Fillings • Added Sugars • And a New Day for Baked Goods
When we talk about sugar reduction in baked goods, most conversations obsess over the dough. The crust. The base. The bread part. Meanwhile, the real sugar bomb is sitting quietly inside, minding its own business, wearing a strawberry disguise.
Fillings.
They’re the hidden culprits of added sugars in pastries, bars, hand pies, toaster pastries, and cookies. And with the new dietary guidelines sharpening its knives, fillings are about to get a lot more attention, from regulators, retailers, and consumers alike.
Let’s talk about why.
Thom King, CFS, Food Scientist
Chief Innovations Officer, Icon Foods
Fillings: Small by Weight, Massive by Sugar Load
Classic fruit fillings often clock in at 45–70% sugar solids. Not because formulators love sugar (though… it does work), but because sugar historically did everything:
- Sweetness
- Water activity control
- Viscosity & body
- Freeze/thaw stability
- Bake stability
- Flavor delivery
So, we dumped in sucrose, corn syrup, glucose syrup, or HFCS and called it a day.
The problem? A toaster pastry might get 30–45% of its total added sugar from the filling alone. That’s the part consumers love most, and the part that’s now under the microscope.
Enter the New Dietary Reality
The U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans continue to push hard on added sugars, reinforcing the ≤10% of calories benchmark, and let’s be honest, the industry knows where this is heading.
Retailers are already translating this into:
- Tighter internal sugar thresholds
- Front-of-pack expectations
- Cleaner ingredient declarations
- Reduced sugar claims that actually mean something
Fillings are no longer a free pass.
If you don’t address them, your base formula improvements are cosmetic at best.
The Real Formulation Challenge (a.k.a. Why This Is Fun)
Reducing sugar in fillings isn’t about swapping sweetness. It’s about rebuilding functionality.
You still need:
- Proper gel set during bake
- Controlled water migration
- No boil-out or leak-through
- Bright, authentic fruit flavor
- Clean label credibility
This is where modern ingredient toolkits finally catch up with our ambitions.
Where Icon Foods Steps In
At Icon Foods, we don’t look at sugar reduction as subtraction. We look at it as systems engineering.
Here’s the playbook for fillings:
- Bulk Sweetness Without the Spike
- Allulose delivers real sugar-like solids, browning, and sweetness, at a fraction of the metabolic impact.
- It lowers freezing point, improves mouthfeel, and behaves like a grown-up in the oven.
- Fiber as Structure, Not Decoration
- Soluble tapioca fiber and inulin rebuild solids, control water activity, and add body without grit.
- Bonus: fiber claims without consumer eye-rolls.
- High-Intensity Sweeteners (Used Like a Scalpel)
- Stevia and monk fruit are used surgically, not as blunt instruments.
- When paired with bulk sweeteners and modulators, bitterness and linger are non-events.
- Flavor Modulation
- Natural modulators round sweetness, lift fruit notes, and reduce the need to sweeten to compensate.
The result? Fillings with 30–50% less added sugar that still eat like the originals.
Example Formula: Strawberry Toaster Pastry Filling (Reduced Added Sugar)
Target:
- ~40% less added sugar vs. conventional
- Bake-stable
- Clean-label friendly
- Bright strawberry impact
Strawberry Filling – Bench Formula (100%)
| Ingredient | % |
|---|---|
| Water | 32.00 |
| Strawberry Purée (concentrated or standard) | 18.00 |
| Allulose (Icon Foods) | 16.00 |
| Soluble Tapioca Fiber (Icon Foods) | 12.00 |
| Inulin (chicory root) | 6.00 |
| Sugar (cane) | 6.00 |
| Modified Citrus Pectin (or clean-label equivalent) | 1.20 |
| Natural Strawberry Flavor | 1.00 |
| Lemon Juice Concentrate | 0.50 |
| Stevia (Reb M or D, Icon Foods) | 0.02 |
| Monk Fruit Extract (Icon Foods) | 0.03 |
| Salt | 0.12 |
| Potassium Sorbate (optional) | 0.10 |
| Total | 100.00 |
Processing Notes (Because Details Matter)
- Pre-blend dry ingredients (fiber, inulin, pectin, salt).
- Heat water + allulose to ~70–75°C with agitation.
- Add dry blend slowly to avoid fisheyes.
- Add fruit, acids, and flavors near the end.
- Adjust Brix and pH (target pH ~3.4–3.6).
- Deposit hot or warm depending online setup.
This system delivers:
- Proper gel set post-bake
- Clean cut with no weeping
- Bright strawberry without sugar overload
The Bigger Picture
The next generation of baked goods won’t win by quietly shaving sugar out of the dough while ignoring the filling.
Fillings are where:
- The sugar is
- The flavor lives
- The regulatory pressure is coming
Formulators who solve that problem will lead the category.
At Icon Foods, we’re not here to shame sugar. We’re here to outgrow it, intelligently, deliciously, and without breaking your line or your label.
If you’re ready to rethink fillings, we should probably talk.
Reach out to your Icon Foods representative for sweeteners, fibers and modulator, samples, documentation formulation and usage guidance.
Since 1999 Icon Foods has been your reliable supply chain partner for sweeteners, fibers, sweetening systems, inclusions and sweetness modulators.
Taste the Icon difference.
Order Samples!
