The extracts below are from an online review of the best bakeries in Orlando, Florida, USA. Take the Cake (or Pie or Cookie) at Orlando's best Bakeries Carbs¹ get such a bad name these days. Count them, the diets will tell you. Remember there are good ones and bad ones. Or, worst of all, they instruct you to avoid them altogether. If the gourmet cupcake trend has been indicative of anything, it's a hard backlash against a philosophy that tells us all the sweet, doughy things we love most are nutritionally sinful. Let's face it: foodies don't want to be preached at (unless the sermon comes with artisan-smoked, hand-cut, maple-sugared bacon). Orlando residents enjoy warm weather much of the year and, as such, may be a little more diet conscious than most, but that doesn't mean they don't appreciate a nice piece of cake. Or pie. Or bread. Where do they go to get it? All over! For crusty-perfect breads and rolls, East End Market's Olde Hearth Bread Co. For classic, butter-laden French, it's Croissant Gourmet in Winter Park. Fortuna Bakery & Cafe keeps locals and tourists covered. And for those aforementioned trendy cupcakes? Try Blue Bird Bake Shop in the Audubon Park Garden District or switch it up with a new kid on the Corrine Drive block, P is for Pie. Fortuna Bakery & Cafe Behold the bridge-building power of food. Whether you're well schooled in the delights of the South American bakery or a total novice, the helpful staffers at Fortuna will serve you cheerfully and efficiently, regardless of whether you speak the same language. Clean glass cases filled to exploding with all manner of Colombian and Venezuelan delights keep this place busy all week long via a devoted local following and a steady stream of tourists who find it via recommendation or by happy accident. The sweet treats, from the bunuelos to the pastels de manzana to the tres leches, are divine, but there are plenty of savories to enjoy, as well. Croissant Gourmet Brothers Francois and Phillipe Cahagne opened Croissant Gourmet in 2008, and in the time since it has become a local favorite in the walkable window shopper's paradise of Winter Park. While lunch time brings in all manner of diners clamoring for specialties like quiche Lorraine and croque monsieur, Croissant Gourmet's bakery is a universal draw, whether you're sitting down to enjoy one of their massive buttery croissants with a cup of coffee or stopping in for a box of baked goodies to go. Stay away if you're on a diet. Blue Bird Bake Shop Nestled in the burgeoning foodie haven of Audubon Park, Blue Bird Bake Shop offers up delightful cupcakes – scratch-baked from small batches. Does this mean your favorite might run out by afternoon? Yes. Yes, it does. All the more reason to try another of the popular varieties offered up every day (they have roughly 50 in their overall playbook) including chocolate, apricot ginger, red velvet and coffee toffee. There are plenty of more traditional flavors, as well, along with seasonal and holiday goodies like maple walnut, lime and coconut, strawberry lemonade and candy cane. Let's be honest: you'll find something you like. If cupcakes aren't quite your thing, brownies, scones, muffins and cookies round out the menu, and any will pair delightfully with a cup of organically grown Top Hat Coffee. Olde Hearth Bread Co. Oh, the crusty, crusty goodness. ... The most difficult thing about stepping up to the great wall of bread at Olde Hearth's East End Market outpost is not buying more than you came for. Since The Olde Hearth uses only the highest quality ingredients, you'll feel less guilty about tearing off chunks in the car on the way home. Which you almost certainly will. Potato rolls to pumpernickel, black olive bread to blueberry muffins, this bakery's menu goes from sweet to savory and back again with hand-crafted care. From pastries to pizza shells, they've got you covered. P is for Pie Bake Shop Addicted to your handheld device? Well, snap the picture and set your phone down, because you'll want both your hands to sample the wares of this friendly, from-scratch bake shop in Audubon Park. You may want to bring friends with hands, too. They have cake, 'cutie pies', hand pies, cookies and mason-jar pies, as well. Find a few varieties you love (you will, promise) and you can place an order for a full-size, 9-inch version. And sweets aren't all they do here. Seasonal ingredients mean fresh fare. Pop in to sample with a cup of coffee or just come in to grab a box and go. You'll be back soon enough. ¹ carbs: carbohydrates