In the Sunshine Coast region of South-East Queensland, Noosa is one of the state’s premier tourist destinations, and for good reason.

Down-to-earth surfers, young people with a penchant for quality food and boutiques, and retirees who invested well all enjoy Noosa’s gorgeous scenery, relaxed lifestyle, and attentiveness to the finer things in life. 

It’s no surprise then that Noosa’s bakeries and patisseries reflect that ethos, with quality being a focus of business, be it traditionalists who want to preserve that golden age of baking using their grandparent’s recipes, or organic wholemeal sourdough makers experimenting with ancient grains. You can have your cake and eat it too in Noosa.

1/ Noosa Hot Bread Shop

Noosa Hot Bread shop is a bakery/café at Sunshine Coast offering guests a French Bistro experience. Their specialty is their long fermentation sourdough that is free of additives and improvers. A peek at their Instagram shows just a snapshot of the beautiful buttery pastries they’re also renowned for, made with French butter and flour, creating an authentic product. Many of the menu items for the café feature their sourdough toast, paired with fresh salads and meats. They even make their pasta in-house.

Our pick: Classic sourdough

2/ Hastings Street Bakery

Owners of Hastings Street Bakery Brett and Hayley moved from Sydney 10 years ago for a sea change and a business challenge, with no background whatsoever in baking. But, they did have a lot of passion and that passion has shined through over the years. Alongside their determined and dedicated staff, they have learnt the trade and established one of Noosa’s favourite bakeries, which produces delicious pastries and pies. Not only do they excel in their handmade croissants, danishes and pies, they have created their signature Noosa Gingerbread Girl, which in true Noosa style dons a bikini.

Our pick: Noosa gingerbread girl

3/ Sweetness Contained

Sweetness Contained is a vintage meets industrial-style café that also specialises in celebration cakes. A typical day in the café features home baked gourmet pies and sausage rolls, paninis, frittatas, tarts, savoury scones, salads, croissants, cakes and pastries, with coffee, teas, hot chocolates, iced coffee and milkshakes to top it off. Their wedding cakes are made to order, with the designers creating masterpieces in a range of styles from traditional to quirky. Some of their most interesting cake flavours are paleo banana bread, lovelight chocolate, pink Champagne and lemon syrup.

Our pick: Pink champagne cake

4/ Richie’s Bakery

The brother and sister duo behind Richie’s bakery Richie and Catherine started their apprenticeships in their parent’s bakery in Bowral, NSW, Sunshine Coast learning the craft from their father and the business skill from their mother. For more than 15 years, they’ve owned Richie’s in Tewantin and 10 years ago bought another in Cooroy. Richie, Catherine and the team maintain that baking a good product daily and producing traditional lines gives them an edge over some more modern bakeries, as people love the nostalgia of bakeries they visited in their childhood. Expect all of the classics at Richie’s, made fresh and with heart.

Our pick: Cream bun

5/ Le Bon Delice French Patisserie

Jean Jacques Le Faou is the master French patissier behind Le Bon Delice, a French-style patisserie as authentic as it gets this side of Paris. Jean Jacques has made desserts for stars throughout his career from Alice Cooper to Prince Charles, but settled in Australia with a desire to see more of the world. Luckily for the Noosa community, they have a go-to authentic French patisserie where they can enjoy a sweet treat such as fresh éclairs, mousse cakes and delicate lemon tarts by the beach.

Our pick: Lemon tart

6/ Noosa Chocolate Factory

Noosa Chocolate Factory is a master in delectable, high-quality chocolate pairings. With a range of hot and cold drinks in store
(a dark hot choc is food for the soul in winter), they first got our attention with their massive slabs of rocky road and since then we’ve seen beautiful chocolate pairings with fresh Australian produce. Some examples include chocolate-coated Valencia orange pectin jelly slab, freeze-dried whole Victorian strawberries, Kingaroy cocoa-dusted peanuts, semi-dried chocolate coated cranberries and chocolate-coated young Queensland ginger. Everything is handmade fresh from scratch and delivered to retail stores pronto.

Our pick: Dark chocolate rocky road

7/ Sugar Dreams

Sugar Dreams cake decorator Renee Dwight has been in the cake business for more than 15 years. She uses fresh, quality ingredients and bakes everything from scratch, without freezing. Sugar Dreams pride themselves on making cakes that are out of the ordinary, tailoring the cakes to suit their clients’ personalities and celebrations. Operating out of a commercial kitchen, Sugar Dreams specialises in wedding cakes, dessert buffets and novelty cakes in a range of flavours including choc raspberry dream, hazelnut and honey, black and white coconut, chocolate peanut butter and fudgy chocolate. Cupcakes have a range of flavours of their own, including the creative musk, peaches and cream, coconut ice and lemon meringue.

Our pick: Musk cupcake

8/ Tanglewood Organic Sourdough Bakery

Tanglewood has a huge range of organic artisan sourdough breads, and they’re all made with certified wholegrain organic flour. They’re passionate about ancient grains and pack them into their sourdough, including kamit, amaranth, buckwheat, spelt, quinoa and barley, making them rich in antioxidants, essential minerals and vitamins. With a minimum 20-hour ferment time, you know you’re getting the good stuff. They also do a range of sweet treats including their almond croissants – deliciously crisp on the outside and soft and sweet in the centre – dark chocolate and sea salt cookies and stuffed brioche doughnuts. Raisin snails, sweet fruit and nut loaves, and seasonal fruit danishes, the list goes on. They sell from their bakehouse in Noosa’s industrial area, as well as frequenting farmers markets.

Our pick: Organic seed blend sourdough

9/ Fiona’s Fancies

Fiona’s Fancies at Sunshine Coast has been open for two years in Noosa, creating fabulous bespoke cakes and desserts in store from scratch. All of the recipes used at Fiona’s Fancies are recipes developed by owner Fiona over many years and she has a passion for using the highest quality ingredients. This extends to using free-range eggs, top-quality chocolate and top-quality cocoa powders. Some of the decadent cakes available include Lindt chocolate mud cake and Lindt chocolate layer cake, as well as lemon cheesecakes, but Fiona says no cake is out of reach if the customer wants it. In store, visitors can drop in for sweet treats for one, as well as savoury pastries and a coffee.

Our pick: Lemon meringue cup cakes