How the queen of tarts achieves pastry perfection

The first, Soulful Baker, which stemmed from her success on Instagram, was published in 2017. This was followed, in 2020, by The Pastry School. Now there’s the latest guide, Expressions: Art in Pastry.

Having reached a point of being given creative control she’s taken full advantage. “It’s a lovely book, this one,” said Julie, 45. “It’s very different from the last two, which was intentional. Essentially, it’s a cookbook but it’s more a book of creativity through food.

“The last book was the technical side of getting pastry right. The first book was all kinds of baking. This one is more pies and tarts. It’s more about expression and being creative with the finishings of pies and tarts. I’m proud of it. I think it’s beautiful. Hopefully it will inspire people to be a little bit different, break the mould a little bit.”

For the third book, Julie has gone to town with the photography. “We wanted to make each picture quite artful, so we’ve moved away from the typical ingredients and food shots,” she said. 

“We had bespoke backgrounds made. We chose each one carefully to enhance the picture. It was a real creative and artful process. Me and Andrew, the photographer, worked really well together.”

An artist may express themselves through watercolours; for Julie, it’s pastry. The mum-of-three, who lives in Carlisle, thinks nothing of spending three hours finessing a pie top. It’s not simply a distraction but fundamental to her sense of wellbeing. 

“Being creative and having that creative freedom can really help,” she said. “You can lose yourself in this. The bonus is you get to eat it at the end. 

“My creative outlet is pastry. The longer I spend on a pie top, for example, the more I enjoy it. For some reason, it helps me cope and work things out. I use the peaceful time to work out what’s going on with the world and my life.”

Julie’s was an unconventional route into cooking. A former bookkeeper, she found great satisfaction in preparing food for people and this prompted her, in 2008, when she was 30, to enrol on a chef’s course at Carlisle College.

She completed a level 3 NVQ, intending to work in Michelin-starred kitchens, but following a stint at Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck, her mum Joyce was diagnosed with an aggressive form of dementia and this forced a rethink. Julie started baking with her as therapy for them both. It was a revelation.

“She was very agitated and when she baked it would just subside,” she recalled. “We made it a weekly thing. She was with me a lot, because my stepdad wasn’t in great shape and I wanted to be with my mam as well. It taught me patience anyway. I think that probably shows with the work that I do now.”

Julie took to Instagram to record not only the baking itself, but her emotions at the time. “I would put on quite open and emotional outpourings about dealing with my mam’s dementia, and that was how I was asked to write my first book,” she said. “It seemed like my followers connected with it because it was real.” 

Joyce passed away in 2019 and Julie is thankful for the precious memories. “I’m so glad I did it and recorded it because it’s like a visual diary,” she said. “I can go back and remember it. I’m very grateful of our baking together.”

Julie concedes that pastry is often perceived as difficult to get right but for her there is no parallel. “I love working with it because of what I can do with it,” she said. 

“The things you can do decoration-wise is why I love it. Obviously, I love to eat it as well. For me, pastry is just a pleasure to work with. I really enjoy it. It’s all down to the recipe as well.”

Her skill and artistry have won her many admirers in the culinary world, including celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. “He’s been a real support over the years and he’s a really nice guy,” said Julie. “I know quite a few of the named chefs.” 

Yet she is modest about her credentials, claiming she is “nowhere near” the restaurateur, author and campaigner’s level. She doesn’t even call herself a pastry chef. “I did up to level 3 NVQ, which isn’t a diploma or anything like that,” she said. “I don’t consider myself a pastry chef – I consider myself a cook that likes to use pastry.”

Having come late to cooking, Julie is equally a novice artist. “I can’t draw to save myself at all and I never have been able to,” she cheerfully admitted.

“The only thing that I used to quite enjoy doing creatively was my mam used to always let me decorate my own bedroom. I still enjoy interiors. I was terrible at art at school. I never plan my designs. I don’t draw them out first, I just see what comes out and if I’m inspired by something I will try and copy it.”

With two recent house moves, Julie had a break from Instagram but is now glad to be back in touch with her 182,000 followers. “I enjoyed stepping away from it for a while but it’s lovely when you come back and the response you get from people,” she said.

"I think Instagram is a lovely community when it works properly. People follow you on Instagram because they want to follow you, so you don’t get any bad vibes. I’ve met people who have come over from Canada, I’ve met friends in London. I got the (first) book because of Instagram.”

Her established online presence has made it easy for Julie to run virtual classes, which took off during the pandemic, with a worldwide audience eager to learn her tricks and techniques. She also does face-to-face teaching and, now that Covid has receded, hopes to re-establish this in Carlisle. Her once-thriving supper clubs could also be set for a resurgence. 

A less obvious ambition is to write a novel but, for someone like Julie, perhaps it isn’t so far-fetched. “I’ve wanted to do it for two years and I thought, ‘I’m going to do it,’” she said. “I do like writing. It’s different writing recipes because you have to be quite structured. 

“When I used to post on Instagram I would really draw on my emotions and express myself. I think if you’re passionate about something it shows.

"I just want to keep up the joy of what I’m doing and just go for it, because life’s too short.”