Lily Vanilli

Innovative cakes and lovely staff with great cappuccinos, too. Their Persian love cake is awesome and so are all their vegan treats. A bit too crowded and a bit pricey but hey, it rocks.

Little bakery just off Columbia road !!
Beautiful place and very friendly staff, outside seatings .
I had a delicious banana bread with coconut … With a juice (beetroot, apple, ginger) .
So many little cake or triple brownies to taste. I must come back !!!

Great little bakery open on a Sunday just off Columbia Road. Great looking and tasting cakes, a tad small by the slice but good if you get an individual muffin/​cupcake. However, the star of the show would be the Sausage Rolls. Packed with so much meat and even chunks of Bacon you can’t even fit it in your mouth, cooked fresh and still piping hot when served. Be warned it does get very busy, so you may have to takeaway rather than sit in. (Takeaway — 01/​02/​2015)

This is probably one of my favorite bakeries, the staff are super friendly, the coffee and tea is pretty good and of course some of the baked goods are beyond comparison (especially the brownies).
The downside is that they don’t accept credit cards, a bit pricey and they are only open on Sundays
I would suggest going early if you want to get some of the best pastries as they are usually gone by 12.

Start off with the positives… The café itself is very cute and the décor is the same.
The food itself I thought was a massive let down though. I had the cheese on toast and a slice a cake and both were not worth the high price I paid for them. The cheese on toast was nothing better than what I could make myself and the cake was very dry.
I won’t bother going here again!

The cutest cake place I’ve ever been to! This little café has the homeliest feeling you will ever come across and you simply won’t want to leave. As soon as you enter you’ll be greeted with a big smile and the sound of laughter among the co-​workers happily chatting away and buzzing about around you. The coffee is superb and dare I say it the cakes are even better. I had a large slice of the enormous carrot cake which was moist, nutty and simply heavenly.
There is no better way to refuel after perusing the flower stands than sitting here with a coffee in hand, and all the better if it’s a nice day as you’ll be able to sit outside in the sunny courtyard watching shoppers browse the vintage stores.
They don’t take card so make sure to have cash on you
Can get pretty busy so may have to queue for a short while — totally worth the wait.
Brings back such happy memories for me :)

Nice coffee. Good food. Pretty overpriced and the complacent management doesn’t take credit cards. Get the with the 21^st century people.

Best red velvet cake I’ve ever had.
You can find as well amazing toasts with roasted veg and cheese melted on top. Just delicious in a beautiful area.

I got a slice of pistachio vanilla cake (I think that’s what it was called) for £3 and it was very good and quite filling. I stumbled on this place by accident but I’d go back to try their other desserts.
If you’re in Brick Lane and looking for something sweet, check this place out.

I’m-a-gonna keep this short.
London, Friday was the longest day of the year, but my body does not believe that we’re in June. It feels like October.
Enter Lily Vanilli to provide a little sugar-​boosted spring… erm…summer to my step.
Last Sunday there were a few flickers of sunshine. East London was a-​bumpin’ with sunglasses and puppies on leashes and arm-​fulls of flowers. Tucked away by Columbia Rd Flower Mkt: Lily Vanilli. It was packed, but mid-​late afternoon if you cross your fingers just right you can get a seat at one of their great indoor/​outdoor seating options (SEE PIC ATTACHED, Y’ALL).
The staff is super sweet (wordplay!), the décor is kitschy but not overdone, and the vibe is lovely… like I’d discovered a real gem all by myself.
My friend had a gooey savoury sammich, we all had coffee, and a bakewell tart was spliced into parts, diplomatically. It was faboosh. It was damnably hard not to get back in queue to resist the layers of sponges and cupcakes and cookies; only the long line stopped me. I will return.
Unilocal note: only open on Sundays! (SADFACEEMOTICON). Also: the bakery has a book («Sweet Tooth») which I think will make for a great gift to a lucky pal.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm CAKE!
Towering 5 layers with filling between each one… gooey brownies with hazelnuts… tasty looking sandwiches with pesto and other stuff… cookies…
Unfortunately I haven’t yet much of the food yet, I’m always either about to eat Sunday roast or have just eaten Sunday roast and the place is only open on Sundays so this seems to be a common thing. A shared piece of brownie is as much as I’ve eaten but oh it was good.
This place also does coffee but on Sunday mornings/​lunchtimes it is heaving. Better to come a bit later in the afternoon when the market is closing up if you want to grab a table and a piece of cake, or just get your drink/​cake to take away.
Also, if you feel like getting a cake that’s a bit out of the ordinary for any reason (e.g.
) they take orders via their website.
Don’t worry Lily Vanilli, I will be back for more cake and treats next Sunday as long as no roasts scupper my plans.
PS — Only open on Sundays

Got a bunch of cupcakes through the living social deal. The icing was way too sweet and the cake was dry and crumbly.
Almost as bad as the cupcakes at Hummingbird.