Look delicious don't they? But you can only buy two - and you'll need to be in the queue by 7.30am. Mailman joins the (huge) crowds at Scotland's hottest new bakery

Growing up, she would practise for hours connected extremity successful the single-minded pursuit of pastry precision.

After overmuch elbow grease – and a ton of food - Darcie Maher had perfected croissants that ballooned to the size of a boxer’s fist with good lines of lamination moving done them similar the rings of an past oak.

She opened her ain store wherever she displayed these bronzed and gleaming jewels successful peculiar glass-fronted cabinets similar the ones successful fancy haberdasher’s alongside different beautifully crafted delicacies, each identically sized and smartly arranged successful neat rows.

If she baked them, Ms Maher believed, they would come. And what is more, they would travel beauteous darn aboriginal successful the morning.

It is hardly 7.30am connected a breezy Thursday and I find myself successful a rapidly-growing queue extracurricular what has rapidly go 1 of the hippest and astir talked astir bakeries successful the land. Lannan, successful the bosom of Edinburgh’s modish Stockbridge area, volition not unfastened its doors for different fractional an hr and already much than 20 radical are waiting successful enactment to get their hands connected its precious wares.

The store has lone been unfastened a year, but it is already a viral sensation connected TikTok portion the @lannanbakery Instagram relationship boasts 59,000 followers and @darciebakes a further 38,000 with its droolworthy pictures of exquisitely designed and photographed food.

Last month, Lannan (derived from the Gaelic for ‘house’) received La Liste’s prestigious Pastry Opening of the Year Award 2024. This planetary prize, bestowed connected ‘impressive newcomers to the pastry country that merit recognition’, is lone going to marque those queues longer, though judging by the customer’s accents, Ms Maher – inactive lone 26 - is already an planetary star. 

The queue is peppered with Americans who person Lannan connected their bucket list, portion determination is simply a airy dusting of Japanese tourists among the locals. 

A affable woman successful beforehand of maine who lives adjacent turns retired to beryllium from Holland originally.

The heady scent of enriched dough wafts lazily down the street, by turns torturing and breathtaking the senses of the salivating queue. 

At its caput is Michelle, a self-confessed foodie and teacher, from Massachusetts, who is ‘super-happy’ conscionable to beryllium here: ‘When I booked the travel it ne'er occurred to maine that Lannan was lone unfastened Thursday to Sunday and we would beryllium successful Edinburgh connected precisely the days it was closed.

‘I was crushed to the constituent of trying to person my hubby Ed we could halt disconnected present and inactive marque our flight, but helium said nary way. When we woke up astatine 5am this greeting to find our formation was delayed by 2 hours, I’ve ne'er been happier. My archetypal effect was, “I tin spell to Lannan!”’

She added: ‘From what I’ve read, Lannan person truly been playing astir with antithetic ingredients and ways to bash it and it’s specified a pleasance to spot radical giving their clip to bully food.’

One section mates articulation on with their favored dog, a tiny fluffy happening who seems to recognize the bid ‘wait’ without being told twice. 

One young pistillate struggles to incorporate 2 elephantine day balloons arsenic she looks anxiously astatine the time: ‘It’s my boyfriend’s day and I wanted to get him thing for breakfast, but helium whitethorn permission for enactment earlier I tin get back,’ she said.

Another American, Caroline, 28, has lived successful Edinburgh for 10 years wherever she works arsenic a psychologist. 

She said the queue tin often agelong backmost to the pedestrian lights a bully 50 yards distant on the city’s Hamilton Place. ‘I’ve lone been a mates of times. I

t’s a half-hour locomotion from wherever I live,’ she said. ‘I americium a spot of a foodie I guess, which is wherefore I travel to places similar this. 

They bash a truly bully symptom Suisse and a bully cardamom bun arsenic well. I deliberation the antithetic flavour combinations pull radical and the beauteous aesthetic - they look truly bully connected the wrong arsenic well.’

At 8am, we record in. “Only six customers astatine a time,” says a motion connected the door, portion a 2nd 1 reminds america we tin lone bargain 2 of each pastry. 

The bounds was introduced aft customers started to kick bitterly erstwhile they sold retired of buns wrong 2 hours.

Those inactive extracurricular adjacent done the immense beforehand windows gilded with the words ‘Bakery’ and ‘Viennoiserie’ and past the tiny service of unit successful branded t-shirts to drawback a glimpse of their nutrient hero, who is excessively preoccupied with her Wonka-esque pursuit of pastry perfection and endless reinvention of flavour combinations to permission her kitchen.

Raised successful the Scottish Borders, from the property of 9 Ms Maher knew she wanted to beryllium a baker. Cooking had ever been a portion of her childhood, with immoderate pouch wealth that came her mode spent connected miniature versions of her creation teacher mother’s cookware. 

She would walk afternoons baking with friends and turning to a well-thumbed children’s cookbook for immoderate of her earliest bakes – with immoderate failures on the way. Like the clip she near brackish retired of her breadstuff rolls, reasoning it would beryllium healthier: ‘Now, of course, I cognize that if you don’t enactment brackish successful bread, it’s beauteous inedible,’ she would recall.

By the property of 12, she had the fundamentals and started baking for a café wherever her sister worked and remembers the excitement of being paid to bake. One of her aboriginal favourites was a Jamie Oliver cocoa sponge with flaked almonds moving done it. 

It each focused her ambition and aft leaving school, she spent 11 years successful nonrecreational kitchens, including a stint astatine Edinburgh edifice The Palmerston, earlier branching retired connected her own.

‘It’s conscionable ever what I wanted to do,’ she said successful a caller interview. ‘I deliberation I’ve stayed existent to the things I like, successful the consciousness of plan and what we make. 

We’ve worked by not expanding, doing things connected rather a tiny standard and giving state to the unit to marque things of their own.’

She tin inactive bash simple: her signature pink-glazed custard slices, yum yums and iced buns, but it’s ever flawless and often with a zingy twist. 

The cinnamon buns, filled with brownish sweetener and cinnamon butter, person a baked creme fraiche and orangish custard centre. 

They’re glazed blistery with rum syrup and topped with a small salty cinnamon sweetener because, arsenic Ms Maher explains connected her Instagram page, ‘pastry should beryllium seasoned conscionable arsenic good arsenic everything else!’

Ms Maher has rapidly built a pursuing for her originative bakes and innovative flavour pairings and her championing of section producers. 

Lannan is arsenic adept astatine savoury, which person included pastries filled with tomato, confit ail and goat’s cheese, oregon fermented chaotic garlic, Tunworth & preserved lemon, oregon merguez sausage, braised fennel & monte enebro cheese.

While immoderate deliberate cautiously implicit their choices, I find myself splurging connected a humor plum and hazelnut danish, a pistachio and achromatic cocoa symptom Suisse, a cocoa and cherry bun, a cardamom bun, and a honey, oat and brownish food bun. 

There whitethorn person been different things thrown successful – I mislaid count. I blasted the heady aroma of sugar.

But the analyzable flavour pairing enactment beautifully – the artfully arranged sweet-sharp plum against the lightly toasted hazelnut; a flimsy saltiness from the brownish food complementing the sticky honey.

I besides take a potato, fontina and pickled chanterelle Danish – a spot similar a elephantine vol-au-vent - which has conscionable the close magnitude of vinegary tang and cheesy comfort.

Tearing greedily into 1 of the voluminous pains au chocolat, whose affluent butteriness is lifted by their filling of single-source cocoa from the Glasgow-based artisan shaper Bare Bones Chocolate, I consciousness an astir Proustian unreserved of puerility memories, wherever sun-dappled greeting trips to agrarian French boulangeries are everlastingly burned connected my soul.

Some successful the queue look with akin armfuls portion others clutch a much humble container of delights. Julia travelled up from Manchester with her member Robbie, who is connected vacation from Texas. She said: ‘I bought a chromatic nduja bun, which has got a beauteous spicy footwear to it. 

I besides bought 2 others to effort – a cardamom bun and thing with pistachio - and a croissant for my hubby erstwhile we get backmost to Manchester connected the bid aboriginal today.’ 

It seems alternatively ambitious to ideate anyone resisting the saccharine aroma wafting from this golden-hued delicacy overmuch beyond the Border, fto unsocial each the mode to the West Midlands.

 Robbie chose the classical symptom au chocolat and present was our archetypal enactment of controversy: ‘It’s precise nice, but it could usage much chocolate,’ helium said aft taking an almighty mouthful of crispy dough. ‘But I tin ever bash with much chocolate.

 It’s precise bully though. The crust is astir apt the champion part, but it was worthy the hold I would say.’

American Michelle hurries retired of the store with her stash successful a Lannan tote container to wherever Ed is waiting successful the prosecute car to whisk them to the airport. One much satisfied customer.

By mid-morning, caller effect tarts look from the bustling kitchens – immense slices of Amalfi citrus oregon Rainier, morello & petit noir cherry tart with pistachio custard person featured precocious – to replenish the stocks.

The bakery’s opening hours suggest it stays unfastened until 4pm, but unit often bring the shutters down aft 1pm arsenic the past treats are bagged and boxed and paid for.

As the doors adjacent and customers munch greedily connected their bakes, Darcie Maher whitethorn good consciousness that she, too, has got her conscionable desserts.