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Little Blondie Bakehouse

66 Walmgate, York

Rating 2.5 out of 5

"A little surprise"

A semla sat on a square of baking paper with the bakery's logo on and sugar sprinkles. The semla has a shiny bun and dull yellow almond paste. On top of the paste are two sizable pieces of roasted almonds. One has been blanched, the other still has its skin on. The cream has deep troughs created by the closed star piping tip. On top is a circular lid dusted with icing sugar.

2026 season review

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Weight 135 g Size medium-small Price 42 kr

You notice straight away, that this is quite a light semla at 135g. It's falls into the medium-small band, and is very respectably priced at £3.80 (42kr) - which is the cheapest semla I've had since 2021!

The semla was carefully placed into a plain white box for me to take home. On opening, it revealed the semla sat on a cute "Little Blondie Bakehouse" inlay.

The semla has quite a unique look. A lot of the roasted almonds placed on top of the filling have been blanched, which is not something I've seen very often.

The filling is softened marzipan that's been made slightly more loose in order to make it possible to pipe onto the bun.

For an almond paste that falls into the traditional class, it's actually quite mild in flavour. I expected it to be overpoweringly marzipan and bitter almond, but it's actually quite reserved. It's also a bit thicker though than you would normally expect.

The whipped cream is very sweet, it's actually sweeter than the almond paste which really surprised me! But that does mean the semla is more balanced than I expected.

The bun is a little overbaked and probably baked the day before. The cardamom level is also a bit too low for me. So sadly, the bun brings things down a bit.

There were quite a number of surprises with this semla, both positive and negative! It's much more of a genuine semla experience than I had initially expected going by visuals alone.

I love this little bakery run by Rachel and Adam and it's probably the smallest bakery I've ever had a semla from.

They do some fantastic bakes (I'm a big fan of their cookie pies!), and I'm really pleased to see them experimenting with semlor. I really hope they continue to do so!

Gallery

The outside of Little Blondie Bakehouse. It has a wooden shop-front painted pink. The door is set back from the windows to the left and right, creating a porch. Above the porch there is the stylised text "Little Blondie Bakehouse". There is a little hanging sign to the left with the same text. A bowl of water for dogs in just inside the porch. Infront of the shop there is a small pink bench and a swing-sign showing some of the bakery products sold.
Little Blondie Bakehouse.
A glass counter inside the bakery. Behind the glass a number of bakery products can be seen. There is white writing on the glass giving the name of each product and the price. In the centre of the photo is the row of semlor. There are two semlor left.
Semlor behind the counter.
A semla viewed from above. The semla is in a white cardboard box. The lid is round and dusted with icing sugar. There is a smudge in the icing sugar where it has touched the inside of the lid. Under the semla is an inlay sheet with the Little Blondie Bakehouse logo printed on it.
A view of the semla from above, in its box.
A view of the inside of semla. The paste is quite pale and almost the same colour as the bun. There aren't many flecks of cardomum visible. The cream is ample and dominates the photo.
View of the inside of the semla.
The almond paste has a dull yellow colour, and is very close to marzipan in shade but slightly more loose in consistency. In the background there is an our of focus semla.
The almond paste.

Where to buy this semla

Website: Little Blondie Bakehouse

Location: 66 Walmgate, York

Reviewed by

James Royal-Lawson