Samantha Fitzpatrick began to bake when her partner Sam Holman opened Spring Hill cafe Two Black Birds. She started helping out with the cakes and sweets and realised she enjoyed it, and that she was good at it.

When Holman’s second cafe The New Black opened, an adjoining space next door provided the perfect opportunity for a small cake shop. Fitzpatrick gutted the dark space, applied a lick of white paint, hoisted a large fluorescent cupcake sign and installed a four-shelf cake cabinet. The cabinet features house-baked goods such as apple cheesecakes, teacakes, double-choc brownies and carrot muffins filled with lemon-cream-cheese icing.

Cakes & Shit also offers a personalised cupcake service; customers can choose a message to put on their sweets. Fitzpatrick says no message is off limits.

On Friday and Saturday nights the cake shop transforms into a late-night dessert bar. It’s the sort of place you can come after dinner for a brownie and a beer.