Pastry maven Shawn McKenzie first wooed the Twin Cities with tahini cookies, chocolate babka, and Turkish scones at Café Cerés. In March of this year, she joined Rustica Bakery, a local icon since 2004, as executive chef and patissier. All the classics are still around, from the cross-hatched miche loaf and baguettes to kouign amann and bittersweet chocolate cookies. For a dreamy dessert fix, try the roasted banana tart, ringed with spheres of mascarpone mousse.

It’s not just the vaunted kouign amann — buttery with an armor of caramelized gloss — that makes Black Walnut so iconic. Everything on its menu lures us back. There’s a cassis vanilla Bavarian cake, layered with an airy chiffon sponge and an intense ganache. There are radiant lemon tarts and, of course, croissants, which are consistently flaky across both sweet and savory offerings. Custom-order cakes, sized up to nine inches, are recommended for special occasions. 

Stepping into Marissa’s Bakery feels a bit like stepping into another world, one where a wood-fired brick oven churns out filled fluffy conchas, sopapillas, and crackly bolillos all day long. Marissa’s breads and pastries are equally good — they all have a melt-in-your-mouth effect — and the adjoining cafe serves juicy birria tacos, enchiladas, and other Mexican dishes.

Although Solveig Tofte’s baking experience has spanned the world, her Minneapolis shop focuses on imbuing a distinctly American vibe with breads and pastries she crafts from scratch — like a pan loaf homage to the flax, durum, and potatoes grown in the Red River Valley, a farming region in Northwest Minnesota; a rustic, country-style loaf made from local cornmeal; or croissants finished like soft pretzels, which yield a distinctly rich and nutty taste. More ‘traditional’ pastries from Tofte’s heritage are also offered, such as fyrstekake, a type of shortbread cake filled with chopped almonds and cardamom.

One of Lake Street’s premier destinations for Mexican pan dulces and pasteles, Panaderia San Miguel first opened in 2004. Grab a tray and a pair of tongs and wind your way through the enchanting shelves of pastries. Favorites here are the conchas (crackly, delicately sweet, and puffed to the size of grapefruits), a fluffy raised doughnut stuffed with rice pudding, and a tres leches cake that lets no crumb go dry. The earlier you stop by the better, as the pastries here are baked daily and sell out.

These breads — naturally leavened with a sourdough culture — are made with 60 percent or more whole grain flower, which gives them an earthy, nutty bite. But don’t zip past the pastry case on the hunt for a loaf. The mandarin-spiced morning buns, pecan bear claws, and rye brownies are the perfect complement.

Aki’s BreadHaus may be the only bakery in the Twin Cities that specializes in German bread, and it carries that mantle with aplomb. Owner Joachim “Aki” Berndt, a native of Germany, whips up nutty currant ryes, bauernbrot (a dark sourdough), and brötchen, the ultimate dinner rolls in his Northeast Minneapolis kitchen. The buttery pretzels come dusted with cinnamon sugar, parmesan, or an “everything” seasoning. Aki’s pastries are noteworthy too — supplement a Sunday morning loaf with apple streusel or a glazed lemon poppy seed roll.

Two generations of Botzet family bakers run Sarah Jane’s, a Northeast neighborhood favorite since 1979. The bakery leans into classic American bakery traditions, favoring lemon bars, doughnuts, and muffins over croissants and kouign amann. The coffee cake menu, which spans from butter pecan to cardamom almond, is unrivaled. Sarah Jane’s pastry case is always stocked, but it’s best to order ahead for anything special (like a harvest apple pie).

Few places can make a name with both croissants and old-fashioned doughnuts. La Boulangerie Marguerite can. That’s partly because they rebranded from P.J. Murphy’s, which had a more homespun vibe. Francois Kiemde, and his wife-turned-business partner, Melissa, raised the bar on an already solid pastry program with an ample array of new patisseries, viennoiseries, and cakes. His classic croissant, based on a 30-year old recipe, remains a standout for its denser-than-expected, but still delightfully flaky, quality. 

Like the gold leaf that adorns Bellecour Bakery’s magnificent crepe cake, everything that Gavin Kaysen adds to the Twin Cities’ already bustling food scene is more than polish. Kaysen and acclaimed pastry chef Diane Moua opened Bellecour in Wayzata, originally — after a pandemic closure, it now lives within Cooks of Crocus Hill on Grand Avenue and in downtown Minneapolis. The kouign amann here are exceptional — they’re caramely and buttery and intricately layered — and Moua’s famous crepe cake, layered with rich pastry cream, is a must.

Trung Nam’s vaunted banh mi need no introduction. But the rest of its pastry program may. With a dizzying variety of fruit-filled croissants (apricot, blueberry, raison, raspberry, strawberry, apple) and more unique flavors, like coconut, on offer, chef-proprietor Tony Le nails the French Asian culinary diaspora with aplomb. His pastries are ethereal and fruit-forward without being too sweet. Cash only.