This tiny, swoony, sunny bakery shop is like a country fair stall in full bloom

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It is a joy, of eye-widening, mouth-watering baked goods proportions, to walk into the Tart Sisters. Stocked like a country baking fair at full bloom, albeit in a suburban street in Ashfield, this tiny, swoony, sun-filled shop bursts with freshly baked tarts, cakes, slices and pies, all neatly placed on racks and ceramic stands edged by cooking books, stacked pumpkins, soft folded tea towels and a jug of tall fresh rosemary.

It takes the breath away. Only two, maybe three people can fit inside at a time. And they are entirely absorbed, eyes locking on golden roast pumpkin and goats’ cheese tarts; oven-warm brioche layered with dark green cime di rapa (broccoli rabe), garlic and cheese; and chubby, flaky pastry pies filled with creamy mushroom and barley, lentil bolognese or cauliflower, potato and cheese.

Then there are slices of vanilla cake, topped with passionfruit icing and studded with whole raspberries; or little lemon curd cakes, with tubby, immensely citrusy (but not over the top) bodies with lemon icing. Or cocoa-dusted, gluten-free cheesecake brownies and strawberry rhubarb shortcakes with ruby red centres glowing like fruity volcanos.

Breathe, breathe, breathe.

The Tart Sisters, run by Felicity Peel with her cousin Claire, sister Maryanne and friend Simone, began 30 years ago. Founded by Peel and her sister Catriona, it started in a former fish-and chip shop at Pier One in Walsh Bay, where they shared a kitchen with fellow bakers Manna From Heaven.

“In those days we would have the roller door to the harbour up and watch the ferries come in as we baked,” Peel says. “It was awesome.”

They continued in Marrickville before the Tart Sisters moved independently to Surry Hills and then Ashfield. In 2009 Catriona left the business when she had children and the Tart Sisters’ evolution from wholesaler to bakery shop came unexpectedly.

“My dog, Pudding, got cancer and I needed to pay the bills,” Peel says. “Everyone said, ‘Open a shop’, and this one is next to the kitchen, so we did. That was 10 years ago.”

The Tart Sisters, which still supplies cafes and businesses, works symbiotically with next-door cafe 3 Tomatoes. They share a wide footpath corner surrounded by native plants, bench spots and cafe tables. Leashed dogs look imploringly at the Tart Sisters’s racks from outside.

“We’ve got a beautiful little community around here,” Peel says. “We’re very lucky.”

Perhaps the most regular visitors are residents from a nearby retirement village, who swing by to buy apple almond tarts, peanut butter-and-jam brownies or sticky date cakes with piped cream cheese icing caps. Locals also donate surplus fruit from their backyards.

“A lady just brought in kilos of grapefruit,” Peel says. “So I’ve been making marmalade non-stop.”

She points to shelves by the door filled with grapefruit, bitter grapefruit and ruby grapefruit marmalade beside strawberry jam. Peel, who originally studied print-making at the National Art School (her drawings adorn the shop’s cards and website), says shop staples include savoury and frangipane tarts, along with most of the cake varieties.

But, depending on what’s seasonal at their fruit and vegetable supplier, Frank’s Fruit Market in Haberfield, and which of Peel’s favourite food writers’ she is reading, new offerings are baked each day.

“I’m terribly unprofessional like that,” she says, laughing. “It’s whatever we feel like. People sometimes get downcast because we don’t have what they want.”

Batches are baked throughout the day to meet demand, and everything is vegetarian with some gluten-free and vegan options.

“I’ve been here forever,” Peel says. “It’s embarrassing sometimes, how long I’ve been here. But I still love it. I still love coming in and I still love reading cookbooks and food columns ... and I still love baking every day.”

Visit promptly but make a plan. Today it’s asking for Peel’s flagrantly creamy cauliflower, potato and cheese pie, and a beautifully chewy ginger molasses biscuit, and taking these outside to eat on the small yellow bench by the shop’s front window.

Then, because you’re still there, and this is one of the best bakery shops in Sydney, it’s not undignified to go back in and look at everything again.