Prepare to go off your diet if you go into Nancy P’s Bakery. There are more Temptations here than in Motown.

There’s Tiramisu ($3.95). There’s the Wonder Bar, a medley of almonds, chocolate and coconut on shortbread crust ($1.95). And the gigantic chocolate chip cookie (95 cents) needs no explaining.

But there’s a lot more than dessert.

”We get bored easy,” says Nancy Pfeiffer, who with her husband, Steve Morse, co-owns Nancy P’s Bakery and Cafe on Bend’s west side.

That’s the good news. It brings out the spark and creativity in their baking. The other good news is that the folks at Nancy P’s Bakery do a lot more than make cheesecake ($3.95 a slice) and bake loaves of Bend Sourdough ($3.50). They also deal in pizza and sandwiches like the chicken and Gorgonzola ($5.25).

”We just had a sign made that says Cafe and Bakery’ because we offer a lot of food items,” Pfeiffer says. ”We’re more of a bakery. But everything we serve to the public, we’ve made.”

The building stands on the former site of a second-hand kids clothing store, and like the baked goods made there, it was built from scratch. Its hardwood floor is made from refurbished fir beams put in rough-side up.

The husband and wife ran a bakery of the same name in West Yellowstone, Montana. The mostly seasonal business allowed them to move to Bend in 1997 and divide their time between here and Montana. After selling the Montana business, they opened Nancy P’s a little over two years ago. Morse and Pfeiffer have seven employees, but they do their share of time in the kitchen.

Relying on word-of-mouth more than advertising, the business has managed to build a loyal clientele, Pfeiffer says.

David Ayarra, a retired college professor from Idaho State University, has been a regular ”since inception,” he says with a laugh. ”Afraid so. I’m hooked.”

Ayarra was relaxing in the patio area last week after a bike ride. ”We just finished a ride. Just drop off, have a coffee, have a roll, and then go home. So it’s just ideal. It’s kind of a meeting area.”

Ayarra met the couple years ago in Idaho, and also frequented their West Yellowstone establishment of the same name when he did ski racing in Yellowstone National Park. He still remembers fondly the jalapeno cheese bread.

So why not Steve M’s for a name?

”That would work if it were a lawn mower shop, not a bakery” says Morse with a laugh.

”A barbershop,” Ayarra chirps.

Back inside, Pfeiffer says she enjoys the emotional appeal of making and selling baked goods.

”I think eating is really emotional,” she says. ”The bakery business, it’s emotional. If you want comfort food – it seems like during the war, people were getting brownies and breves, (which are) lattes made with half-and-half.”

”I like that part of it, because it makes the business ever-changing,” says Pfeiffer. ”And everyone always has a buck for a cookie or a coffee.”

David Jasper can be reached at 541-383-0349 or djasper@bendbulletin.com.