerge in loaf cakes, muffins and cookies.”

Nostalgic flavors are in the driver’s seat for sweet goods, and Ms. Altobelli noted that greater flavor innovation, including international flavors, have yet to take off. She said this may be due in part to perimeter desserts skewing toward older customers who are less keen on experimenting with new flavors. 

“It’s a big opportunity area if you’re trying to get some of those younger folks to start buying some of these sweet treats in the perimeter,” she said.

Emerging flavor profiles include global offerings such as matcha, churro and ube, said Seb Siethoff, chief executive officer of Richmond, Calif.-based Rubicon Bakers. 

“However, these typically need to be embedded in familiar flavor platforms (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry) to drive mainstream appeal,” he noted.