Shadow Baking, the brainchild of three Gelato Messina chefs, is opening in Darlinghurst this week. The bakery had a highly successful soft launch, with customers being enticed by cheesecake tarts, chocolate croissants, and custard danishes, among other sweet treats.

Tom Mitchell, Remi Talbot, and Florian Fritsch are the three minds behind Shadow Baking, which got its start at The Cannery Markets in Sydney before making the leap to bricks and mortar this month.

“It started as a creative outlet for the three of us during [the pandemic],” Tom Mitchell, co-owner and executive pastry chef at Messina, told Broadsheet.

“We had time to stay in the kitchen and do some bake-offs.”

The trio decided that Shadow Baking would have a focus on a combination of nostalgic Australian classics together with French cuisine.

Shadow Baking will offer some of the classics that customers will be used to, such as their custard danish.

“It’s inspired by the old-school Aussie custard tart you grew up eating in the canteen at school, where the custard seemed to come out of the pastry shell and wobbled like crazy,” Tom said.

The intention for Shadow Baking is also to have a variety of different specials every week.

“We want to shake things up and keep customers guessing,” Tom said.

“We’re opening at a good time with so much seasonal produce—blueberries, mangoes, peaches—coming through.”