Learn about French pastry techniques, such as making puff pastry, choux pastry, and other laminated doughs, as well as creating classic desserts like macarons and tarts.
Baking Fundamentals: The basic principles of baking, including measuring ingredients, understanding baking temperatures, and proper mixing techniques.
Ingredient Knowledge: Understanding the properties of ingredients like flour, sugar, eggs, butter, and leavening agents is essential in patisserie. Learning about ingredient substitutions is essential too.
Basic Pastry Doughs: The different types of pastry dough, including puff pastry, shortcrust pastry, and choux pastry, as well as their applications in desserts.
Cake Making: The art of making different types of cakes, from traditional sponge cakes to rich chocolate cakes, and mastering techniques like icing and decorating.
Bread Baking: The basics of bread making, including techniques for mixing and shaping, as well as different types of dough and methods of proofing, creating crusty bread or softer breads and pastries.
Chocolate Work: The art of working with chocolate to create flavored truffles, dipped fruits, and intricate chocolate decorations for cakes and desserts.
Dessert Sauces: Understanding the foundations of sauce-making such as flavoured creams, mousses, and custards to pour over cakes, pastries, or mousses.
Dessert Presentation: The importance of presentation in patisserie and pastry making. This includes creating visually appealing cakes and desserts, as well as understanding food plating.
Sugar Work: Techniques of working with sugar to make decorations such as spun sugar, candied fruit, or sugar ribbons.
Baked Desserts: The different types of baked desserts, including pies, tarts, soufflés, and clafoutis and mastering their recipes.
Petit Fours and Confections: Techniques of making miniature pastries, cookies, and chocolates that are perfect for entertaining.
Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts: Understanding the principles of creating custards, sorbets, and ice creams, including soft-serve ice cream.
Gluten-free Baking: Techniques for creating delicious gluten-free cakes, pastries, and other desserts for those with dietary restrictions.
Vegan Baking: Mastering vegan pastry principles, like using plant-based ingredients to create delicious desserts.
Plated Desserts: Techniques and knowledge for the decoration and presentation of desserts in a plated format.
Cake Decorating: Techniques including frosting, writing, piping, and more of cake decorating to enhance the look on your cake.
Decorative Elements: The knowledge of creating decorative elements like chocolate leaves, flowers, figures and more to enhance a patisserie presentation.
Flavour Development: Understanding the techniques and methods to develop unique flavours and combinations to delight the taste buds.
Food Sanitation and Safety: Understanding the importance of food hygiene in pastry making and baking that can help prevent contamination and ensure freshness.
Kitchen Management: Building proficiency the methods of inventory and product control, kitchen equipment maintenance, and staff management for successful operations.
Tarts: Small, open-faced pies filled with fruit, custards, or other sweet fillings.
Cakes: Baked desserts made of flour, sugar, eggs, and flavorings, often topped with frosting or other decorations.
Cupcakes: Small cakes baked in individual portions, often topped with frosting or other decorations.
Doughnuts: Fried dough pastries often coated in sugar, icing, or filled with cream, jelly, or other sweet fillings.
Macarons: Delicate, colorful sandwich cookies made with almond flour and filled with ganache, buttercream, or other sweet fillings.
Croissants: Flaky, buttery pastries made with layers of laminated dough, commonly filled with ham and cheese or sweet fillings such as chocolate or almond paste.
Éclairs: Long, cream-filled pastries made from choux pastry dough and topped with chocolate glaze.
Profiteroles: Small, cream-filled choux pastry balls often covered in chocolate sauce.
Mille-feuille (Napoleon): Multilayered puff pastry filled with pastry cream and often topped with icing or caramel.
Brioche: Sweet, buttery bread commonly used as the base for pastries or served with jam and butter.
Danish: Flaky pastries filled with fruit or cream cheese and often topped with icing or streusel.
Cannoli: Italian pastries filled with sweet ricotta cheese and often dipped in chocolate or pistachios.
Strudel: Layered pastry filled with fruits, nuts, or cheese and served with powdered sugar or icing.
Fruit pies: Baked dessert pies filled with fresh or canned fruits and often topped with whipped cream or ice cream.