3 great baking recipes by Great Harwood’s Finch Bakery twins to try

The three-tier pink and white buttercream creation twin sisters Lauren and Rachel Finch made for their 21st birthday in 2012 impressed friends so much they started to ask for cakes for their celebrations too.

As the sisters’ reputation grew, they took the bold step of opening a cake shop in Queen Street, Great Harwood, in 2015. Their timing couldn’t have been much better: since the shop opened, social media really took off and their Instgrammable creations found an enthusiastic digital market and then the Bake Off effect, and the pandemic, both gave baking a boost.

The sisters now have a huge and loyal following on social media and a dedicated army of fans who love the cakes bought from the shop, or online. They have also launched their own range of equipment and their second recipe book, Disco Bakes and Party Cakes, comes out this month.

Here, they share three of the recipes from the book.

Finch Bakery: Disco Bakes and Party Cakes by Lauren and Rachel Finch (£20, published by DK)

Mini Summer Berry Pies. Photo: Jessica Griffiths

SUMMER FRUITS MINI PIES

Dainty pies served cold for a summer afternoon tea or warm with a hot brew in the winter months, these mince pie-sized treats are super cute and fun to make.

INGREDIENTS

Makes 12

300g (2 1⁄2 cups) plain flour

30g (2 1⁄2 tbsp) granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

1⁄2 tsp salt

250g (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter

8 tbsp ice-cold water

1 egg

2 tbsp milk

Filling

150g (5 1⁄2oz) frozen mixed summer fruits

60g (5 tbsp) caster sugar

1⁄2 tsp ground sweet cinnamon

2 heaped tbsp cornflour

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

Food processor (optional)

10cm (4in) cookie cutter

12-hole cupcake tin, greased with cake release spray

Lattice pastry cutter

Pastry brush

1 If making the dough by hand, add the dry ingredients to a bowl. Grate in the butter (or add as small cubes) and use your hands to coat the butter with the dry mixture. Sift and rub the butter through your fingers until crumbs form. Add the water and mix with a spoon until a dough forms. If using a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar and salt together. Cut the butter into cubes, add to the flour, then pulse until breadcrumbs form. Add the water and mix until a dough forms.

2 Remove the dough and pat down with some flour if too sticky. Wrap in cling film and chill for 1-2 hours, or longer if possible.

3 Roll out the pastry until 2–3mm (1⁄16–1⁄8in) thick and stamp out 12 circles with the cookie cutter. From the centre, slice a line to the edge of each circle. Press a pastry circle into each cupcake hole using the cut to help curve around the hole, then press the cut edges together to seal. Chill the tin and the remaining pastry.

4 To prepare the filling, weigh out most of the mixed frozen fruit (save some large pieces of fruit), place into a saucepan and combine with the sugar, cinnamon and a splash of water. As the fruit softens, cut any large fruit in half. Simmer for 10 minutes, then add the cornflour and mix until coated. Leave to cool.

5 Spoon equal amounts of the cooled fruit into the cupcake cases, and then add the larger frozen pieces. This will enable the pies to be filled but stop the filling bubbling up out of them.

6 Roll out the remaining pastry to 2-3mm (1⁄16-1⁄8in) thick and use the lattice cutter to create the perfect pastry pattern – or cut strips of pastry using a sharp knife and weave them over each pie in an under and over formation, pressing the edges together to seal. Chill again for a further 30 minutes – the pastry needs to be cold before baking.

7 Pre-heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan/400°F/Gas 6). Whisk the egg and milk together. Brush over the lids and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 25 minutes until the filling is bubbling and the pastry is golden. Leave in the tin until slightly cooled. Serve with any leftover fruit, cream, ice cream or custard.

Cherry Bakewell Blondie. Photo: Jessica Griffiths

CHERRY BAKEWELL BLONDIES

Blondies are definitely one of our bestsellers and our Cherry Bakewell ones are a personal favourite. Fudgy pieces of white chocolate and almond, swirled with cherry jam and filled with glacé cherries; every bite is a Bakewell lover’s dream!

INGREDIENTS

Makes 8-10

220g (2 sticks) unsalted butter

125g (4 1⁄2oz) white chocolate

3 eggs

125g (2⁄3 cup) caster sugar

125g (1⁄2 cup plus 2 tbsp) light soft brown sugar

40g (2 tbsp) golden syrup

Pink gel food colouring (optional)

5–10 drops of almond extract, to taste

285g (2 cups plus 2 tbsp) plain flour

1 heaped tsp cornflour

1⁄4 tsp salt

200g (7oz) white chocolate chips

150g (5 1⁄2oz) glacé cherries

180g (6oz) cherry jam or conserve

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

Mixer or hand-held electric whisk

20 x 30cm (8 x 12in) tin, lined

Piping bag

1 Pre-heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan/400°F/Gas 6).

2 Using a microwave, or over a bain-marie, melt the butter and white chocolate together.

3 Combine the eggs, both sugars, the golden syrup and a little pink food colouring, if using, in a mixer. Add the melted chocolate mixture. Scrape the mixture around the sides and bottom with a spatula before mixing again.

4 Pour in the almond extract, to taste. Sift the flour and cornflour together and pour into the wet mixture. Add the salt and 150g (5 1⁄2oz) of the chocolate chips, mixing on a low-speed setting and remembering to scrape down the sides with a spatula to make sure all the ingredients combine.

5 Fold in 100g (3 1⁄2oz) of the glacé cherries with a spatula. Pour the batter into the lined tin and load a piping bag with the cherry jam. Snip off the tip of the piping bag and pipe lines of jam into the batter. Use a skewer to drag the jam in circles, making sure it is evenly spread. Scatter over the remaining white chocolate chips and press in the remaining cherries.

6 Bake for 35 minutes. It may look under-baked and the middle should still wobble when it comes out of the oven. Leave to cool completely in the tin, then chill in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight before cutting into squares or rectangles to serve.

Top tip: Use bake-stable white chocolate chips in the blondie mixture to ensure they don’t melt while baking.

Rainbow cookie pie. Photo: Jessica Griffiths

RAINBOW COOKIE PIE

Perfect for any birthday party, this cookie pie has bright layers of rainbow chocolate inside our original chewy cookie recipe, topped with M&Ms and sprinkles.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 8 or 12

Cookie dough

190g (1 stick plus 4 tbsp) unsalted butter

150g (3⁄4 cup packed) light soft brown sugar

150g (⅔ cup) caster sugar

1 egg plus 1 egg yolk

300g (2 ½ cups) plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

40g (2 tbsp) golden syrup

60g (21⁄4oz) bake-stable sprinkles, plus extra for topping

60g (21⁄4oz) M&Ms, plus extra for topping

150g (51⁄2oz) white chocolate chips

Filling

1kg (2lb 4oz) white chocolate spread (or 1kg/2lb 4oz white chocolate mixed with 80ml/ 5 1⁄2 tbsp vegetable oil)

Pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet oil-based food colourings

Decoration (optional)

100g (6 1⁄2 tbsp) unsalted butter

180g (1 1⁄3 cups) icing sugar

3–5 drops of vanilla extract

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

Mixer or hand-held electric whisk

20cm (8in) round cake tin, lined

Piping bag and open star nozzle

1 To make the cookie dough, put the butter and both sugars into a mixer and, using the paddle attachment, cream together on a high speed (or use a hand-held electric whisk). Add the egg and yolk and mix.

2 Sift in the flour and baking powder, then add the remaining cookie dough ingredients. Combine slowly until a dough forms and the sprinkles, M&Ms and chocolate chips are evenly distributed.

3 Press a thick layer of dough evenly into the bottom of the lined tin. Press more mixture around the sides of the tin and leave a gap about 2.5cm (1in) from the top. Cover and set aside the remaining cookie dough.

4 Melt the white chocolate spread (or white chocolate mixed with oil) in a bowl in the microwave and divide between seven bowls. Use the oil-based food colourings to colour each bowl a colour of the rainbow. Carefully pour the last rainbow colour (violet) into the cookie base and set in the freezer until tacky (about 10 minutes). Repeat with each colour, finishing with pink. Return to the freezer.

5 Pre-heat the oven to 195°C (175°C fan/385°F/Gas 51⁄2).

6 After at least 30 minutes in the freezer, remove the tin and use the remaining cookie dough to make a lid, place it on top and seal the edges. Push some extra M&Ms into the top along with a handful of sprinkles. Bake for 30 minutes. Leave to cool completely in the tin, then chill in the fridge overnight.

7 Slice the pie evenly into 8 or 12 pieces. If decorating with buttercream, whip the butter on a high speed until whitened. Sift in the icing sugar, add the vanilla extract and mix until combined. Load a piping bag with an open star nozzle and pipe whips on top of each slice. Finish with more sprinkles and M&Ms.

Disco Cakes and Party Bakes, by Rachel and Luren Finch, published by DK

This feature first appeared in Lancashire Life earlier in August 2023.