The king of New York supermarket pastry is going Latin.

Launching a line called “Delicias Latinas,” Entenmann’s joined the race for Hispanic customers, the fastest-growing market in the country, this week.

On supermarket shelves, raspberry Danish twists and chocolate-frosted doughnuts made way for dulce de leche cakes and guava cheese puffs.

Company officials said the Hispanic population growth and general demand for Latin food products spurred Delicias Latinas, which means Latin delicacies in Spanish. The line’s five pastry products are being launched in New York, rolling out first in the city’s Hispanic neighborhoods, with plans to target the general population.

New York-based Entenmann’s, part of George Weston Bakeries Inc. since 2001, joins brands like La Yogurt, Ragu, and Hellmann’s in the grab for Hispanic food dollars. For most of these, the wakeup call came after market research on the 2000 census surprised companies with the rate of Hispanic growth.

The Hispanic population, which became the country’s largest minority in 2001, is expected to increase by 121 percent between 1990 and 2009, according to a study by Jeffrey Humphreys, the director of the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia. This is compared to a 14.1% gain for the non-Hispanic population and the 23.7% gain for the total population.

According to the Selig Center’ re port, the Multicultural Economy 2004, Hispanics had a disposable income of $686 billion in 2004, with New York the fourth largest state at $56.6 billion.

At a Sunset Park, Brooklyn, Key Foods, where Delicias arrived this week with a sign in Spanish and English announcing the new product, they were top sellers, according to the store’s assistant manager, William Rosario.

“I like the three leches,” he said, referring to the iced caramel-flavor cake. “You don’t have to be Latino to buy this. I’m sure it’s going to take off.”

Entenmann’s officials said they worked hard to find flavors that appeal to Latinos from more than a dozen countries, by sticking to some basics of tropical fruits and sweet creams.

“We’re a bakery that has to appeal to a wide audience so essentially we said we want some flavors that are going to be able to cross cultures,” the category directory at Entenmann’s, Lorraine Hale, said.

The cakes have the standard moist and spongy consistency that Entenmann’s is famous for, with an additional flavor kick. Depending on the variety of it’s pineapple and nuts, the caramel flavor of dulce de leche, or tangy guava.

The only other major brand to try and market a similar bakery product to the Hispanic community is Mexico City based Bimbo Group. The company has tried to break into the U.S. market with disappointing results. Still, a company like Entenmann’s taking a Latin flavor to an American standard has a good chance of succeeding where Bimbo has come up short.