Café 605 at Hotel Van Zandt
Photograph: Aubrie Pick
Photograph: Aubrie Pick

The 14 best Austin bakeries to visit now

Satisfy your sweet tooth and eat delicious baked goods, sweets, desserts and pastries at the best Austin bakeries

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While you might find some pretty good sweets and pastries when visiting the best food trucks in Austin or at one of the best restaurants in Austin, there's something about these Austin bakeries that make them the absolute top spots to devour the best desserts, pastries and baked goods around town. From bustling Mexican panederias to cinnamon buns the size of your face, it’s time to indulge your sweet tooth like never before. And, since you're already indulging, you might want to really enjoy yourself at the end of the day with a cocktail in hand at one of the best bars in Austin.

Best Austin bakeries

  • Bakeries
  • Bouldin Creek
  • price 2 of 4
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

The French pastries that owner Soraiya Nagree and pastry chef Lezlie Mills Gibbs create daily are mind-blowingly good. From morning buns (sugary croissant curled around layers of orange zest) to the cro-brio (a croissant and brioche hybrid, their take on the overhyped cronut) and the best chocolate croissant in Austin, La Patisserie’s talented bakers are killing it. Don’t forget to taste the ever delicious, signature macarons when visiting. 

  • Cafés
  • West University
  • price 2 of 4
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

Texas French Bread was founded in 1981. Years later, in addition to being the top purveyor of fresh artisan breads, it also became one of the first restaurants in Austin to adopt a sustainable, farm-to-table concept. Today, they continue to produce fantastic breads and operate a popular eatery in the same space. Baguettes, sourdough (white, wheat, rye), ciabatta, whole wheat, honey wheat sandwich, raisin pecan, tea breads, assorted croissants and pastries are all available for purchase. Consider yourself lucky if you manage to grab a loaf of Murph Bread, Texas French Bread’s best and least available bread.

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  • Swedish Hill Historic District
  • price 2 of 4
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

The first things that come to mind when thinking of Easy Tiger are beer, ping pong and pretzels. But beware: their impressive in-house bakery on Sixth St (plus a new outpost at Fareground) is nothing to overlook. Accessible directly from the street, the bakery also supplies Austin's best restaurants with baguettes and buns on the regular. Be sure to try all of head baker David Norman's specialties: croissants, Danish pastries, levains, German rye, pretzel buns and baguettes.

  • Bakeries
  • West End
  • price 1 of 4
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

For over 40 years, Sweetish Hill Bakery & Café has been a pillar within the historic Clarksville neighborhood. Every day, the staff pounds, flours, bakes and braids a variety of breads...like the sourdough batard, ciabatta, challah and baguettes. Since no classic bakery is complete without cookies, pastries, muffins, cakes and pies, the spot offers them all to-go.

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  • Shopping
  • Upper Boggy Creek
  • price 1 of 4
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

While it’s a far cry from an actual bakery, the family-friendly Texas Farmer's Market at Mueller’s has an impressive list of vendors including multiple talented bakers and pastry chefs. French-trained pastry chef Julie Myrtille’s artisan baked brioche and pastries are dreamy to look at and to eat. Also try Stroop Club's stroopwafels—double layered crispy waffles with melty Dutch caramel inside. And hailing from Round Rock, Knotty Nice Bakery is also on-site each weekend with pies, caramels, pastries and cupcakes made traditionally and with vegan/gluten-free/dairy-free options.

  • Holly
  • price 1 of 4
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

The cute, little mint green house on the Eastside is home to Capital City Bakery, the vegan bakery formerly operating out of a truck. Expect a mouthwatering selection of vegan cakes (wedding too!), cupcakes, kolaches and pastries that even non-vegans adore. While the cupcakes change seasonally, the delectable experience remains constant.

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  • Bakeries
  • Bouldin Creek
  • price 1 of 4
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

Owners Olivia and Sean O'Neill made Austin proud when they won Food Network's Cupcake Wars in 2013. Now, in addition to their flagship location, they have hip new digs on the Eastside complete with wine and beer offerings. While the selection of goodies changes daily, their most popular cupcakes are always available, like the ever popular Marilyn Monroe—a buttery vanilla cupcake topped with Madagascar bourbon vanilla buttercream.

  • Bakeries
  • Northwest Austin
  • price 2 of 4
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

Austin darling Amy's Ice Cream now has a bakery that boasts the same mastery of fan favorite tastes and flavors. The display at Baked by Amy's is stocked with brownies, cake pops, cake balls, cookies, cakes and bars; the cupcakes, all crowned with colorful icing, and modern macaron flavors rotate monthly.

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  • Sandwich shops
  • Market District
  • price 2 of 4
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

Walton’s Fancy and Staple's premise is very interesting: it's a deli/bakery/flower shop/caterer/event space mashup. The Sandra Bullock-owned space boasts a vintage charm and the food is solid but we’re a little obsessed with the macaron ice cream sandwiches, a whimsical take on the classic macaron.

  • Bakeries
  • Town Lake
  • price 2 of 4
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

A brand new café in a brand new boutique hotel on Rainey Street may seem like an unusual place to find amazing pastries but with Geraldine's pastry chef Callie Speer at the helm, it is indeed possible. Located in the lobby of the chic Hotel Van Zandt, Café 605 is the perfect spot to study, get work done or lead a meeting while enjoying coffee and a fresh English muffin or chocolate pretzel brownie.

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  • Bakeries
  • Rosedale
  • price 3 of 4
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

For over 30 years, Upper Crust Bakery has been the go-to destination for a quick coffee and a Danish. There's something to be said about the simplicity of the offerings—which include sweets and sandwiches made with freshly baked bread. It's no surprise that the best-selling cinnamon roll, classic cheesecake, sticky buns, savory brioche and puff pastries—all made from scratch—continue to gain new fans.

  • Bakeries
  • Wooten
  • price 1 of 4
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

Mi Tradicion has scored awards from the Austin Chronicle for Best Mexican Bakery and Best Thing To Happen to Far South Austin, so it's no surprise that their sugary selection of traditional pan dulces is unparalleled. Both of the two locations have enough cookies, empanadas, and doughnuts to send a sweet tooth into a tailspin, but these kitchens crank out more than just sweets. The lunch menu of tacos, tortas and blue corn quesadillas is as authentically Mexican as it gets. Pro-tip: buy a bag of their surprisingly sweet tortillas to take home.

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  • Cafés
  • Hancock
  • price 1 of 4
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

Anyone who hung out on The Drag in the '80s and '90s remembers Captain Quackenbush's Intergalactic Dessert Company and Espresso Café as the first legit coffee shop in Austin and the place for slackers and students alike to get caffeinated. Although the campus location closed in 1998, its current incarnation lives on at Quack's 43rd Street Bakery in Hyde Park where you can still grab coffee from the full-service espresso bar and a slice of key lime pie or a Nutella tea cookie while you reminisce about your Doc Marten days.

  • Bakeries
  • South Lamar
  • price 1 of 4
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

Moonlight is a small, family-owned bakery which chooses to forgo quirky cupcakes, exotic flavors, superfluous piping and doughnuts altogether to focus on perfecting a handful of pastries. The cinnamon roll is a customer favorite; it's served warm with the perfect marriage of cinnamon, butter and icing. The almond and chocolate croissants have a legion of dedicated fans and their fresh bread (focaccia, sourdough, brioche and much more!) is a perfect addition to a homemade meal.

Looking for kolaches?

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