Best Bakery

1. 85ºC Bakery Café

Multiple locations; 85cbakerycafe.com

Orange County holds a special place amid this international company’s history: Irvine is where the first U.S. location opened in 2008. Five years earlier, 85˚C — the name refers to a perfectly brewed espresso temperature — was started by Cheng-Hsueh Wu in Taiwan, focusing on gourmet pastries, cakes and coffee brewed with Guatemalan beans. Now there are more than 1,000 stores worldwide.

Patrons can order Yudane chocolate chip filled minibuns, milk toast, sweet blueberry bread, cinnamon twists, cream puffs, egg tarts, sponge cakes, cheese dogs as well as espressos, teas, slushes and smoothies. 85˚C Bakery Café Marketing Director Dave Lazaro says walking past the displays to hand-pick from 50 different freshly baked breads or opting for the signature sea salt cream coffee makes for a totally unique experience.

The annual Asian Moon Festival, which marks the arrival of autumn, also heralds the return of 85˚C’s popular mooncakes. Over the summer, the company introduced the Impossible BBQ Bun, which Lazaro says provides their vegetarian guests with “a great savory alternative to our Hawaiian Chicken Bun.” Another recent item was inspired by elote (or Mexican street corn) found at downtown Santa Ana food carts.

“Starting with soft sweet bread, we bake in a special blend of corn, Pico de Gallo seasoning and butter, then sprinkle on Cotija cheese and parsley on top. It has been a fan favorite from Day One.”

JONATHAN WINSLOW, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER 85°C Bakery Café has more than 1,000 stores worldwide.

— George A. Paul

2. French’s Pastry Bakery

Costa Mesa, Mission Viejo, Orange; @frenchsbakery (Instagram)

This family-owned business was launched more than 50 years ago by Frank French in Costa Mesa. The Mission Viejo outlet arrived in 1996; Orange followed in 2005. Expediency is common practice here where a wedding cake can often be created in a week’s time (a rarity in the industry).

French’s prides itself on making real whipped cream in-house too. Customers can find premade cakes ready for that last-minute party or order one in delectable flavors like banana nut, carrot, cinnamon spice, red velvet and lemon poppyseed. Some customers stop by just to order the famous Wagon Wheel — a large coffee cake with cream cheese available in chocolate chip, blueberry, raspberry, peach, boysenberry and more.

Other delectable goodies on offer include Bundt cakes, cupcakes, pies, cookies, fresh fruit pastries, chocolate custard eclairs, rum balls and bread pudding. The breads are baked daily and cookie trays are available for large events.

3. Porto’s Bakery and Café

7640 Beach Blvd., Buena Park; portosbakery.com

Porto’s provides an authentic taste of Havana. The popular bakery originated in Cuba, where Rosa Porto baked cakes and pastries for quinceañeras, weddings and birthday parties. When her family fled the communist country in the early 1970s and landed in Southern California, Porto’s was born.

The family-run chain revolves around home cooking from Mama’s classic recipes. The Bake at Home service ships unbaked frozen pastries nationwide for people to cook items like Arroz con Pollo Frito, guava pie and ham croquette. Then there’s spinach feta empanadas, potato balls, pork tamales and more.

Yelp reviewer Kylie N. of Orange wrote that the “pricing is very reasonable for each item, especially baked goods. It’s also a bit overwhelming with the amount of items to choose from, which is most likely why you can’t leave Porto’s with just one box.”

There is usually a long line at the entrance, so budget time accordingly.