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National College Credit Recommendation Service

Board of Regents  |  University of the State of New York

Institute of Culinary Education (The) | Evaluated Learning Experience

Career Pastry and Baking Arts

Length: 

610 hours (35 weeks) (400 hours in-class training; plus a 210-hour externship).

Location: 
The Institute of Culinary Education, 225 Liberty Street, New York, NY and 521 East Green Street Pasadena, CA
Dates: 

August 2007 - Present.

Instructional delivery format: 
Traditional classroom model
Learner Outcomes: 

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to: prepare custards, sorbets, ice creams, frozen desserts, and soufflés; utilize baker's percentages; prepare yeasted and non-yeasted doughs, including shaping and rolling dough products; prepare butter-based, egg foam and other cakes, including entremets, individual cakes, gluten free baking, icings, glazes and fillings; bake and assemble a tiered cake with decorations made from butter cream, fondant, gum paste, and royal icing; utilize airbrush equipment; prepare chocolate confections and build a sugar and chocolate showpiece; and interact with the chocolate lab and hydroponic farm. 

Instruction: 

This intensive program is delivered in an instructor-monitored, 5-module classroom format and consists of study guides, required texts, supplemental readings, field trips, videos, quizzes, home work assignments, and a final exam. The course emphasizes theory to explain how cooking works, teaches techniques to enable mastery of skills that underlie all desserts, palate development to learn about the interplay of flavors, speed, and teamwork in order to secure employment as a culinary professional. Instruction begins with two courses in baking fundamentals that focus on four essential ingredient groups (flour, dairy, fruit, and chocolate) and how they function and combine. Students are introduced to the cornet and pastry bag to begin developing decorating skills. Additional topics include instruction on doughs with focus on theory and techniques of working with yeast to produce brioche, croissant, baguettes, sourdough, and pizza before advancing to brisee, sucree, sable, puff pastry, and strudel, cake baking with simple pound cakes, high ratio and egg foam varieties including muffins and low-fat cakes. Instruction concludes with recipes from award-winning chefs in complex, multi-element plated dessert, complex layered cakes, tortes, specialty cakes, bars and cookies, chocolate confections including instruction in tempering, dipping, enrobing, hollow molding, isomalt casting, and chocolate showpieces. Additional topics include: cake decorating (buttercream flowers and borders, royal icing, fondant, gumpaste flowers, tiered cake icing, assembly, and decoration).The program concludes with a 210-hour externship.

Credit recommendation: 

In the lower division baccalaureate/associate degree category, 15-18 semester hours, distributed as follows: 3 semester hours in Baking I, 3 semester hours in Patisserie, 3 semester hours in Plated Desserts, 3 semester hours in Confectionary, and 3-6 semester hours as an Externship (8/12) (10/17 revalidation) (2/23 revalidation). 

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