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The caramelised pineapple danish at Shadow Baking in Darlinghurst can cure bad moods. OK, so my sample size isn’t huge and I haven’t tested this claim in a peer-reviewed scientific publication, but in my household, each bite of this pastry brings a dose of soaring cheer.

Credit Florian Fritsch for this creation. He’s one of the chefs behind Shadow Baking, along with Tom Mitchell and Remi Talbot. They met while working at Gelato Messina about a decade ago. Their impressive CVs also feature stints at acclaimed restaurants in Australia (Dinner by Heston, Rockpool Bar and Grill) and overseas (Tokyo’s award-winning Den), as well as places known for converting sugar into something spectacular (Zumbo Patisserie).

That pineapple danish debuted on Shadow Baking’s menu around summer’s start and will likely (for good reason) stick around until the season ends. It tastes like sweetened sunshine, thanks to Fritsch poaching the diced fruit in dark vanilla caramel for a long, syrupy time.

“When the danish is ready, we put the vanilla custard at the bottom, and a scoop of the pineapple crumble,” he says. It’s bright, flaky and lush and you’ll be happy to see it on the counter.

Shadow Baking opened in October, but you might recognise this space from its time as Messina Creative Department, when it showcased gelato-based degustations. Talbot would serve wonders such as chocolate trees on salted coconut gelato, ablaze with blooming lemon thyme leaves.

Now the floorplan features a counter lined with focaccia, tarts and other oven-fresh treats. The price may have dropped from its fine dining days, but the skill level hasn’t. Talbot’s creations still involve plenty of precision and Mitchell cites the mushroom pan suisse (a savoury breakfast pastry) as proof. “It took a while to hand-cut nine different types of mushrooms,” he says. “It was worth it.”

No wonder their days begin early (“We start at 3am,” says Mitchell) and it’s apt their bakery is named after GZA’s Shadowboxin’ track from 1995. Music, plus some fortifying caffeine, energises them as they prep and bake dough for the 8am opening time.

Their backgrounds also fuel Shadow Baking: Mitchell is from Canberra and his co-conspirators are French (Fritsch hails from Strasbourg and Talbot from Tours).

The menu taps into this: see their clever merging of Vegemite scrolls with avocado toast. It gets translated as buttery croissant dough that’s tightly coiled with a geological layer of the salty yeast spread. It’s also lightened with tomato, showered with parmesan cheese and given a swirl of heat from Talbot’s fermented chilli jam. It’s a blockbuster breakfast dish.

Don’t overlook the focaccia, which takes three days to make. It’s cushiony and soft and when you grab it, it has a moisturising effect on the hands. Lots of olive oil makes focaccia great (as we learnt from Samin Nosrat’s Salt Fat Acid Heat) and Shadow Baking’s version might replenish all your pores, given how happily greasy the dough is. Fat roast garlic cloves and charred rosemary sprigs flop out when you handle the loaf, adding to its multi-flavoured charm.

Fritsch picks herbs for the focaccia from a beachside bush near his home, but many ingredients come from Gelato Messina. It makes sense as the bakery is a collaboration with the gelato-maker (and sits next to its original Darlinghurst store).

The pistachio praline croissant, with its sweet ripple of raspberry jam, gets a nutty boost from pistachio paste that Gelato Messina mills in-house, as well as the caramelised nuts the company adds to its frozen scoops.

Creamy Jersey milk is collected from Gelato Messina’s dairy farm in Victoria before it’s added to the custard tart danish that’s been on Shadow Baking’s menu since its pop-up beginnings at The Cannery market in Rosebery two years ago.

The zucchini that’s in the tomato and ricotta danish? Yep, that’s from one of Messina’s many thriving plots, too.

Shadow Baking’s monthly presence at the Rosebery market will continue, but the Darlinghurst shop means they’re open more regularly. It’s here you can expect ever-changing specials, such as the pavlova tart or focaccia stacked with olives, jalapeno and sweet corn.

The store is tiny – sometimes they ask customers to move so they can open the oven doors – but the flavours are big. And so are the mood boosts, whether you pick up a pineapple danish or another well-baked wonder.