Hot off the presses.

The Tarts Anon family has grown in more ways than one. Gareth Whitton and Catherine Way – owners of the Cremorne tart shop born from their cult Instagram bakery – have recently welcomed both a new Tarts Anon location, in Collingwood, and a new baby, Otis. Both newbies are doing well, while their parents are thriving on minimal sleep and (sometimes) tiramisu tarts for breakfast.

Many of Melbourne's lockdown side hustles have been mothballed, however Tarts Anon, a Sunday-only tart business, is powering on with crisp pastry, addictive fillings and obsessed fans. The micro-patisserie was launched in September by former Dinner by Heston head pastry chef Gareth Whitton and his partner Catherine Way, a speech pathologist with a knack for dessert logistics…

After Dinner by Heston shut its doors at the beginning of Melbourne’s lockdown, chef Gareth and his partner, Cat, had a lot of time on their hands. Gareth joined the many Melburnians baking their way through isolation, but he and Cat couldn’t eat all the tarts on their own. And so Tarts Anon was born…

Take one out-of-work pastry chef, his super-organised speech pathologist partner and a lockdown, and you have a recipe for one of Melbourne's best-loved new businesses of 2020…

Tarts Anon was founded in 2020, in the midst of coronavirus lockdowns. Gareth Whitton, former head pastry chef at the ritzy Dinner by Heston restaurant, had been baking at home to keep busy when his partner, Catherine Way, realised he was onto something special and convinced him to start a business.

As a certified cake beast, I’ve had the good fortune of sampling many cakes in Melbourne. If I need to pick up a cake en route to a party, I usually head to Babka in Fitzroy, or order ahead from the genius @tarts_anon in Richmond who just do tarts, and do them exceptionally well.