[AshleyLuvsCake]

Hello there,

I am VERY VERY interested in becoming a cake designer and having my own special occassion cake business. This is my passion and I am ready to full force persue it.

Recently I decided to go to the Le Cordon Bleu school in pasadena. I told the admissions director of my dream and she said it would be the place for me. I would also get the full culinary education sauces, saniation, butchering ect. I would like to have this education but at 48k I would like to know if this is really the best way to get into doing what I love.

For those of you who are working as Pastry Chefs doing wedding cakes and such would you recommend going to the Culinary school I signed up for or what? How did you do it?

Thank you for your advice!

[foodpump]

Um...
Best thing to do is do some grunt work and work in a typical bakery, nothing fancy, just a good bakery that puts out an honest product.

Work and watch, what are the techniques used, the ingredients, the equipment, the suppliers? What are typical staff capable of? What shouldn't they be doing? What kind and how much product an the bakery put out? Is it enough to cover costs?

Now for some nasty dirty words: Overhead, salaries, book keeping.

Now for some loaded topics: Customers, customers, customers, advertising, and promotions.

If your chosen school can cover the areas I just mentioned, then by all means take the schooling. If it can't deliver, than I suggest to work in a few places and start to cherry-pick specific classes at a local C.College or trade school that you think will be useful.

[AshleyLuvsCake]

Originally Posted by foodpump

Um...
Best thing to do is do some grunt work and work in a typical bakery, nothing fancy, just a good bakery that puts out an honest product.

Work and watch, what are the techniques used, the ingredients, the equipment, the suppliers? What are typical staff capable of? What shouldn't they be doing? What kind and how much product an the bakery put out? Is it enough to cover costs?

Now for some nasty dirty words: Overhead, salaries, book keeping.

Now for some loaded topics: Customers, customers, customers, advertising, and promotions.

If your chosen school can cover the areas I just mentioned, then by all means take the schooling. If it can't deliver, than I suggest to work in a few places and start to cherry-pick specific classes at a local C.College or trade school that you think will be useful.

Thank you for your advice. I have thought about going to some cake shops and asking them to work with them but I am worried about my lack of experience and knowledge as well as I want to learn decorating technique. My idol is Colette Peters. Have you heard of Wilton School of cake decorating? Their classes are range from 2 weeks to 1 day and are only cake. She also teaches some advanced classes there. I would also like to have a full culinary background for my own passion and who knows one day I may go into catering or something. I dont think I can get this background from working in a bakery.

[momoreg]

Ditto foodpump. Very sound advice.
It sounds like you're in a hurry to start a business with very little experience. That's not a great idea. If you want to also get into baking, you'll want to know something about it before you open a business. Same goes with being a caterer.

A word about cake people. Many of them are artistic, but don't know a thing about baking. It takes YEARS to develop your skills enough to be able to confidently deliver a quality product that sets your business apart.

Don't rush. Learn what you need to, whether it's on the job or in school. Don't expect any big financial reward any time in the near future. This is your time to LEARN, and there are lots of good teachers out there.

[AshleyLuvsCake]

Originally Posted by momoreg

Ditto foodpump. Very sound advice.
It sounds like you're in a hurry to start a business with very little experience. That's not a great idea. If you want to also get into baking, you'll want to know something about it before you open a business. Same goes with being a caterer.

A word about cake people. Many of them are artistic, but don't know a thing about baking. It takes YEARS to develop your skills enough to be able to confidently deliver a quality product that sets your business apart.

Don't rush. Learn what you need to, whether it's on the job or in school. Don't expect any big financial reward any time in the near future. This is your time to LEARN, and there are lots of good teachers out there.

I dont understand why everyone on this forum thinks everyone else is so stupid. I dont think im going to go out tomorrow and start a business but there is nothing wrong with having a goal. Who cares if that goal is for 10 years in the future...it's better than having no plan at all. As well as I don't really understand how asking about school or what I should do before opening a business gives the impression that I want to start one with no knowledge.... isnt that what school is for?

I know this is something I am willing to give up an $85,000 a year job to persue and am just trying to make sure I do it the right way. I thought school and formal education to have a solid foundation followed by on the job experience under a professional would be a good start, but see that everyone is bashing culinary school.

[momoreg]

I'm sorry if I made it seem like I thought you were stupid. that was not my intention. In reading your posts, I somehow had the impression that you were in a hurry to open a business. All I was trying to say, is that you should get as much experience as possible beforehand. There's no school-bashing. School can teach you a lot of valuable skills, but certainly not enough to develop we---rounded confidence in your abilities.

We're only trying to help. Nothing more than that.

[momoreg]

I'm sorry if I made it seem like I thought you were stupid. that was not my intention. In reading your posts, I somehow had the impression that you were in a hurry to open a business. All I was trying to say, is that you should get as much experience as possible beforehand. There's no school-bashing. School can teach you a lot of valuable skills, but certainly not enough to develop we---rounded confidence in your abilities.

We're only trying to help. Nothing more than that.

[chrose]

Originally Posted by AshleyLuvsCake

I dont understand why everyone on this forum thinks everyone else is so stupid.

Originally Posted by AshleyLuvsCake

I thought school and formal education to have a solid foundation followed by on the job experience under a professional would be a good start, but see that everyone is bashing culinary school.

Ashley based on some of the generalizations you are making about the people and comments on the website it sounds to me like you have had a lot of people elsewhere poo pooing your ideas and you are getting a bit sensitive about it. Do I understand that you are making $85k/year now and want to make cakes instead. If you are asking for advice you better be willing to take the good with the bad, the ones that back you and the ones that caution you. A good portion of the people on this website have gone to culinary school and there are good aspects and bad aspects to it. If you want to specialize in cakes you may not want to go, you may not have to. People like Colette Peters are the rarity. Colette as you may or may not know got a degree in fine arts and worked for years for Tiffany lamps before she went into cakes. As Momoreg said many are "artists", what kind of artistic skills do you posess? Not everyone can develop into Colette Peters, or Mike McCarey or Michelle Klem. But as Momoreg said not all artists can bake and if you make a beautiful cake that tastes like &$%$ you won't get a lot of repeat business.
High end cakes are not Wilton cakes, Wilton cakes are geared towards the average home cook. Perhaps what you can do is to take some general baking courses at the local schools tech or otherwise, than some specialty courses from people like Sue MacMahon or Susan Notter, then work in a bakery that produces cakes to home your skills. It's rewarding, but not easy and the financial aspect could be better. Just my 2 cents.

[thetincook]

Ashly- Since you're in Los Angeles, check out baking program at Los Angeles Trade Tech It's a much better option then Le Cordon Blue and its a fraction of the cost. I went to culinary there on the savory side, and while I was there they had a strong baking/pastry program.

[ChefRAZ]

heres my 2 cents. when I started in the bakery I knew nothing about cakes. nothing. I started out baking them I found out what and how to bake them, then I moved on to decorating(at the time I never seen a guy making cakes, ever. my retail experience(lead me to believe that cakes were decorated by women) when I went to a large hotel operation. I learnt how to decorate cakes many diferent kinds for banquets and for the other outlets in the hotel. ive been there for 13 years .So dont waste money you can use to start your shop. get a job at a bakery doing cake :anything .and practice on your own time. they will love you for your ambition.and you will learn from people there. they dont want to to do bad work, so its a two way street.walk on both sides.

[jessiquina]

hello. i didnt read all the above posts.. i just wanted to tell you that you really only need like a 12month baking and pastry program (it will be cheaper) where you get a diploma... not an associates degree. you will be paying for the general education classes that i dont think are necessary for a baker. and you dont have to go to the best school, some community colleges have great culinary programs.

[m brown]

Ashley,

The Wilton Week-longs r a great idea to get your feet wet. stage in a pastry/bakery/hotel kitchen.

Look into Pastry courses at different schools,
Johnson and Wales is where I went and you will find it a solid Pastry Arts edu.
The culinary schools in California should have a division as well.
There is the ICE in NYC, French Culinary, CIA, Kendell College, and a ton I've missed.

Keep asking questions and keep your eye out.

PS, Collette is a great designer/business woman and person!

When I get re-located I will let you know when I re-open - I will need some good interns!

[AshleyLuvsCake]

I do appreciate everyones input, thank you. I still haven't ruled out school because I think I would just enjoy it if nothing else and I would like to learn more than just pastry as a personal thing, but there is a course for 1/2 the cost in laguna beach that is only 6 months no pastry that may be well worth it.

The wilton classes are for home cooks? I saw a lot of very talented people in the staff. Has anyone taken classes there? It is rather out of the way and expensive if it isnt for professionals. I could find something like that around here.

I started calling around today. I told them I want to learn and hey its free work and I know how to work hard, but so far I have got we are full, we are no longer taking interns, and we only take interns from the school.

I live in Orange County...anyone have any suggestions of places I could try?

[AshleyLuvsCake]

Originally Posted by chrose

Ashley based on some of the generalizations you are making about the people and comments on the website it sounds to me like you have had a lot of people elsewhere poo pooing your ideas and you are getting a bit sensitive about it. Do I understand that you are making $85k/year now and want to make cakes instead. If you are asking for advice you better be willing to take the good with the bad, the ones that back you and the ones that caution you. A good portion of the people on this website have gone to culinary school and there are good aspects and bad aspects to it. If you want to specialize in cakes you may not want to go, you may not have to. People like Colette Peters are the rarity. Colette as you may or may not know got a degree in fine arts and worked for years for Tiffany lamps before she went into cakes. As Momoreg said many are "artists", what kind of artistic skills do you posess? Not everyone can develop into Colette Peters, or Mike McCarey or Michelle Klem. But as Momoreg said not all artists can bake and if you make a beautiful cake that tastes like &$%$ you won't get a lot of repeat business.
High end cakes are not Wilton cakes, Wilton cakes are geared towards the average home cook. Perhaps what you can do is to take some general baking courses at the local schools tech or otherwise, than some specialty courses from people like Sue MacMahon or Susan Notter, then work in a bakery that produces cakes to home your skills. It's rewarding, but not easy and the financial aspect could be better. Just my 2 cents.

Yes, you do understand that I make $85,000 a year now and want to make cakes. Is that hard to believe? Life isn't always about money. Frankly I have had enough of the career I have now and do not love what I do every day for 24 days out of the month.

Actually this is the only forum I have been on and most every thread I go on is saying the culinary school is a waste. Articles I have found say different, but I thought it would be a good idea to ask those in the business.

As far as artistic skills are concerned. I have a very creative mind, draw and paint with water colors and oil.

[m brown]

Ya know what, my first classes were at a local bakery using the Wilton Technique.
It is a great jumping off point. From Wilton you get the basics, its what you do after the class that matters!!!

If you go to the more economical route, try to spend some time and funds traveling to the sugar show, different day/week classes held around the country.


You sound like a smart cookie.