Ones to watch: Darcie Maher
Darcie Maher had set her sights on baking as far back as she can remember. After mastering the intricacies of her craft at the likes of Flour Water Salt in Macclesfield and The Palmerston in Edinburgh, she is now on the brink of opening her first solo bakery, Lannan, in the Scottish capital.
Ones to watch: Darcie Maher
Darcie Maher had set her sights on baking as far back as she can remember. After mastering the intricacies of her craft at the likes of Flour Water Salt in Macclesfield and The Palmerston in Edinburgh, she is now on the brink of opening her first solo bakery, Lannan, in the Scottish capital.
View more from this series:
Ones to watchThough she isn't entirely sure what first sparked the desire, Darcie Maher always knew she wanted to be a baker. Cooking had always been a part of her childhood, with any pocket money that came her way spent on miniature versions of her mum's cookware. Her family put health first; their sweet treats were all home-made and Darcie has fond memories of her mum's Angel cake and grandad's tablet recipe. Whatever inspired it, Darcie was charting her course from childhood, spending afternoons baking with friends and turning to a well-thumbed children's cookbook for some of her earliest bakes – providing plenty of hits and misses. ‘I remember making bread rolls – because we were healthy, adding too much salt wasn’t seen as a good thing,’ she laughs. ‘I didn’t put salt in and thought at the time ‘what difference could that make?’ Now, of course, I know that if you don’t put salt in bread it’s pretty inedible.’
By the time she was twelve, those experiments had taught her the fundamentals, and Darcie started baking for a café where her sister worked. She remembers how excited she was to be paid to bake, as well as one of her favourite creations; a Jamie Oliver chocolate sponge with flaked almonds running through it. It only focused her ambition, and when she left school as a teenager she made her first foray into the professional kitchen at Scotch Malt Whisky, beginning with all things savoury before moving into pastry. ‘Having always wanted to be a baker, the only thing that put me off was the hours,’ she laughs. ‘I thought ‘I’m going to have to bite the bullet and work night shifts’.’ Struggling to land a baker role in Scotland, she looked further afield and joined the team at a popular Macclesfield bakery Flour Water Salt and learning about all things pastry and lamination. As an eighteen-year-old moving to a new country, let alone city, she looks back on that time with a bittersweet tinge. ‘I lived in a house on my own and didn’t have any friends there, so it was incredibly difficult in one way,’ she nods. ‘But still, to this day, it’s definitely the place that I have learnt the most.'
A year later, it was time time to move on, and, after a spell back at home in the Scottish borders, she honed her craft in roles including at Edinburgh's Twelve Triangles bakery. As 2020 arrived, Darcie was preparing for a trip of a lifetime to Australia when news of the pandemic spread. Travel plans morphed into months spent much closer to home, baking and renovating an old caravan as a lockdown project. As Covid eased, Darcie returned to Edinburgh to join the team at restaurant and bakery The Palmerston as it prepared to open. There, she quickly built a following for her creative bakes and innovative flavour pairings. ‘It was honestly incredible,’ she says. ‘To be there and working with so much amazing, talented chefs, it was a really great experience.’
Talk of her debut solo bakery had been rumbling in the background, but came to the fore in 2022 thanks to a partnership between Chloe Black (of Edinburgh Butter Company, which Darcie had previously worked with on a croissant recipe) and The Palmerston co-founders James Snowden and Lloyd Morse. Darcie grabbed the opportunity with both hands, finding a large corner site spread across three shop fronts in Edinburgh's Stockbridge area and settling on the name Lannan, the Scottish Gaelic for house. When we speak in June, she is gearing up for its official opening. ‘It feels completely surreal,’ she laughs. ‘It has always been what I wanted and seeing it all come together is exactly how I imagined it. It’s been mainly excitement up to this point, but I’m starting to get nervous now.’
Lannan will blend traditional techniques and modern flavours, Darcie says, with a real focus on seasonality. Its first menu will be a whistle-stop tour of both her and The Palmerston's 'greatest hits', she smiles, including crème brûlée, lemon meringue, a big sandwich menu and her signature croissant tarts. The circles of buttery croissant pastry are filled with everything from strawberries and crème diplomat to apricot and elderflower and confit tomato, goat's curd and basil. ‘I had been thinking of the croissant tarts for ages before doing them,’ she says. ‘When we first opened The Palmerston there was a big focus on getting everything consistent before we started experimenting. I had the idea in my head for so long, thinking about what could go wrong and how to do it best that I think by the time I came to make the first one it was still the best I’ve ever done it. James and Lloyd came down and I was bouncing around the bakery, I was so excited.’
It's clear when speaking to Darcie that one of her strengths is being able to walk the tightrope of science and art which is so important in baking. ‘I would honestly say I’m right in the middle,’ she says. ‘My dad is a scientist and my mum is an artist, and I think I’ve taken from both sides.’ Her zest for what she does, and what she can create next, is equally as evident; when we talk about the future, Darcie doesn't have dreams of franchises and scale – instead, her happy place is being tucked away in a ‘wee corner where I can make things’. ‘I have got so many ideas I want to make,’ she smiles. ‘Having the freedom to make whatever I want is great. With pastry it’s quite scientific, you need to know all the rules when you start baking, then you can start bending them, adding different flavours too. I think I have the specifics side down now, so it’s fun – there’s endless possibilities.’
SITES
