Julia Child once told Greg Case to get an apprenticeship in New York. Thank goodness he listened, because Somerville is now the beneficiary of his pastry-making experience at Dean & DeLuca, where he worked alongside James Beard’s assistant Felipe Rojas Lombardo. After three years as the pastry chef at Hamersley’s Bistro in the South End, Case started his own wholesale baking business a year ago, and a retail shop soon followed. Case describes his creations as " twists on the traditional that are good quality and scratch-baked. They’re things I read about in literature, those archetypical items that each thing should be. " With such an emphasis on perfection, the G. Case Baking Co. has carved a delectable niche for itself in Ball Square.

The small retail space holds a few tables, a coffee station, and a glass case stocked with a regular rotation of cakes, cookies, bars, and breads. The Hampton brownie ($1.50), which the menu appropriately calls " very rich and slightly bitter, " has a chocolate flavor made potent by espresso. Equally rich is the peppermint brownie ($1.50), which Case makes with both peppermint extract and mint-tea leaves. With just a cup of flour in the recipe, the bar is more like fudge than a brownie — not that we’re complaining. Don’t miss the Chinatown-chip cookie ($1.25), an unusual combination of five Chinese spices; ginger, butterscotch, and chocolate chips; and crispy noodles.

The bakery makes cakes to order ($12.95 and up), and there’s always a good selection available in the store. On the day we visited, Case was especially proud of his Mississippi mud cake, authentically dirt-dark with chocolate. A quick sampling of Case’s offerings could leave even a chocoholic feeling a little over-stimulated. And that’s fine by Greg Case. " Pastry should be fun, " he says. " We need to escape from the pressures of life. "

G. Case Baking Co., located at 508 Medford Street, in Somerville, is open Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Call (617) 440-6055.