Pie and Mash 'Cupcakes'

The Best of British hosts challenged us this month to bake something that represented London and for me, one thing immediately sprang to mind. Well, two things, but there was no way I was going to touch jellied eels! So pie and mash it had to be - while it's common all over the UK, the dish apparently originated in the east end of London and is a proper cockney meal. So you can't get more London than that!
However, I wanted to put a bit of a twist on it and since I love cupcakes, I decided to make a 'fake' cupcake.... what do you think?

The 'cake' part is pastry and minced beef and the 'frosting' is mashed potato, with herb sprinkles.... OK it doesn't really look that much like a cake but I partly blame the foil dishes I used, which were wide and flat (like mince pie dishes) rather than cupcake shaped. But the thought was there!

I basically made up the recipe as I went along, and didn't measure quantities apart from the pastry. For the shortcrust pastry, mix 100g plain flour and 55g marg until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add 1 tbsp water and make into a ball. Knead and put in the fridge for about 30 mins.

Chop half an onion

Fry the onion then add some minced beef. I also added some Lea & Perrins and tomato puree

Roll out the pastry and cut out circles. Place each circle in a foil case.

Fill the cases with the minced meat

Boil and mash some potatoes (I used one very large potato) and using a piping bag and nozzle, pipe swirls of mashed potato on top of the mince. Finish off in the oven for about 20 minutes.

I am sending this to the Best of British Challenge, hosted this month by Fiona from London Unattached. The challenge is sponsored by The Face of New World Appliances.

As the letter for this month's Alphabakes is P, I am also sending in my pie and mash cupcakes to the challenge that I co host (though I'm of course not eligible for the prize we have this month!).