Coyle's went from a wildly popular pop-up bakery to neighborhood favorite in short time. The bakeshop connects a solid foundation in French technique with ingredients that are in season in the Pacific Northwest; look for killer cakes, scones, tarts, and croissants, alongside a strong selection of teas prepared beautifully.

Keiji Koh and Etsuku Minematsu are the husband-and-wife duo behind this Phinney Ridge favorite, which now spans four bakeries across the city. A love of baking and interest in integrating Japanese flavors and techniques marks the influences here, with selections like the yuzu macarons and the azuki bean mini bars as standouts.

This Ballard cafe’s plain croissant is the benchmark by which all others are measured. It is exactly as buttery and flakey as it must be, and often draws long lines. Available for takeout with online preordering for those who want to avoid the wait.

Stained glass-lit Saint Bread is a Portage Bay shrine to carbs. While the bakery offers a selection of toasts and other savory items, the croissants, twists, knots, and buns with truly shine, and there’s an excellent steamed egg sandwich on melonpan that’s usually in high demand.

Seattle is home to a little pocket of Scandinavian shops serving up goodies from potato dumplings to lingonberries. Byen Bakeri is a key part of this scene; a delightful Norwegian bakery specializing in comfort cuisine from the homeland. It’s a go-to place for semlor, veslkringle, and croquembouche, as flavorfully complex as they sound.

Hello Robin would be exceptional even if it only served cookies, the moist and chewy kind you dreamed about as a kid. But this Capitol Hill shop — with a new outpost at U Village — decided to venture even further toward perfection and utilize its signature cookies for ice cream sandwiches with Molly Moon’s in the middle.

This completely gluten-free sanctuary gives other likeminded cafes all over Seattle a run for their money, and could even convert one’s staunchly pro-gluten pals with its wonderful cupcakes, muffins, and cinnamon rolls. In fact, Nuflours is great for all dietary restrictions, and is available for takeout with online preorders.

Macrina can be found in multiple different cafes, a handful of restaurants, and most grocery stores around town — and no one is complaining about oversaturation. This major player in the Seattle bakery scene gives eaters the option of crusty bread any night of the week and other delightful treats, including quiche and seasonal galette.

There are plenty of great spots at Pike Place Market to pick up a snack or dessert. And Le Panier is exactly the kind of Seattle classic that makes a visit worth it, rarely disappointing for its wide selection of French-influenced pastries.

One of Capitol Hill’s newer dessert shops specializes in scratching the childhood nostalgia itch, with homemade Oreos, brownies, Nutter Butters, and Snickerdoodles. Online ordering is available for takeout and nationwide delivery.

Part plant shop and part dessert shop, Cakes and Trees is a terrific new culinary project from Alison Odowski and Erik Jackson of Good Day Donuts. There’s a rotating menu of cake slices, from bundts and butter cake to lemon velvet, all of which are supremely satisfying. The hours on this brand new shop are a little irregular, but posted online each week.

This Mount Baker shop has been operating since 2016, but owner Bill Hart’s baking experience goes back decades, and that dedication shows in his delightful Southern-influenced creations. His chess pies (in flavors such as key lime, coconut, and lemon) are critically acclaimed, and everything is available for online orders.

A bit of a throwback to mid-century European cafes, this is a powerhouse pastry shop (with locations in West Seattle, Burien and Capitol Hill), offering terrific quiches alongside a lineup of sweet delicacies that includes a sensational twice-baked almond croissant. The danishes are great, but those who want something richer should head for the dark chocolate cake.

The sweeter sibling to vegetarian mainstay Cafe Flora recently opened in Beacon Hill and sells a variety of wonderful baked goods and breakfast sandwiches. Among some of the offerings: twice-baked rose pistachio croissants, unicorn horn meringues, and kimchi blue cheese scones There’s also Stumptown coffee, and a silky cardamom rose latte, best enjoyed on the expansive patio.

Seattle’s favorite airstream cake shop — a staple for years at the Georgetown Trailer Park Mall — moved in to a bigger, more stationary home in the fall of 2018. The shop now operates out of a historic market space on Carleton Avenue and still slings fan favorites like the London Fog and 9LB Porter, available whole or by the slice.

This cozy house-turned-cafe in White Center serves up Hawaiian-influenced treats, like pineapple scones and colorful cakes flavored with guava and lilikoi. The shop is also well known for its cinnamon rolls — with or without cream cheese frosting — and its haupia, which is topped with a light coconut frosting and crushed macadamia nuts.