How to Become an In-Home Pastry Chef
In-home pastry chefs specialize in customizing delicious, intricate and occasionally off-the-wall desserts for events ranging from wedding ceremonies and birthday parties to fanciful tea services or charitable events. Much like a caterer, a good in-home pastry chef balances innovative culinary skill, customer service and a strong marketing campaign to keep ahead of the competition.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Apply to a pastry program at a culinary academy. If you have no formal training as a pastry chef, you will benefit from taking at least an abbreviated course in the art of dessert making. Skills that may come in handy and set you apart from other chefs in your area include sugar sculpting, bread baking, making tarts, tortes and custards as well as creating inventive cake designs.
-
2
Focus on one type of theme or service to start with. By mastering the art of the perfect wedding cake, whipping up great treats for kid's parties or creating exotic individual desserts for upscale soirees you build a reputation from which you can branch off down the line.
-
-
3
Get your licensing in order. Most counties require food-service workers to be licensed in order to sell food to the public. Contact your local health department to find out how you can get started. This will also include either cooking out of a licensed kitchen or having your home kitchen inspected and licensed.
-
4
Join an organization such as the American Personal & Private Chef Association, Star Chefs or the United States Personal Chef Association. These groups offer job listing boards as well as tips, interviews and forum discussions with pastry chefs and others in the in-home cooking industry.
-
5
Market your business by creating a website, social network page and brochures with photos of your dessert creations and customer feedback. Cater events for little or no cost to gain attention from the types of people you would like to work for. Focus on attracting affluent clientele by arranging to bake for philanthropic events or small corporate functions in the effort to secure private business down the line.
-
6
Follow current baking and pastry trends by reading professional trade journals and online magazines. "Embrace the most popular dessert ingredients and use your skill to make them shine," says pastry chef David Carmichael. Browse local bakeries and confectionery shops to see what the community is purchasing.
-
7
Perfect your craft. In between jobs, practice new recipes and techniques, and study the work of master pastry chefs. Continually increasing your artistic talent and baking skills allows for a larger range of clients.
-
1
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Dynamic Graphics/Creatas/Getty Images
