Nothing beats the comfort of a freshly baked treat. Whether you’re looking for a muffin on perfectly flakey croissant to go with your morning coffee, a mid-day macaron, or a pie or cake to help celebrate a special occasion, one of Calgary’s many talented bakers has whipped up exactly what you need, fresh out of the oven.

Alforno

Part of the Teatro Group of restaurants, Alforno acts as a baking hub for renowned restaurants including Teatro Ristorante, Vendome, and Cucino. It’s also an excellent stand-alone café and bakeshop with multiple locations serving up artisanal breads, sweets, and pastries along with sandwiches and other meal items. Do not miss out on the signature Teatro tiramisu, one of Calgary’s most iconic desserts.

Black Sheep

French patisserie fans seeking high quality pastries can get their fill at this independent shop on 17th Avenue or its satellite location in the Calgary Farmers’ Market West. The must-try at Black Sheep are the eye-catching striped jam-filled croissants, but the kouign amanns, lemon tarts, and madelines are also among the best in the city. Enjoy your treats in-house with a cup of the shop’s premium tea.

Butter Block & Co.

A small but mighty bakeshop located in the historic Devonish Building, Butter Block showcases the work of creative baker Karen Kong. The shop specializes in buttery croissants stuffed with flavours like sesame or pandan as well as glossy kouign amanns. Goodies can be ordered in advance and the bakery also has a line of frozen bake-at-home products.

Crave

The grand dame of Calgary’s cupcake scene, Crave has been making perfectly delectable cupcakes since it opened its flagship Kensington location in 2004. Now with multiple locations throughout the city, the bakery is still going strong, putting out those perfectly swirled candy-coloured cupcakes as well as a tasty cookies and special occasion cakes.

Glamorgan Bakery

A true gem of the southwest part of the city, Glamorgan Bakery is without a doubt one of Calgarians’ favourite all-purpose neighbourhood bakeries, thanks to the cult-like popularity of its signature cheese buns. While the buns get the most glory, Glamorgan is a full-service bakery with plenty of other treats to explore, like everyday breads, lunchbox-appropriate cookies and muffins, and fancy cakes worthy of birthdays and anniversaries.

La Boulangerie Bakery Café

A traditional French bakery, La Boulangerie offers a number of delectable French treats, both sweet and savoury. Choose from delicate fruit tarts, custard-filled croissants, and perfect éclairs. Indulge in-shop with a cup of coffee and a homestyle meal or take something home to share with friends and family for dessert.

Manuel Latruwe

For over 25 years, Manuel Latruwe has been Calgary’s source for high-end European-style breads and pastries. The selection here is immense — bring home opulent cakes, precious lemon tarts, profiteroles, or bake-at-home croissants, quiche, and Belgian waffles. The bread is also not to be missed, with loaves of sourdough, brioche, and other varieties.

Mari Bakeshop

A labour of love from a couple who happen to be internationally experienced bakers, Mari is a haven for anyone who loves ultra-flakey viennoiserie items such as croissants, beurre normand, or florentine danish. This comfortable Bridgeland café also specializes in slices of cream-filled roll cakes and bite-sized choux pastries filled with matcha, coffee, passion fruit, and other flavoured creams.

Ollia Macarons and Tea

Specializing in treats that are both delicate and delicious, Ollia is all about brightly coloured macarons, available in specialty flavours like fig and balsamic, matcha, lavender and honey, and earl grey. The shop also makes specialty macaron cakes (which are basically a giant macaron) and pretty macaron pyramids for special occasions. For an interactive experience, book one of the shop’s very popular macaron baking classes.

Pie Junkie

Yes, this is a shop with an all-pie menu. With multiple locations around the city, Pie Junkie makes a wide range of both sweet and savoury pies, making it a one-stop shop for both lunch and dessert. Flavours change seasonally but try to snag one of the salted honey or the sour cherry pies, or for something more savoury, the butter chicken or Aussie-style beef.

Sidewalk Citizen Bakery

A pioneer in Calgary’s local sourdough bread game, the Simmons Building’s Sidewalk Citizen is beloved for its delicious loaves and community-minded vibe. While the bread (made from a now-teenage starter called “Freddie”) is excellent, the bakery offers much more, including some of the city’s best cinnamon buns as well as croissants, brownies, savoury scones, and more.  

Sucre Patisserie and Café 

You won’t find a prettier birthday cake than the gorgeous (and delicious) signature chiffon creations at Sucre. If you’re not in the market for a full cake, Sucre also specializes in delicate cookies flavours like earl grey shortbread and crispy palmiers, luxurious creme brûlée danishes, and both sweet and savoury croissants.  

Yann Haute Patisserie 

As one of the original bakers to introduce the city to the magic of macarons, Yann Blanchard has become one of Calgary’s true dessert masters. Yann Haute Patisserie, located in an iconic bright yellow house in Mission, is full of Blanchard’s signature macarons, as well as cakes, brioche, croissants and other French favourites.  

Wow Bakery 

A wonderland of Korean baked delights (with a hint of Japanese inspiration), Wow Bakery specializes in delectable loaves filled with chestnuts or matcha, red bean and mochi filled buns, and perfectly formed cookies and macarons. This is also the place to get top tier cakes, with beautifully constructed masterpieces flavoured with sweet potato mousse, Belgian chocolate, or strawberry. 

Of course, this is all in addition to all of the great Calgary restaurants that have solid dessert menus to complement their savoury offerings. If you fancy something sweet in this city, you won’t have to work to hard to find it.