Philadelphia: it's not just for cheesesteaks, pretzels, and Tastykake. Butter cake isn't always the easiest food to find: it tends to proliferate in German bakeries, mostly in the Northeastern reaches of the city, the likes of which don't generally have websites or Twitter feeds. But it's worth seeking out, and here are seven spots that I think are worth a trip. More

Kim Boyce, author of the James Beard Award-winning Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours cookbook, recently opened the quaint and cozy Bakeshop in Portland, Oregon. Fans of her cookbook are in luck: Bakeshop sells a number of items from Good to the Grain, including her chocolate chip cookies, Figgy Buckwheat scones, ginger molasses cookies, corn gruyere muffins, and maple pecan granola. Here's a peek behind the scenes. More

The name of the traditional Swedish cake spettekaka translates to "spit/skewer cake," named so for how the cake is made: Thin lines of batter are pipped in densely webbed layers onto conical molds on a rotating spit. Although the name may not sound like anything special, the end result is impressive. More

Anyone who's driven more than a mile in the state of Massachusetts knows that this is doughnut country. But on a remote corner in East Boston stands a doughnut bakery that predates Dunkin' Donuts by almost two decades—and still makes a far superior product. More

I've never actually mailed a sticky bun to anyone before, but with this one I came close. Let's just say that sticky buns are pretty much the holy grail of breakfast pastries in my family, and my Monty Python-esque quest to find the ultimate version came to a glorious end at Joanne Chang's Flour Bakery and Café. More

Before visiting Utah a few weeks ago, I can't say I had any preconceptions about Salt Lake City's bakery scene. But after a morning spent cruising the town for pastries, I have to say, I'm pretty impressed. Former Serious Eats intern Alison Herzog brought me by Tulie Bakery to sample all sorts of chocolate goodies, but it was the morning bun I fell hard for—flaky, tender croissant pastry spiraled around sugar, tasting gently but unmistakably of orange. More

Morning buns from La Farine, the French bakery with three locations in the Bay Area, are muffin-shaped but so far from muffins. Flaky, thin croissant layers swirl up around the top like a snail shell, and get a drizzle of cinnamon sugar granules. You pull apart feathery pieces like you're eating a cinnamon roll, except it's not nearly as dense, gooey, or sweet. Tan and crispy around the edges with tender pastry insides, these morning buns are good even when they're not baked-seconds-ago fresh—they could easily be called anytime buns. More

When I first heard about the maple bacon biscuit ($3.75) at Huckleberry, the Santa Monica bakery and cafe, I figured, it's just the token bacon thing for all the bacon heads. There are plenty of other scrumptious-looking baked goods sitting there behind the glass counter. But I was a sucker, and ordered the darn biscuit—and it was amazing. More

Earlier this week Cakespy reported on her favorite savory meals in Paris, but let's be honest—she was there for the sweets. After visiting 35 bakeries in seven days in Paris, she rounds up a dozen—no wait, a baker's dozen—of her favorites, from macarons to eclairs to tartelette aux fraises, and more. More

There was no way we could pass up a breakfast at Dahlia Bakery. So we set out early the next morning to try the most cared-about breakfast sandwich in all the land. As it turned out, we had a few to choose from—before hitting the sweet treats, too. More