Is Waitrose All Butter Welsh Cakes ultra-processed?

6 Cakes Sold in the United Kingdom and France

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

E450 Diphosphates

15 ingredients
4 additives
Nutri-Score E

Less processed cakes

Less processed isn't automatically healthier, so compare the labels for what matters to you, such as sugar or salt.

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

Fortified wheat flour (wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamin), Vostizza currants 19%, unsalted butter (processing marker), sugar (processing marker), free range egg, disodium diphosphate (ultra-processing marker), potassium hydrogen carbonate, mixed spices, nutmeg, palm fat

Additives: E450 Diphosphates , E450i Disodium diphosphate , E501 Potassium carbonates , E501ii Potassium hydrogen carbonate

As written on the pack

Fortified wheat flour (wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamin), Vostizza currants (19%). unsalted butter (milk) (17%), sugar, pasteurised free range egg, raising agents (disodium diphosphate, potassium hydrogen carbonate), mixed spices, nutmeg, palm fat.

What makes it ultra-processed

Cosmetic additives

Added to change how the food looks, feels or tastes, not to keep it safe. A hallmark of ultra-processed food.

E450 Diphosphates Diphosphates are phosphate salts used as raising agents in baking powder, and to hold water in processed meats and cheese.

3 ingredients that would only make it processed

Kitchen staples like sugar, salt and oil. On their own they make a food processed, not ultra-processed.

Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
Sweet snacks Products in the category "Sweet snacks" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 377 cakes

From least to most processed, this one ranks 40th. 94% of the cakes here are ultra-processed.

Ranked by NOVA group, then by the number of ultra-processing signs, additives and ingredients. Our ordering, not part of NOVA.

All 377 cakes, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5000169488843, last edited 26 July 2026), available under the Open Database License. If something is wrong or the recipe has changed, you can correct it there.
Photo: Open Food Facts contributors, CC BY-SA 3.0.
The NOVA group is an automated estimate from crowdsourced data: a missing or mistyped ingredient can change it.
NOVA measures processing, not nutrition. For nutrition, Open Food Facts gives this product a Nutri-Score of E (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.