These vegan bakeries in SF have mastered plant-based sweets

San Francisco is home to visionary bakers who are turning out all kinds of you-won’t-believe-they’re-vegan desserts. Leaning on plant-based ingredients like silken tofu, aquafaba, nut milks and coconut, these bakeries are recreating the most decadent desserts in Earth-friendly ways that don’t compromise on flavor, texture, aesthetics or ethics. 

Keep reading for six of our favorite vegan bakeries in San Francisco and the East Bay that elevate the dessert game with every cookie, cake, pastry, pie and bun they make. 

Bright and airy, with farmhouse charm and plants aplenty, this vegan bakery feels right at home on its corner in the Lower Haight. Everything served here is plant-based, including cupcakes coiffed with twirls of “buttercream,” jammy fruit galettes, morning buns doused in cardamom and peanut-buttery chocolate “cheesecakes.” And owner-baker Mandy Harper pledges that every treat is also free of gluten, soy, trans fats, refined sugar and icky preservatives. It’s perfect fare for a grab-and-go picnic in nearby Buena Vista Park, or pick up a dairy-free latte on your way to see the Painted Ladies. You can get Wholesome’s baked goods at their storefront on the corner of Page and Divisadero streets, or in more than 100 grocery stores throughout California.

Find it: Wholesome Bakery, 299 Divisadero St., San Francisco, CA 94117; 415-343-5414

For Bay native Vandor “Whacko” Hill, the b-boy and baker behind the vegan pop-up Whack Donuts, flavor inspiration comes courtesy of artists in his vibrant breakdancing orbit. Some of his best-selling flavors were recommended by fellow breakers like Nasty Ray (Vietnamese iced coffee), JK47 (ube), Rahul the Tool (horchata) and Team USA’s Vicki “La Vix” Chang (lemon poppyseed). Whack Donuts is one of 17 new downtown San Francisco pop ups at Four Embarcadero Center. You’ll find the Black-owned business there from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday, in bakery cases at Rainbow Grocery and on Sundays at Ritual Coffee Roasters’ Valencia Street cafe. You can also place an order for special occasions, including weddings.

It started as a shelter-in-place side hustle when Lyndsay Hope Pullem lost her job as pastry chef. L.H. Bakeshop has since become a lifelong dream turned into reality: a San Francisco vegan bakery all her own. There’s no brick-and-mortar sweet shop to browse in person (Pullem bakes every treat in her home kitchen), but L.H. Bakeshop’s Instagram grid is a virtual bakery case full of all-vegan yums. Scroll through to find a gorgeous array of signature cakes Pullem makes to order — think frosted towers decorated to the max with edible flowers and sliced fruits — in flavors to rival any traditional bakery. Check her page often to peep limited-time bakes she’s been tinkering with: maybe petite pan dulce conchas one week and custardy coconut milk buns the next, with fruity galettes coming soon. Ordering is simple: Just slide into her DMs to place one, then arrange a pick-up in Lower Nob Hill.

Find it: L.H. Bakeshop, made to order with pick up in Lower Nob Hill, San Francisco; 415-728-1557 

This vegan cafe has tons of options — burgers, burritos, eggy scrambles and açai bowls — but it’s the cakes and pastries (all vegan and gluten free, owners say) that we’re stalking. Cakes available by the slice include chocolate, vanilla and strawberry sponges with plant-based buttercream. “Cheesecakes” up for grabs include blueberry, mango and strawberry piped with vegan whipped cream. You’ll also find slabs of chocolate chip banana bread, chocolate chip cookies and tiny tarts made with fresh fruit like kiwi, berries and banana. Find your fix at the Happy Vegan’s Bayview cafe or have your vegan noms delivered by DoorDash, GrubHub, Postmates or UberEats.

Find it: The Happy Vegan, 293 Bayshore Blvd., San Francisco, CA 94124; 415-562-5988 

Classics never go out of style, and it’s those enduring favorites — perfected by time, untainted by trends and elegantly executed — that are this vegan bakery’s specialty. Those touchstone desserts you may have sworn off in your transition to veganism are all yours again. And these are anything but basic: Their “buttery” chocolate cake takes you back to church potlucks and family reunions, a quintessential birthday cake brings to mind pin the tail on the donkey and a fruit-topped “cheesecake” with a graham-cracker crust tastes like a summer day. All these, not to mention pastries, cookies and chocolates, are plant-based and available at Timeless Coffee’s four East Bay locations. 

Organic vegan doughnuts rule the roost at Donut Farm in Oakland, with cake doughnuts served daily and yeasty raised doughnuts guest-starring on weekends. Owner Josh Levine has built a cultish following with every pink box he fills. His flavors span from usual suspects like glazed vanilla, chocolate coconut, cinnamon sugar and orange creamsicle, to top-shelf and unique — think lavender Earl Grey, whiskey tangerine fig, apple cider and candy cap mushroom — plus raised doughnuts piped full of Boston and Bavarian creams, all made dairy free. Donut Farm also has a kiosk in San Francisco’s Ferry Building, where you’ll find the treats from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday to Sunday.

Find it: Donut Farm, 6037 San Pablo Ave., Oakland, CA 94608, 510-338-6319

This story was edited by Hearst Newspapers Managing Editor Kristina Moy; you can contact her at kristina.moy@hearst.com.