Pretty Little Pastries

Samuel Brook grew up in a farming community surrounded by food - baking with his mother and gran, watching the local farmers harvest, picking fruit and vegetables with his grandfather. The turning point came in the kitchen one morning over a tray of millionaire's shortbread, when he told his mother he thought he could do this, and do it quite well.

He has since worked up from apprentice to running kitchens and now teaches the skills on, and Pretty Little Pastries covers the whole range: canapés to petit fours, private fine dining, large buffets for weddings, afternoon teas, celebration cakes, bespoke macarons, wedding favours, and handmade chocolates and fudge. The farming roots still show - nothing, he reckons, compares to fruit straight off the tree.