Let's face it, I'll never win GBBO, but

[Waterlow]

what happened to my pie cases?

I lined it with greaseproof paper cake-tin liners and baking beans and baked blind for 15mins. When I removed the beans and paper I saw that the side had shrunk down unevenly in a couple of places. Still useable - just. So I returned it to the oven for 10 mins to dry out, and this is what resulted! Twice!

Where have I gone wrong?

pastry will shrink as it cooks if it was stretched as you pressed it into the tin

and the darker bits are over done as the pastry rose without the beans in...that's just pastry defiance.

I agree with above. If you stretched it a little when you put it in the tin, it will shrink back much more than if it was carefully rolled out and draped. Spending a couple of minutes pressing it carefully into the bottom corners is worth it too. Some chefs also like to leave the overhang of pastry and trim it after baking to help with the shape and shrinkage issue.

I also give my pastry a good prodding/pricking all over with a fork before blind baking as that can help stop the rising.

Hope that helps your next attempt! Have you got something delicious to put in this one? Beauty is not everything when it comes to baking: mistakes can be delicious too!

I don't think I stretched the pastry. I rolled it out and draped it over the tin. Then I lifted the edge and folded it back a bit so that it would fall naturally into the edge of the tin. I pressed it gently into the edge, then trimmed the pastry on the outside of the tin.

BUT I used ready-made pastry. Maybe this is my punishment for being lazy.

It was going to be a BakewellTart.

I've found that resting the pastry again in the fridge or even freezer once it's in the pie dish, before blind baking, helps. Cold rested pastry into hot oven!

It'll still taste fine.

I second the advice of pricking the bottom, and resting in fridge for half and hour between putting in the tin and baking (this helps prevent shrinkage). Also if possible trim after baking rather than before (this hides shrinkage!)

Thanks for your advice. In future I'll try being even more gentle with the pastry, pricking it, and chilling it before blind baking. I'll also make my own, as this never happens with my homemade pastry.

In the end I bunged them back in the oven with a pile of chocolate drops, so that they finished baking through and ended up with a lovely chocolate layer on top. When they cooled I covered them in sliced fruit (tinned peaches and fresh juicy plums) and glazed them with veggie-gel made up with the peach juice. Served them with cold custard and crème fraîche.

Nobody missed the Bakewell tarts