I want to know what institutes to go to and/or what courses are there in Australia if I want to pursue a career to become a baker (more specifically making cakes)?
Would TAFE be the BEST option? Are there any other institutes?
Would doing a hospitality degree be good to become a baker? If so which hospitality degrees in which univerisities would you recommend?
Lastly, if I want to become a cake baker for top class hotels, how should I go about achieving my goal?
I appreciate any advice as I desperately need information :)
If you are an Australian citizen or a permanent residence you can apply for apprenticeship in either baking or pastry cooking.
Well those schools offer comprehensive course that is not only focused on baking and cooking but other related subjects as well including finance and management areas. IF you want you can take baking and pastry cooking and it will lead you to a certificate IV or even in A diploma.
You can study in Regency in Adelaide or in William Angliss in Melbourne
A hospitality degree is broad and cover many areas you or may not become a baker , a cook, etc...but just doing other hospitality related stuff. You can be just an events coordinator or tourism specialist and that has nothing to do with cookery.
Its not wise to recommend, you better visit the schools in your area and make inquiries Think about it if its appropriate for your needs.
In order to become a baker, it takes training and experience and you need to devote enough time for such trade to be considered qualified. I Australia it needs an average of 4 years to be a qualified baker or pastry cook.
Don't forget cake baking in Australia is more of European style patterned from the UK system. BTW I am not impressed with Australian breads cakes and pastries, you want to be good better study in Europe instead. You can start your apprenticeship in Australia but after a few years go to Europe for and work there so that you will improve dramatically your capability.
Besides "Regency in Adelaide or in William Angliss in Melbourne", are there any similar places in Sydney? Do you know if Bakery Sugarcraft and Planetcake in Syd are any good?
So i understand now to be the best in bakery and patisserie on should go to Europe eventually. I know it depends also the type of bread or cake, but would France be the best choice?
I am not familiar with Sydney schools with regards to bakery. Check the Australian Baking Society for more details. Or you can verify it yourself if you're in Sydney.
I reiterate its better to get better education in Europe...France is good if you can speak French Fluently..
Switzerland is good,..... look for Richemont Craft School.( IIRC Zurich?) Australian Breads snd cakes in my opinion is not the best in the world, Most bakeries in Australia uses prepared mixes and you are unlikely to learn more if you just mix and bake.... You need sound training that only Europe can offer.
A lot of job ads for pastry chef mentioned "requires 2nd year or final year apprentice chef", is that mean after a person finishes their TAFE studies, they have to be someone's apprentice before becoming a pastry chef? If such is necessary, how many years does one have to be an apprentice usually?
So the career path goes like: N years in TAFE X years as apprentice Full Pastry Chef ?
In Australia, establishments hires apprentices which are called first, second or third year apprentices. The fourth year is when you are already a qualified pastry cook but not a pastry chef. But if you attend also formal education in patisserie while you are still doing your pastry cook apprentices you will end up in the end as a pastry chef. That is likely at least after 5 years from the start of your apprenticeship. It depends also upon your aptitude, if you are fast learner you can be pastry chef in less time specially if you undergo training from a well known pastry chef. There is not that much in Australia what I call highly qualified pastry chef. In fact most of the pastry chef that are really good are educated in Europe and came in as immigrants. A pastry chef is really capable if he has attained at least decade of experience and most of that overseas.
I am beginning to guess you must be a great chef(bakery or pastry) or at least working in the industry or a business owner :)
So what you are saying is, for the case where the person takes formal education and apprenticeship concurrently, say the formal education finishes after 1-2 years, but the person remains apprentice status an extra 2-3 years so that after s/he accumulate a total of around 5 years of apprenticeship expereince, s/he can becomes a pastry chef?
In your opinion, is it better and more popular to do formal education (like TAFE etc) and apprenticeship concurrently?
How about do formal education first, and then find work in a pastry as an apprentice? If I do this, how long would the apprenticeship takes? Just 2-3 years since I already got the education or the pastries will still insist on 5 years? The only reason I am considering this path is I might take a part-time job while doing formal education like going to TAFE.
As always, thank you so much for teaching me so much about the industry.
patterned from the UK standard. An aspiring baker or chef can apply for apprenticeship right after he or she finishes year 12. I know some people there who started their training after year 10 only. When I was there for some time I noticed that the to gain qualification in your trade that you trained for takes 4 years. You can either be a baker nor a pastry cook but not yet a master baker or a pastry chef. The latter needs formal training from a recognized institution.and after that should have some years of experience before you can be considered fullyqualified to an advanced degree which I recognized as person of good capability. that justify that 10 years is the average time to be really good as a baker or a pastry chef , that is basing from the time you started your apprenticeship.
Its better to do both....I have seen in Willam Angliss apprentices who at the same time trained in school for formal education. The problem with apprenticeship you are limited only to the specific line of the bakery or patisserie you are doing your training., therefore you have a narrow perspective of your trade. In addition to that during apprenticeship you are only allowed to visit the school at least a week per month and to talk with your teachers in school. I observed that even after the finished their apprenticeship and judging their performances I still don;t find it satisfactory. Therefore the combination of schooling and actual training is the best option
You can do that but most Australian bakery and patisserie establishment seldom accept an untrained apprentice for good quality work. Yes you might have good schooling but you still lack skill to work in the fast spaced conditions of the kitchen. You might end up just a kitchen hand...instead even of a pastry cook.
Only the apprenticeship can give you the required skill and confidence that some graduates of the patisserie education sometimes lack. These establishment needs skilled people first than educated ones so you can gain a better employment status then.
If you have no bakery or patisserie experience and would like to earn as you learn then go the apprenticeship way then the academic training later. On the other hand if you already had sound baking knowledge then you can go the schooling and there is no need for apprenticeship.
What I mean here is you already have enough experience and good fundamentals then you don't need to go for apprenticeship but improve your skill by doing formal academic training. At least you already have some confidence to face your prospective employer and convince him that you are a worthy employee.
Have you heard of Sydney International College and do you know if they are any good?
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so long I have been asking for someone who wants to study asinternational student trying to become a pastry chef. TAFE has acertificate level 3 course which is specialized for patisserie, butthey give preferences to apprentices, otherwise quite hard to get into.But it would probably be hard for someone from oversea to get anapprenticeship in Australia, since they would need to first enrol insome education before they can get student VISA. I would suggest myfriend to try their chances to enrol those TAFE certificate 3 coursesthat give preference to apprentice anyway, or, enrol in some vocationalcake making TAFE classes initially, or try Sydney InternationalCollege, and after the person arrived in Australia they can search foran apprenticeship.
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