8 Super-Sweet Fantasy Books About Magical Baking 

One of the most unique, enjoyable and captivating vampire novels I’ve ever read, Sunshine by Robin McKinley follows our titular character as she’s abducted by a group of vampires, manages to escape with a nasty wound, and slowly come to terms with her own magical lineage. Sunshine is a delightful protagonist, working as a baker in the family-run coffeeshop, famous for her cinnamon buns and “Bitter Chocolate Death." The prose is vivid, full of sensory details, and packed with a slow-burn romance that will make you swoon. 

Bakeries generally give off a warm, cozy and inviting vibe, but T. Kingfisher opens her novel with a dead body on the bakery floor. The book follows 14-year-old Mona whose magical skills work on bread but not on much else, and yet she becomes the next target of a mysterious assassin. 

Whimsical and imaginative, this T. Kingfisher novel makes for an engaging coming-of-age story, especially suited for younger readers. If you’re looking for something cozy, funny and a hint of danger, A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking should neatly tick the boxes.

Stories set in a coffeeshop or a bakery automatically feel like home, and Dogs and Goddesses written by three best-selling authors feels like a match made in heaven. Set in a small town, the book follows three women, Abby, Daisy and Shar (each with their memorable pet dogs) as they try to prevent an ancient goddess from taking over Southern Ohio. 

Abby, in particular, has inherited her grandmother’s bakery and is whipping up magical baked goods. With quirky heroines, a fun plot and compelling writing, Dogs and Goddesses is perfect for dog lovers and anyone in the mood for a light-hearted, paranormal romp. 

The first entry in a new Gaslamp fantasy series, The Hanged Man by P.N. Elrod introduces readers to Alex Pendlebury, a forensic psychic reader who’s summoned in the investigation of what’s probably a magically-assisted murder. With a cast of handsome and charming side characters, Victorian aesthetics and murderous shenanigans, The Hanged Man is quite the engaging page-turner. Intricately plotted and subtly funny, this fantasy thriller set in Victorian England calls for a fair amount of high tea (and biscuits).  

If cozy mystery set within a fantasy setting is more your vibe, you can binge-read the The Magical Bakery Mystery series by Bailey Cates. The titles of the novels are quite tantalizing—Brownies and Broomsticks, Charms and Chocolate Chips, Some Enchanted Éclair, Magic and Macaroons—to name a few. 

The first book, Brownies and Broomsticks introduces readers to Katie Lightfoot who joins her family’s bakery only to discover that her Aunt Lucy is a witch, adding mysterious herbs to her recipes while her Uncle Ben is a prime suspect in a murder. Feel-good, cute and featuring witches from various backgrounds, Brownies and Broomsticks is a delectable read that will leave you craving for second helpings. 

Another beautiful, feel-good book, Chocolat by Joanne Harris follows Vianne Rocher, a single mother who moves to a quaint French village and opens a chocolatery opposite the church. There’s tension between the ideals of abstinence and fasting (represented by the church) and the indulgence and hedonism (symbolized by the chocolates), but Joanna Harris’s novel reminds us that life is sweeter when we allow ourselves the little pleasures. 

With mesmerizing descriptions of chocolate-infused desserts and a magic realist narrative, this novel is best savored with a box of truffles.

The bestselling cozy novel that ushered in a new trend of cozy novels with coffeeshop vibes, low-stakes plots and characters supporting each other, Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree focuses on Viv, an orc swordswoman and mercenary who dreams of retiring from adventuring and starting her own coffeeshop. 

And while much of the novel occurs in a coffeeshop, there’s plenty of delicious baked goods served as well. With a strong focus on friendship and community, Legends and Lattes charmingly imagines what D&D characters might be up to in their downtime, and feels like a warm, cozy hug on a winter’s night. 

This one puts an interesting spin on magical bakeries by having the protagonist Daisy Ellery literally bake vengeance into her pies. The men in the town who’ve wronged women get their just desserts—in her deadly pastries. But someone’s blackmailing her business and Daisy is determined to get to the bottom of it, if she doesn’t meet a sticky end first. 

Although it’s billed as a cozy mystery, the book is actually much darker, with a vigilante femme fatale heroine running a “Pies Before Guys” mobile bakery and solving mysteries in a small town.  There are also some pie recipes at the end of the book, that might inspire you to bake something sweet, sinful and deadly just like Daisy Ellery!