Lily Vanilli Bakery — Restaurant in London

I just want to begin this review by saying our issues were dealt with promptly and we received very good customer service however there are a few reasons I’m giving Lily Vanilli two stars. The purpose of this review is to inform others and also to provide feedback should the bakery want to assess certain issues and implement any changes. From the very beginning, I wanted to support a small business by purchasing my birthday cake instead of making it myself.

A week before my birthday, me and my partner ordered the Raspberry Ripple Mini Cake (pictured below with the cherries on top). We collected the cake from the bakery the day before my birthday and took it home with us. When we arrived home I opened the cake to check it made it ok on the car journey to discover it looked nothing like the cake I had selected from their website. Although it looked more ornate and very beautifully decorated, it essentially wasn’t what I had ordered (pictured below with 4 raspberries on top).

We emailed the bakery about this issue and received a prompt reply.

“I’m sorry you don’t like it! The piping on yours is much more detailed than on the website, and we do tend to be creative on the theme rather than just replicate each time. Although I agree that there is significantly less fruit which dramatically changes the appearance. Berries are out of season now so it’s harder to make this particular cake a celebration of fresh fruit (hence we embellish the piping to make that more of the decorative element in the design) but we could have added more raspberries.”

I do appreciate the idea of each cake being one of a kind if you will, instead of following a particular design, however, this should be made absolutely clear on the website, otherwise you are just inviting disappointment - especially if someone specifically chooses a cake for an occasion. It’s as if a kid requested a Spiderman themed cake and received a Batman themed one instead. It’s not the same, however beautiful it may be.

If berries are out of season and your baked goods mimic what’s available, (which I think it’s amazing and you should absolutely continue championing seasonal produce) you should remove the cake from your website, otherwise customers will continue to order it. I understood that the cake might have different fruit on top (mentioned in the description) and I was absolutely ok with it when ordered but I did expect to get the same number of fruit on top vs the four raspberries I got. I had to go purchase more from my local supermarket to put on top.

Personally (as an experienced baker and cook) I thought the cake’s ratio of sponge to buttercream was a bit off. Two very thick sponges with not much buttercream in between or covering them, which does affect the overall texture and feel making the cake, as others have commented before, appear dry.

Before leaving the bakery I asked the person who served us how I should store the cake given it was being served the day after. They told me to leave it out because of how cold the weather is anyway and to serve at room temperature.

I have a conservatory that is substantially colder than the rest of my flat so I put the cake there. I’m not sure why but both my partner and I felt dizzy and sick a couple of hours after eating a slice of the cake. We felt incredibly bloated and without appetite for the rest of the day. I wanted to test once again if the cake was the issue so I had a slice the next morning and again, felt bloated, full and with an upset stomach until late at night.

I’m unsure whether this is down to when the cake was made, how it was stored but I’ve never had such a reaction to baked goods which I eat on a...

A short(ish) walk from Hoxton Underground, Lily Vanilli is located down some narrow and quaint cobblestone roadways.

Open only on Sundays (Lily and her staff fulfil special orders etc during the rest of the week), this place is an absolute must-visit.

The food gets better and better. We visited a couple weeks ago and I was delighted to find there were some lemon-meringue tarts available. I was in absolute heaven! They tasted just as good - if not better! - than they looked. The pastry was crumbly and buttery, the lime filling was creamy and tart, and the meringue was soft, sweet, and pillowy. I could've eaten five more if my waistline would have allowed it!

My friends tried the chocolate brownies and said they were the best brownies they'd ever eaten (which is saying a lot, as one of my friends is an absolute chocoholic and knows her way around a good brownie, and the other of my friends is north American, and so also knows her way around a good brownie!!).

The coffee was great as well.

Service was phenomenal. No grumpy faces here! Everybody looks to be sincerely enjoying themselves. We even saw Lily, and she was super friendly and had no ego (despite her fame as one of the UK's greatest bakers).

The coffee shop is a quaint, trendy little place. Situated right by the Columbia Road Flower Market (which is only there on Sundays, and brings in a huge amount of people, hence why LV's is open on Sundays). So once you're done with your coffee and treat, you can head over to the flower market and buy someone something special!

We took the underground to LV (well, to Hoxton, then walked to LV), but it's also accessible by bus or cycling. There's a bustling, vibrant atmosphere, people singing and performing, vendors shouting and advertising their wares, dogs being taken for walks, all sorts. It's a real central-London experience, and I'd highly recommend it! Can't wait...

Found this place from an Instagram reel and decided to pay a visit on a weekend. It was my first time in the Hoxton area and it is a charming place. The bakery itself is in the midst of a market and independent shops. The courtyard is lovely and is shared by various small shops around it. Perfect setting for a quiet summer day. This bakery opens only on weekends and apparently gets very busy on Sundays due to the flower market. The view of all the cakes when I approached the bakery was interesting and I decided to pick up the salted caramel brownies, a slice each of the raspberry ripple and chocolate coffee cake. Got a mocha to go with the mushroom roll I opted for. Starting with the mocha, it was a small cup and didn't do justice to the drink or the price charged for it. To make matters worse, I found curdled stuff at the bottom which tasted sour. The mushroom roll had less of mushroom and more of lentils which made it filling but I didn't quite enjoy it (should have tried the sausage roll). The raspberry ripple cake slice was a bit dry though the frosting was well done with the right amount of sweetness. The chocolate cake slice was excellent and I enjoyed it. Both cake slices were on the thin side which was a surprise as I read reviews that the portions are big. Guess I was not lucky with this in this instance! Finally the brownie... Appearances can surely be deceiving! The marbling on top was exquisite but a bite into it brought me back to reality. The brownie itself was quite fudgy and the right amount of sweet but the salted caramel sauce was extremely salty especially at the crevices where it had pooled. It could definitely do with a lot less salt. The tiered cakes I saw at the back all looked good but from my experience with what I had, I was disappointed and the saving grace was the sunny day and beautiful location to...