Get Your "Just Desserts" with Baking and Pastry School Classes
Who doesn't love wedding cake, homemade bread, or great piece of pie? If you've always enjoyed creating delicious desserts, baking and pastry school courses can help you find a job you love.
Employers usually want pastry chefs with post-secondary training or one of the many available cooking degrees. These degrees can help you branch out into exactly the career you had in mind. Specialize in catering, become a restaurant manager, or earn a master's degree and be well on your way to becoming an executive chef.
Programs leading to a certificate, diploma, or degree can range from a few months to several years.
- Earn a certificate or diploma in approximately nine months
- In two-year programs leading to an associate's degree, you can learn specialized techniques, including catering skills
- Four-year bachelor's degree programs can broaden your skills even more. Become a restaurant manager, coordinating all kitchen, dining room, and banquet operations
- A master's degree can help you stand out among competition for executive chef positions
Baking and Pastry Chef Jobs Tied to Training
The job market for bakers and pastry chefs continues to grow. In 2006, there were 3.1 million U.S. chefs and cooks (the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics--BLS--doesn't give separate figures for bakers or pastry chefs or the field of catering).The BLS does expect some job growth between 2006 and 2016, promising news for aspiring baking and pastry chefs. In 2008, chefs and head cooks earned an annual median salary of $38,770.
To land the best new jobs in this field, you should have the right kind of training. Hundreds of vocational schools, colleges, and universities offer classes and degrees that can get you started on your satisfying culinary career.
