Chicken and mushroom pie

So if I'm going to enter next year's GBBO,
I'm going to need to drastically expand my baking repertoire...

Not sure I've ever made a savoury pie before,
so I decided on chicken and mushroom, with shortcrust pastry.

After making the pastry I baked the base blind, made the filling,
and added the top, making sure to cut a few slits for the air to escape.

Sorry, please excuse the horrible foil pie tin, I didn't have a real one the right size.
Don't worry, Lakeland will be receiving an order soon.

And here's a slice of the pie, served with corn on the cob and carrots.

Eccles cakes and Lancashire cheese

So Scott went to St John recently and had Eccles cakes and Lancashire cheese.

I'd forgotten how obsessed we were when we first tried them,
so decided to take the plunge and make my own.

You make a basic pastry with grated mararine, flour and salt...
chill it, then roll it out into circles.

The filling is made from currants, candied peel, orange zest,
sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. It smells very Christmassy when you warm it up.

So you add a teaspoom of the filling to the pastry and seal in inside,
before turning over and cutting 3 slits in the top.

When you bake them in the oven, the filling oozes out and the currants get caramelised.

And more importantly, here they are with some crumbly
Kirkham's Lancashire Cheese.

So. Good.

Dan and Lucy Forever

So yesterday was Dan and Lucy Forever day.

♥

After an amazing wedding breakfast, they served cheese
and some of the tastiest macarons I've ever eaten.

Here's a selection: pistachio, lavender, lemon, and the piece de resistance...

Salted caramel with bronze dust.

Mmmmmmmm...

Eva and Nick, the Seven Year Hitch

So here are some lemon and vanilla cupcakes I made for
Eva and Nick's wedding yesterday.

I made lemon buttercream icing and lime green fondant hearts
to match the cream roses and green chrysanthemum wedding flowers.

Here's the beautiful happy couple after the ceremony!

Back at the reception, here are my cupcakes next to
the amazing wedding cake made by Eva's mum.

And here are Eva and Nick cutting the cake!