The Midwife and the Baker is a whole grain bakery that bakes all its bread and pastries with flour that’s milled in-house. As the name suggests, the bakery was founded by a baker and his spouse, who worked as a homebirth midwife. They started selling their bread at the Fort Mason Farmers’ Market in San Francisco. Now, they bake in their own facility in Mountain View, and their bread is served at cafes, restaurants, and grocery stores all over the region. The sesame whole wheat consistently sells out, while fans love the Kamut baguette due to its notably deep, buttery flavor. In terms of pastries, the traditional croissant and the sticky bun are well-liked.

For an artistic take on custom baked goods, Sugar Butter Flour has your back. The bakery specializes in decorative cakes, cookies, cake pops, and cupcakes. With the incorporation of hand-made edible art pieces, the shop takes concepts and transforms them into themed cakes for any occasion. Though Sugar Butter Flour opened 17 years ago, it’s always stayed true to pure, European-sourced ingredients, as indicated by the bakery’s name. In addition to custom cakes, handmade chocolates, loaves, tarts, and croissants are rich and decadent options.

Peters’ Bakery is the oldest family-owned bakery in Silicon Valley, having opened its San Jose location in 1936. The shop has since been passed down through the generations, and today, it has something for everyone — a wide range of breads, pastries, doughnuts, danishes, coffee cakes, eclairs, cookies, pies, and cakes. The star of the show is the burnt almond cake, which is especially popular among customers for its fluffy texture, crunchy toasted almond bits, and smooth, buttercream frosting. Visitors also frequently order custom cakes. 

Whether you’re the type to chase down viral croissants — those spiral- or cube-shaped pastries that are everywhere on social media — or just prefer a solid pastry, Croissante is a worthwhile place to visit. The croissants are the star, and it’s easy to over-order between the cube croissant French toast, the classics, fruit-filled versions like the chocolate strawberry croissant, and the savory options. If you can, save some room to try other options, such as the shop’s cakes and tarts, which are often overlooked amongst the viennoiserie. Seating tends to fill up on busier days, so have a backup plan for where you’ll eagerly eat your well-deserved little treats.

With 11 locations throughout the Bay Area, Sheng Kee is one of the region’s top spots to grab classic Asian pastries. The shop is most well known for its array of buns, namely the pineapple buns that come with fillings including custard, taro, red bean and coconut. Sheng Kee also sells a plethora of savory pastries including curry bread, jalapeno cheese bread, and fried pork bread. Customers particularly like the pork sung buns, made with milk bread and shredded pork jerky. And of course, there’s no shortage of festive mousse cakes and mooncakes, as well as egg tarts galore.

Family-owned CA Bakehouse in San Jose is notorious for creative takes on Asian-inspired pastries. The shop was initially known as Le Monde, which opened in 1996 and became infamous among locals for popularizing the pandan green waffle. Customers rave about the honeycomb cake, a simple Vietnamese pastry with a chewy texture and a subtle pandan flavor. CA Bakehouse also offers classic staples, like Portuguese egg tarts with dough that’s laminated multiple times to garner an extra crispy outer shell. Of course, they still serve the pandan green waffle with the same recipe from decades ago.

For those exploring Santana Row, Cocola Bakery is a worthy stop for aesthetic French-style cakes and pastries. Though the bakery has a few different locations in Northern California, the San Jose outpost is especially quaint and charming. Since the bakery opened in San Jose 20 years ago, Cocola has expanded its offerings, with classic pastries like croissants, quiche, and creme feuillet, as well as swanky cakes. The most popular cakes — which come in individual sizes — include the tiramisu, the hazelnut cake, and the three-layer chocolate mousse. The shop’s colorful options, like the raspberry and white chocolate mousse cake, are also popular.

European-inspired bakery La Patisserie takes cake seriously. The shop offers a slew of daily menu items such as green tea cheesecake and tres leches — but for those who want to order one for a special occasion, there are more than 132 ways to customize cakes by sweetness and flavor. Since opening 16 years ago, the family-owned bakery has become well-known for its burnt almond cake, which incorporates an Amaretto custard filling, and guava cake. The individual-sized desserts are a popular option, along with the tiramisu, passionberry cake, hazelnut bliss cake, and Persian Napoleon.

Born out of a three Michelin-starred kitchen, Manresa’s bread is the real deal. To this day, the team employs the same natural yeast starter that was used back at Manresa restaurant, and they incorporate local and organic fresh-milled flours and grains into their products. Today, Manresa has five locations in the South Bay Area, with the Los Gatos, Campbell, and Palo Alto outposts offering an all-day café menu in addition to bread and pastries. The levain bread is a must-try, while the kouign amann is the most popular pastry on the menu, as it honors the age-old Breton technique. 

If you’ve been itching to try the viral spiral croissant, Marvel Cake is the Bay Area spot that’s doing them justice. The beloved croissants come in three flavors – chocolate, pistachio, and strawberry – and there’s even more to enjoy in the shop’s array of visually stunning pastry offerings including fruit tarts, eclairs, galettes, macarons, and more. The shop also specializes in custom cakes, which are topped with elaborate fondant creations and made with butter, cream, and produce from local farms, as well as pure whole vanilla beans and Belgian chocolate.

Milohas opened as a small, family-owned bakery in Colombia in 1999 and has since transplanted to the Bay Area. Still, the bakery offers Colombian empanadas and baked goods, made with recipes that have been passed down through generations. Fittingly, the name is derived from the Spanish words “mil hojas,” which means “one thousand layers” and hints at the flakiness and complexity of the shop’s pastry dough. The ham and cheese and beef empanadas are fan favorites, and the shop also serves vegetarian options like potato, or spinach and cheese. Visitors also frequently order cheese arepas, and as for sweet treats, the guava finger and the pandebono with guava are popular options.