what is the cream on the new world cakes

The “cream” on most New World supermarket cakes (like the standard birthday or celebration cakes in the bakery chillers) is usually a mock cream-style frosting made from vegetable shortening and icing sugar, not pure dairy cream.

Quick Scoop

For the common New World cakes you see in the bakery:

• The white “cream” layer is typically based on a commercial product like Bakels Snow Whip or similar.

• These products use vegetable shortening plus icing sugar and flavouring to create a very light, stable mock cream that holds up well in cabinets and during transport.

• When enough water is added and it’s whipped well, it turns into a fluffy, creamy texture that looks like whipped cream but isn’t just dairy cream.

By contrast, some specific desserts or special cakes (like pavlovas or “fresh cream” sponge cakes) explicitly use real dairy cream whipped with sugar, and they will usually be labelled “fresh cream” on the product or description.

What the cream actually is

In many NZ supermarket bakeries (including New World), decorators commonly use:

• A vegetable shortening–based icing that stays firm and doesn’t melt easily.

• Icing sugar and water added to the shortening to make it sweet and pipeable.

• Flavouring pastes (for example raspberry or vanilla) mixed in so it tastes more like a classic cake filling or frosting.

So if you’re thinking “Is this whipped cream?”, the answer for most standard decorated New World cakes is: no, it’s a commercial mock cream / buttercream-style icing , not pure whipped dairy cream.

Exceptions: where it is real cream

Some New World products clearly state they use fresh cream:

• Sponge cakes advertised as “Sponge cake with fresh cream” are using real dairy cream whipped with sugar.

• Items like pavlova with fresh cream and strawberries are also made with real whipped cream.

Those are usually in the fridge and often mention “fresh cream” in the name or tag, so if you want genuine cream, look for that wording.

Why they use mock cream on many cakes

Supermarket cakes need to:

• Sit in display cabinets for hours without collapsing or weeping.
• Survive transport home and maybe a day or two in your fridge.
• Be easy for staff to pipe and decorate consistently.

Vegetable-shortening-based mock cream and buttercream-style icings solve these issues because they’re more stable than pure whipped cream and cheaper to produce at scale.

Quick tip if you’re buying

• Check the label or product card: if it says “fresh cream,” expect real dairy cream.

• If it just says “iced” or doesn’t mention cream, assume it’s mock cream/buttercream made from shortening and icing sugar.

TL;DR: The cream on most New World cakes is a commercial mock cream made from vegetable shortening, icing sugar and flavourings, with real whipped cream mainly reserved for products clearly sold as “fresh cream” cakes or desserts.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.