Pastry Chef Job Description: Skills, Requirements and Career Path

A pastry chef (sometimes called a patissier) is a person who specializes in making pastries, desserts, cakes, baked goods and other sweet food items. A pastry chef’s responsibilities include creating, preparing, cooking and decorating a potentially vast range of puddings and confections (e.g. pies, tarts, sponges, cupcakes, chocolates, cookies, biscuits, croissants, ice creams, sorbets, creams, sauces, custards, appetizers and petit fours).

The job of a pastry chef calls for a high degree of technical skill and expertise. After all, running a successful pastry kitchen and preparing - time and time again - perfect dough and pastry, flavourful custards, creams and sauces and delicious and beautifully-presented cakes, desserts and chocolates ready to be sold or served to customers or diners is not something that happens by accident.

As a creative profession, pastry and cake-making is not simply a question of technique, however. As well as tasting good, chocolates, sweets and puddings also need to look the part, which is why, in addition to strong technical skills, a key requirement for pastry chefs is the ability to decorate their creations and produce visually-appealing, eye-catching confections.

As well as being responsible for making a wide variety of both classical and modern cakes, breads, desserts and sweets, pastry chefs may also have a number of organizational responsibilities, including selecting and ordering raw materials, selecting suppliers, managing and monitoring food stocks, coordinating pastry kitchen operations and planning and optimizing production based on expected sales. They are also responsible for ensuring that work is performed in compliance with all applicable safety and hygiene requirements, coordinating supporting staff (e.g. assistant or trainee pastry chefs) and for keeping all kitchen equipment and utensils (such as dough mixers, proofers and ovens) in good working order.

In some retail environments, such as patisseries, bakeries and cake shops, but also at baked goods counters in supermarkets, a pastry chef’s responsibilities may also include setting up window and counter displays and arranging pastries, cakes and other items for sale, fulfilling customer orders promptly and efficiently, and performing cashier duties.

Pastry chefs work for smaller-scale retail businesses, such as patisseries, bakeries, cake shops and coffee shops making and selling handmade baked goods, desserts and sweets, but also for companies producing cakes and other items of confectionery on a larger scale, such as bakeries and pastry kitchens supplying prepared foods to supermarkets or providing catering services for banquets, functions, parties and receptions.

There are also employment opportunities for pastry chefs in the packed and industrial baked goods sector (e.g. mass-produced cakes, biscuits and other baked goods), where typical responsibilities include operating industrial dough mixers and ovens.

Last but not least, pastry chefs are also employed in restaurants and a wide range of other food service establishments.

The pastry chef is one of the chef de partie positions in a traditional kitchen brigade, in this case with responsibility for the pastry station. Working under the supervision and coordination of a head chef or executive chef, pastry chefs are responsible for creating dessert offerings that combine perfectly with the rest of the items on the menu, for preparing sweet and savoury dough and pastry for fresh pasta, bread, focaccia and croissants, for making cakes, pastries, biscuits, chocolates and desserts of all kinds, including ice cream and for putting the finishing touches to all items prepared by the pastry station (e.g decorating, icing and frosting).

Pastry chefs with restaurant experience are highly sought-after for work in high-end restaurants, luxury hotels, leading hospitality chains and cruise ships.

Pastry chefs typically work on an employed basis, although some - particularly those with extensive experience in the industry - may decide to open their own business.

Usually, they are required to wear a uniform, with the typical attire consisting of a jacket, apron and hat. The work is very tiring - involving long hours standing and heavy workloads - and calls for considerable dedication, not to mention physical strength and stamina. Pastry chefs working in a retail or bakery environment frequently start work very early in the morning to ensure that merchandise is ready for the day’s first customers and/or deliveries, with workloads typically peaking during weekends, public holidays and festive periods, when demand tends to increase, as well as in connection with large events and celebrations, such as weddings, parties and anniversaries.

Don’t miss out on new job vacancies!

Create a job alert for: Pastry Chef

It's free, and you can cancel email updates at any time

A pastry chef’s daily tasks include:

• Preparing baked goods, pastries, cakes, croissants etc.
• Preparing creams, custards, sauces, ice creams and sorbets etc.
• Preparing chocolates and other confectionery items
• Preparing biscuits and savoury pastries
• Decorating cakes and desserts
• Carrying out and coordinating pastry kitchen operations efficiently and without supervision
• Setting up and arranging displays of cakes and other confectionery items for sale
• Ensuring work equipment and utensils are kept clean and in good working order

A pastry chef working in a retail setting (e.g. at a patisserie, bakery, cake shop or even at the baked goods counter in a supermarket) may also have additional counter assistant duties, such as dealing with customer orders, packaging and boxing cakes and other bought items and performing cashier duties.

Pastry chefs usually need a diploma from a catering college or else to have completed a professional training course for pastry chefs at a cooking academy, culinary school or other training institute. Aspiring pastry chefs typically study a wide range of topics during classroom-based training, including the history of pastry and cake-making, the art of running a professional pastry kitchen (e.g. equipment, utensils, uniforms etc.), raw materials, production techniques for dough and pastry and preparing sweet and savoury baked goods, chocolates and ice creams.

With pastry chefs required to gain and maintain HACCP and workplace safety certificates, another key component of their training focuses on correct food handling, preparation and storage procedures.

This theoretical training needs to be complemented with extensive hands-on practice in artisanal or industrial bakeries or pastry kitchens, which will enable trainee pastry chefs to acquire the hard skills and knowledge they need to perform their role effectively.

Finally, for more experienced pastry chefs looking to keep their skills up-to-date and give their CVs a boost, there are a wide range of refresher courses focusing on new products, techniques and ingredients.

Job vacancies for pastry chefs typically ask for the following skills:

• Excellent knowledge of baking and pastry-making techniques
• Ability to produce both classical and contemporary style pastry and confectionery products
• Ability to use pastry-making and baking equipment and utensils
• Ability to fill and decorate cakes, chocolates and pastries
• Creativity and visual flair
• Organizational and communication skills
• Precision and attention to detail
• Physical strength and stamina

Aspiring pastry chefs often start out their careers with an apprenticeship under the guidance of an expert pastry chef. This provides with them an opportunity to perfect their technique, hone their manual skills and learn how a professional pastry kitchen or bakery business is run. Trainees who have successfully learnt the ropes can expect to progress to a junior role as assistant pastry chef and from there to advance to increasingly senior positions (e.g. head pastry chef or maitre patissier).

An alternative to vertical promotion is to specialize, for example as a cake designer or cake decorator. These are professional bakers who specialize in designing and executing decorations for cakes using coloured sugar paste icing. Cake decorating is a highly-specialized technique that can be used to create elaborately-detailed, visually-striking masterpieces of the confectioner’s art.

Additional professional development opportunities for pastry chefs looking for a new challenge include opening up a pastry-making business or bakery

or working for the restaurant industry and securing positions with increasingly prestigious dining establishments.

Pastry chefs interested in a change of scene may want to consider two fairly ‘niche’ specializations: the chef confiseur specializes in making confectionery and chocolates, while the chef glacier is an expert ice cream and sorbet maker.

Finally, the growing focus on healthy eating and special dietary restrictions (e.g. gluten-free) is creating increasing opportunities for producers of specialist baked goods and desserts.

A job as a pastry chef is ideal for anybody with a passion for making cakes and a talent for producing eye-catching decorations. This is a highly stimulating and creative profession that has the potential to be hugely rewarding. Although the hours can prove demanding and the workloads intense, for many pastry chefs, the opportunity to express their talent for producing desserts, cakes, puddings and sweets that are a true work of art more than makes up for the sacrifices.

There are strong job prospects for pastry chefs both at home and abroad, with demand particularly high for talented and creative individuals with a passion for ongoing learning and a desire to make it to the top of their field.

Pastry Chef jobs in:

Related Jobs: