The unhealthiest chain restaurant desserts in Britain

Would you still choose chocolate fudge cake if you knew it was over 1,200 calories?

Step away from the cake, warn dentists (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The unhealthiest desserts served up by Britain's chain restaurants have been revealed - with one chocolate fudge cake packing in more than 1,200 calories.

Toby Carvery's chocolate and Oreo mess, and Wetherspoon's millionaires sundae completed the top three most belt-busting puds, with 1,133 and 1,067 calories respectively.

All three contain more than half of a woman's daily recommended calorie intake.

All desserts were ranked by calorie count, sugar content, and saturated fat levels.

The Harvester chocolate fudge cake topped the sugar table with 128g per serving - four times the daily recommended amount of added sugar.

Meanwhile the Toby Carvery Oreo dessert topped the saturated fat table with 53g, twice the recommended daily intake for an adult.

Experts from health website Treated.com crunched the nutritional information from 24 high street eateries to come up with their league tables.

(© Treated.com)

A spokesman said: "There's little harm in ordering an indulgent dessert very occasionally. But 'very occasionally' are the crucial words in that sentence.

"Ordering and eating a dessert which exceeds (or for that matter even comes close to) 1,000 calories or 100 grams of sugar on a regular basis is going to pose a health risk, and increase someone's susceptibility to obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

"In full service restaurants, dessert portion sizes tend to be larger than those in fast food restaurants. Furthermore, full service restaurants specialise more in the dining experience, and as such desserts might be served with extras such as ice cream and sauces, to make them more presentable."

There are some relatively healthy options on the high street, however, with Gourmet Burger Kitchen serving up tubs of Yeo Valley Ice Cream pots with 117 calories.

Yo Sushi also does a matcha roll with fewer than 250 calories.

Spokespeople for Wetherspoon, Toby Carvery, and Harvester all said that - in addition to the desserts highlighted - there are a range of healthier options on their menus.

Wetherspoon also said: "Obviously the people at Treated.com don't seem to realise that people choose a dessert because it's a treat at the end of the meal."