In /most/ situations, 'in order to' and 'to' have no technical difference in meaning. However, using the phrase 'in order to' tends to to provide emphasis on the subject's intent in the sentence. I went to the store to buy groceries I went to the store in order to buy groceries There's no technical difference between meaning, other than the second is a bit more formal and wordy unnecessarily, and places more emphasis on why you're going to the store. In some situations however, 'in order to' is necessary to distinguish certain meanings. I need you to clean the house. I need you in order to clean the house. The first implies that you need the person to personally perform the action. The second implies that you need that person to be present/need that person's help so you can perform the action. Hope this makes sense!

"To" has a lot more functions than "in order to", so let's just talk about the area of overlap. Generally, in a sentence such as "I need eggs (in order) to make a cake", the "in order" is fine, but somewhat superfluous. It does tend to emphasise the purpose a bit more, so you might say "I read the report only in order to know their recommendation" if you really weren't particularly interested in the report as such but you did need to know the outcome. But if you say "I read the report only to be very disappointed with their recommendation", you presumably didn't set out to be disappointed. Also, "in order to" can sound better when you already have a "to" associated with the verb: "I talked to my boss in order to understand my work goals". Sometimes it can help disambiguate. If I say "I want you here to present our work", that probably means I want you to be here, and I want you to present our work. But if I say "I want you here in order to present our work", it means I have the intent to present the work, but I need you here (in order) to do so effectively.