Baking and Pastry Arts offers many exciting career paths. If you have a passion for yeasts and doughs, careers in baking and pastry arts may be the path for you. A formal culinary school education will prepare you for the next step in your professional career. Find out where a Baking and Pastry Arts Diploma can take you.
Baker
Bakers work with dough to make breads, pastries, and more. They are skilled at measuring ingredients, mixing correct combinations of ingredients, and baking them. Bakers may choose to work in retail or commercial bakeries, manufacturing or production facilities, grocery stores, cruise ships, catering companies, hotels, or restaurants.
WorkBC notes a trend that consumers want high-end and specialty baked products creating a demand for bakers that have been to baking and pastry arts school.
Pastry Chef
If you dream of working with chocolate and sugar (and who doesn’t?) consider a career as a Pastry Chef. Use creativity and an artistic eye to design desserts, create confections and decorate items like cakes and cookies. This role requires attention to detail and innovation. Most pastry chefs will work in fine dining restaurants, bakeries, cafes, grocery stores, caterers, artisan shops, cruise ships, hotels and resorts, candy or chocolate companies.
Cake Designer or Decorator
Decorating cakes or cupcakes can range from simple designs to elaborate displays. Working with a wide range of cakes, fillings, and icings, a cake decorator will understand how they all work together to envision and assemble a finished product. Cake Designers will find work at grocery stores, bakeries, specialty shops, or for themselves. They may choose to specialize in wedding cakes, birthday cakes, cupcakes, or other specialties.
Chocolatier
Sculpting, tempering, moulding, decorating, and working with chocolate is a specialized role. Creating confections out of chocolate to make skillfully crafted pieces of art or eye-catching desserts is the role of a chocolatier.
Working with chocolate requires an in-depth knowledge of the physical and chemical aspects of chocolate and the foods that pair with chocolate. A chocolatier may also create chocolate sculptures and centerpieces. As a chocolatier, you may work in a chocolate shop, bakery, restaurant, or in chocolate production or manufacturing.
Research and Development (R & D) Chef
Working in a corporate environment, these professionals develop new food products or oversee product testing. A more advanced role requiring work experience as a kitchen manager or executive chef along with a diploma in baking and pastry or culinary program.
As a research chef, you’ll create new recipes or products or improve existing items. This role allows you to experiment with new formulations and combinations and analyze creations. Research and development chefs work at food manufacturers, restaurants, hotels, and other companies.
Food Stylist
Designing foods to look appealing and preparing them for photography is the job of a food stylist. Artistically styled food is often needed for print and online media as well as television commercials and movies. Understanding the techniques needed to make food look appetizing is a necessary skill along with understanding how to prep dishes so they stay fresh for the camera.
Take a look at some of the unique techniques food stylists use. A food stylist often works as a freelancer or with a company in-house such as at a cookbook or magazine publisher or an advertising agency.
Some of the Paths Our Alumni Have Taken
Andrea Dopico Cafarelli - after successfully completing the Baking & Pastry Arts Professional Diploma Program at the top of her class, has worked in multiple Michelin-star restaurants, competed in an international pastry event, and was named by Forbes as one of their Top 30 under 30 in Europe. She is currently working at Moments, a 2-Michelin Star restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona.
Megan Voigt became a pastry chef and also started blogging providing delicious pastry recipes and food photography.
Tamera Clark is now the Chef/Owner of Bjornbar Bakery in North Vancouver and Coquitlam which offers up modern takes on traditional baked goods.
Cheryl Wakerhauser continued her training in Southern France and is now Owner/Executive Chef at Pix Pattisserie in Portland. Cheryl has also authored Modern French Pastry: Innovative Technique, Tools And Design and Petite Pâtisserie.
Juan Carlos Gomez is consistently selling out of his famous sourdough bread in Chelsea, Quebec. He is Chef/Owner of a bakery with people regularly lining up for his breads and pastries.
The Baking & Pastry Arts Diploma at PICAchef
At PICAchef, your food services education will cover a comprehensive range of relevant topics with hands-on learning. From measuring and scaling to Food & Beverage Operations Management, you’ll be guided at every step by chef instructors with experience spanning the globe. You’ll explore and taste different ingredients to learn how their flavors and textures combine and learn how to expertly plate the creations you create.
Find out more about admission requirements for Canadian or International students or please contact us to request more information. We have full-time programs and courses in Culinary Arts and Baking & Pastry Arts. Visit our page for more information on how to apply.
