diff --git a/packages/cli/src/lib/new/execution/PortableTemplater.ts b/packages/cli/src/lib/new/execution/PortableTemplater.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bce0d211af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/src/lib/new/execution/PortableTemplater.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2025 The Backstage Authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+import handlebars, { HelperDeclareSpec } from 'handlebars';
+import { PortableTemplateParams } from '../types';
+import camelCase from 'lodash/camelCase';
+import kebabCase from 'lodash/kebabCase';
+import lowerCase from 'lodash/lowerCase';
+import snakeCase from 'lodash/snakeCase';
+import startCase from 'lodash/startCase';
+import upperCase from 'lodash/upperCase';
+import upperFirst from 'lodash/upperFirst';
+import lowerFirst from 'lodash/lowerFirst';
+import { Lockfile } from '../../versioning';
+import { paths } from '../../paths';
+import { createPackageVersionProvider } from '../../version';
+
+const builtInHelpers = {
+  camelCase,
+  kebabCase,
+  lowerCase,
+  snakeCase,
+  startCase,
+  upperCase,
+  upperFirst,
+  lowerFirst,
+};
+
+type CreateTemplaterOptions = {
+  helpers?: HelperDeclareSpec;
+};
+
+export class PortableTemplater {
+  static async create() {
+    let lockfile: Lockfile | undefined;
+    try {
+      lockfile = await Lockfile.load(paths.resolveTargetRoot('yarn.lock'));
+    } catch {
+      /* ignored */
+    }
+
+    const versionProvider = createPackageVersionProvider(lockfile);
+
+    return new PortableTemplater({
+      helpers: {
+        versionQuery(name: string, versionHint: string | unknown) {
+          return versionProvider(
+            name,
+            typeof versionHint === 'string' ? versionHint : undefined,
+          );
+        },
+      },
+    });
+  }
+
+  readonly #templater: typeof handlebars;
+
+  private constructor(options: CreateTemplaterOptions = {}) {
+    this.#templater = handlebars.create();
+
+    this.#templater.registerHelper(builtInHelpers);
+
+    if (options.helpers) {
+      this.#templater.registerHelper(options.helpers);
+    }
+  }
+
+  template(content: string, values: PortableTemplateParams): string {
+    return this.#templater.compile(content, {
+      strict: true,
+    })(values);
+  }
+
+  templateRecord(
+    record: Record<string, string>,
+    values: PortableTemplateParams,
+  ): Record<string, string> {
+    return Object.fromEntries(
+      Object.entries(record).map(([key, value]) => [
+        key,
+        this.template(value, values),
+      ]),
+    );
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/lib/new/execution/executePluginPackageTemplate.ts b/packages/cli/src/lib/new/execution/executePluginPackageTemplate.ts
index 7edb1c6b20..1ea1547d2c 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/lib/new/execution/executePluginPackageTemplate.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/lib/new/execution/executePluginPackageTemplate.ts
@@ -16,41 +16,19 @@
 
 import fs from 'fs-extra';
 import chalk from 'chalk';
-import handlebars from 'handlebars';
 import {
-  basename,
   dirname,
   resolve as resolvePath,
   relative as relativePath,
 } from 'path';
-import camelCase from 'lodash/camelCase';
-import kebabCase from 'lodash/kebabCase';
-import lowerCase from 'lodash/lowerCase';
-import snakeCase from 'lodash/snakeCase';
-import startCase from 'lodash/startCase';
-import upperCase from 'lodash/upperCase';
-import upperFirst from 'lodash/upperFirst';
-import lowerFirst from 'lodash/lowerFirst';
 
 import { paths } from '../../paths';
 import { Task } from '../../tasks';
-import { Lockfile } from '../../versioning';
-import { createPackageVersionProvider } from '../../version';
 import { PortableTemplate, PortableTemplateInput } from '../types';
 import { ForwardedError } from '@backstage/errors';
 import { TemporaryDirectoryManager } from './TemporaryDirectoryManager';
 import { isMonoRepo } from '@backstage/cli-node';
-
-const helpers = {
-  camelCase,
-  kebabCase,
-  lowerCase,
-  snakeCase,
-  startCase,
-  upperCase,
-  upperFirst,
-  lowerFirst,
-};
+import { PortableTemplater } from './PortableTemplater';
 
 export async function executePluginPackageTemplate(
   template: PortableTemplate,
@@ -58,13 +36,6 @@ export async function executePluginPackageTemplate(
 ): Promise<{ targetDir: string }> {
   const targetDir = paths.resolveTargetRoot(input.packageParams.packagePath);
 
-  let lockfile: Lockfile | undefined;
-  try {
-    lockfile = await Lockfile.load(paths.resolveTargetRoot('yarn.lock'));
-  } catch {
-    /* ignored */
-  }
-
   Task.section('Checking Prerequisites');
   const shortPluginDir = relativePath(paths.targetRoot, targetDir);
   await Task.forItem('availability', shortPluginDir, async () => {
@@ -85,13 +56,7 @@ export async function executePluginPackageTemplate(
     });
 
     Task.section('Executing Template');
-    await templatingTask(
-      tempDir,
-      template,
-      input,
-      createPackageVersionProvider(lockfile),
-      await isMonoRepo(),
-    );
+    await templatingTask(tempDir, template, input, await isMonoRepo());
 
     // Format package.json if it exists
     const pkgJsonPath = resolvePath(tempDir, 'package.json');
@@ -119,13 +84,13 @@ export async function templatingTask(
   destinationDir: string,
   template: PortableTemplate,
   input: PortableTemplateInput,
-  versionProvider: (name: string, versionHint?: string) => string,
   inMonoRepo: boolean,
 ) {
-  const templatedValues = Object.fromEntries(
-    Object.entries(template.templateValues).map(([name, tmpl]) => {
-      return [name, handlebars.compile(tmpl)(input.params, { helpers })];
-    }),
+  const templater = await PortableTemplater.create();
+
+  const templatedValues = templater.templateRecord(
+    template.templateValues,
+    input.params,
   );
 
   for (const file of template.files) {
@@ -144,23 +109,10 @@ export async function templatingTask(
           let content = file.content;
 
           if (file.syntax === 'handlebars') {
-            const compiled = handlebars.compile(file.content, {
-              strict: true,
+            content = templater.template(file.content, {
+              ...input.params,
+              ...templatedValues,
             });
-            content = compiled(
-              { name: basename(destPath), ...input.params, ...templatedValues },
-              {
-                helpers: {
-                  versionQuery(name: string, versionHint: string | unknown) {
-                    return versionProvider(
-                      name,
-                      typeof versionHint === 'string' ? versionHint : undefined,
-                    );
-                  },
-                  ...helpers,
-                },
-              },
-            );
           }
 
           await fs.writeFile(destPath, content).catch(error => {