Skinny Bakery Yum-o-meter

If I told you that you could have your cake and eat it while counting calories, you’d think I had gone mad wouldn’t you?

Well, according to The Skinny Bakery, you can.

What, or Who is The Skinny Bakery?

You can find their treats in Selfridges Food Hall, Whole Foods Market and Vital Ingredient. For those of you not residing in London, their wares are available online at skinnybakery.co.uk.

The Skinny Bakery, launched in 2013 by Mariella Forte, provides sweet treats like carrot cake and red velvet cake, at a fraction of the calories you would expect.

This all sounded too good to be true to us at wlr HQ so, in our ongoing quest to bring you the best new, low cal foods, we started investigating.

What is on the Skinny Bakery Menu?

Pretty much everything you could wish for if you have a sweet tooth, but with 40% less calories, 60% less fat and 30% less sugar than normal cakes.

The Skinny Bakery makes ‘pearls’, cookies, flapjacks and bites.

Pearls >     < Cookies

Flapjacks >    < Bites

The pearls are bite-size cakes (two bites if you savour them!) in flavours like:

• PBJ (peanut butter and jelly) – 38.6 cals
• Cookies and cream – 39.8 cals
• Cherry cheesecake – 34.6 cals
• Red Velvet – 33.8 cals
• Double Chocolate – 41.6 cals
• Carrot cake – 38.8 cals

Then there’s brownies, cookies and flapjacks:

• Double chocolate meringue cookies – 23.5 cals (yep, that’s right!)
• Choc chip cookies – 37.4 cals
• Sweet potato brownies – 37.8 cals
• Coconut bites – 53.5 cals
• Mini flapjacks – 40.4 cals
• Gingerbread men – 36.3 cals
• Choc-orange cookies – 36.2 cals

There’s also a vegan range that includes:

• Choc-orange pearls – 39.6 cals
• Banana shake pearls – 41.6 cals
• Vanilla bean pearls – 41.8 cals

My mouth is watering just writing this stuff down!

The wlr Taste Test

We eagerly awaited the arrival of our order from Skinny Bakery. When it arrived we popped the kettle on and we gathered round to undertake the serious business of tasting.

We had:

• PBJ Pearls
• Carrot Cake Pearls
• Double Chocolate Pearls
• Choc-Orange Cookies

Becki

Becki tried the all of the goodies. She said,

‘The carrot cake pearls were nice but the filling was a little artificial tasting. The PB & J had a nice texture and initial flavour but the aftertaste lingered a bit longer than I would have liked. The choc-orange cookies were a bit weird.

She went on to say,

‘The texture of the cookies was a little too soft for my liking – almost as if they had been left out too long. The flavour was nice though.

'My absolute favourite were the double choc pearls. Yummy scrummy!'

Lewis

Lewis tried the carrot cake, PB & J and the double chocolate pearls. He said that the carrot cake was tippy (we think he means tip top!) and he would definitely have it again.

‘The chocolate wasn’t nice, but then I’m not a fan of chocolate and the PB & J was a little overpowered by the PB, needs a bit more J.’

‘Overall the cake parts were all a bit meh, it’s all about the CREAM.’

If you’re not sure, he liked them apart from the chocolate one!

John

John tried the cookies and the chocolate pearls. He said the texture of the cookies wasn’t right but the pearls tasted great.

‘The cake is a little too dry for my liking but coupled with the creamy filing it worked well.’

Trudi

I tried all of them except the choc-orange cookies as I’m not a fan of chocolate and orange together. My favourite was the carrot cake as I am partial to a nice slice of cake and a cuppa tea!

But I have to say, I enjoyed all of the pearls I tried.

What do Others Say About Skinny Bakery?

I had a look online to see what other people were saying about them. On the whole, it was pretty positive.

Natalie Salt gave Skinny Bakery 5 stars. She wrote,

Love the sweet treats from here. Amazing place, great pic ‘n’ mix options and my favourites are chocolate pearls. Love them, keep up the good work. Highly recommended.

NS69 wrote,

I am completely obsessed with Skinny Bakery. The chocolate pearls definitely have to be my favourite, and the whole tub of 5 cakes is only 208 calories which is amazing! Perfect for anyone counting calories. Also delivery is next day! A must try!

Stephanie Paul-Choudhury wrote that her experience in the first instance wasn't great - everything was a little crushed and some things had started to melt. She went on to write,

I thought I'd give them another go this year and to my delight have had several positive experiences since. Some people have said they lack flavour but if you've cut back on sugar etc like I have then these are definitely sweet enough. The down side is the expiry date and you can feel rushed to eat them all before they go to waste (they aren't the cheapest of things but consuming them in a week is beside the point of a balanced diet!) They can be frozen which I've found very useful and I can pace myself instead of scoffing the whole lot!!!

Megan wrote,

The cakes are so lovely, keep nicely in the fridge. Great treats for when you're on a diet.

And Katie from Facebook is a definite fan. She wrote,

Well! Oh my days :) I feel like a little slice of heaven has entered my life. Ordered on Thursday. Received on Friday. Popped some in the freezer some in the fridge (ordered the 20 piece mix and match bundle) ate a tub. Felt like my soul got hit with a huge dose of guilt free pleasure!

wlr Verdict

We loved the treats at wlr HQ and would definitely have them again. There are a few flavours that we’re intrigued by and would like to give a taste test – double chocolate meringue cookies and cherry cheesecake pearls for me.

There are some negative reviews but these seem to be more about delivery and couriers than the actual cakes themselves.

Ours arrived with no problem, in an insulated box. Some of the pearls were a little dishevelled but nothing major.

The price is a little high at an average of 59p per pearl and there is a minimum order value of £15. Delivery is next day and £3.50, although it is free if you spend £25 or more.

They also offer a subscription service. You can have 8 Skinny Bakery treats delivered weekly from £19.99 or monthly from £20.99

The cake pearls need to be kept cool and do have a reasonably short shelf life as Stephanie pointed out in her review.

The problem with that is the urge to eat them all before they spoil. Not a good idea even though they are lower calorie.

However, your freezer can come to the rescue. The cake pearls can be frozen for up to two months. When you want to defrost them, pop them in the fridge overnight or leave out for an hour at room temperature - makes pacing yourself a little easier.

On the whole, a really positive experience. The Skinny Bakery has created tasty, indulgent, low calorie treats that are brilliant if you are watching your weight. I would probably even have these if I wasn’t!

In fact, I have a party coming up soon and they are on the food list for it!

Have you tried anything from The Skinny Bakery? What did you think?

More Info

Skinny Bakery