Culinary Programs

Turn your love of food into a career

Culinary Program
Culinary Arts
Find culinary inspiration and helpful career information on topics such as cooking with chocolate, French and Greek cuisine, the life of a Chef, and what to expect in culinary school.
Baking and Pastry
Does your sweet tooth lead you straight to your oven? Read how to avoid the pitfalls of cheese cake, bake creative cookies, use fresh fruits in baking, and more.
Catering and Restaurant Management
If you've ever prepared a Thanksgiving dinner, you know that cooking for a group takes planning and skill. Learn more about the art of catering and restaurant management, including specialized catering such as chocolates or high tea and how to prepare for a restaurant career.
Culinary Schools in the United States
With culinary schools in all 50 states and additional culinary education available online, you don't need to relocate unless you want to. Each state has its own special mixture of culture, cuisine, and locally grown agriculture that inspires the chefs and students who work and live there. If you're passionate about Maine lobster dishes, California cuisine, or any dish or state in between, you'll find a culinary school that is where you are or where you'd like to be.
Search Your School

Home | Culinary | Baking and Pastry | Cook Up a New Career: Baking and Pastry School

Cook Up a New Career: Baking and Pastry School

By Marianne Salina

It's a sweet job. If you graduate from a baking and pastry school, you may have your pick of tasty jobs as a pastry chef or baker.

Creating pastries is tricky, rewarding, time-consuming, and definitely a job you can bank on. Jobs are available in hotels, fine restaurants, and in catering services, just about anywhere. If you're already in love with baking, why not turn your avocation into a vocation and enroll in a baking and pastry school?

From a Pastry Course to a Pastry Career

Some of the most creative and innovative pastry chefs got their jobs after attending pastry schools programs-- often in only 26 months. Most of the best chefs, bakers, restaurant owners, caterers, and food writers have generally attended some kind of baking and pastry or culinary school.

The advantages to taking baking classes include working in fully-equipped kitchens with top chefs in your field, learning how to work with the tools of the trade, and gaining the confidence to work in an interesting field. In a baking class, you can learn how to:

  • Use the correct techniques and terminology
  • Transform simple ingredients--flour, water, eggs--into beautiful pastries
  • Create everything from French pastries to American cakes

Is a Pastry Career in Your Future?

Most baking and pastry schools require internships or externships where students work in the culinary field for part of the course requirements, building relationships that not only add to your experience but can lead to job offers after your training is finished. If you're taking a baking class with a career in mind, you might also have the inside scoop on where the jobs are.

At a baking and pastry school you can obtain a degree in baking arts or look toward a degree in the broader fields of culinary arts or culinary management. With the right degree, you might just cook up a whole new career.

Sources

Institute of Culinary Education - Career Division Overview

Institute of Culinary Education - Baking and Pastry Classes

King Arthur Flour Baking Class

About the Author
Marianne Salina is a freelance writer in Spokane, Washington. She writes about pursuits in education and degree opportunities.