This couple decided to say ‘Pie-do’ on their wedding day, swapping out the more traditional wedding cake for a meatier alternative.
Pie fanatics Jade and Andrew Patterson said they wanted to give their friends, family and loved ones a wedding day to remember with the unusual tiered-pie centrepiece.
The base of the cake, weighing a whopping 8lb (3.5kg,) was packed with traditional stuffing, whilst master chefs filled the final two tiers with chorizo and black pudding.
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Jade, 31, first discussed the idea with Turnbull’s butchers, in Alnwick, Northumberland, two years ago but had then put her plans on hold due to the pandemic.
But last week, her wedding guests finally got to sample a slice of the warm, savoury pudding, and to Jade's delight, they seemed to "love" the unusual concept.
“We really wanted to make sure our guests were nice and full and enjoyed the day, and we just thought, ‘What more do you want after a few drinks than a bit of pie?’” Jade explained.
Having shopped at Turnbull’s regularly, Jade got in contact with the butcher’s to see whether it was possible to turn the humble meat pie into a show-stopping wedding cake.
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Turnbull’s master baker, Phil Dickinson, who has worked at the butchers for 20 years, was responsible for the epic creation.
The base of the pie, which followed a traditional recipe, took five hours to cook, with the upper tiers then decorated with pastry petals and flowers.
Phil said: “As far as we can tell, this is the second pork pie wedding cake we have made here at Turnbull’s in our 140-year history!
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“A pie of this size is only for the die-hard pork pie fans.”
“What surprised me the most was the divide of opinion on choosing the pork pie over a more traditional cake.
“Some loved the idea whilst others thought it was totally wrong!”
When the finished cake was presented to guests at the wedding, Jade said it had “shocked” some attendees.
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“Some of them knew about it, but not many, and I think they were quite shocked, but it was very popular,” she explained.
Jade and hubby Andrew even tried to slice the pie as you would a wedding cake – but with mixed results.
“It was quite difficult to cut - it was really quite hard to get the knife in.
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“It had been out on display all day, and when it came time to cut it, our wedding coordinator said, ‘It’s actually still really warm in the middle because it’s just so big.
“There’s a couple of photos where we are bursting out laughing because we can’t get the knife through it.”
But the couple couldn’t be prouder with their unique creation for the big day.
“We’ve been to quite a few weddings before, and we never really remember getting the cake passed around,” Jade said.
“We’re the first people among our friends to have a pork pie wedding cake – everyone else has had sweet ones and sponges and things.
“But pork pies are just part of our family, and we just love going to the local butchers and helping their business."
Topics: Food and Drink, Wedding
Kimberley Bond