Cake Like A Boss

I don’t regret going to cooking school. I loved the atmosphere and enjoyed learning how to bake all kinds of things. I met some really cool people who I’m still friends with to this day, and it helped me get my foot in the door for an internship with Ron Ben-Israel.

Would I do it again though? No. Do I recommend that people who want to become cake decorators go to cooking school? Hell no. 

Why?

You won’t learn how to be a cake decorator in a traditional pastry program.

The pastry curriculum in any accredited cooking school is mandated by the state in which it is located. Their goal is to ensure graduates with a particular degree have a certain basic set of skills when they graduate. 

As someone who knew from the start that I was meant to make cakes, I found the time dedicated to cake decorating to be woefully inadequate for what I wanted to do. From my point of view, the focus is clearly on preparing people to work in restaurants and hotels where most of the jobs are.

Cooking School can saddle you with a huge amount of debt

Not every school costs as much as the one I went to, and some people are lucky enough not to have to take out loans, but after graduation, I owed about $35K for my program.  

It might not seem like much compared to the kind of debt you get from attending college, but your pay coming out of cooking school is minimum wage. It is very hard to make your loan payments and cover everyday expenses like rent, utilities and food, unless you live with your parents or a significant other is supporting you. It can be a quite a struggle to survive in those first years.

At the time I wanted to switch careers, I thought that attending cooking school was the only way for me to become a chef and cake decorator.  I’ve since learned just how wrong I was. 

Here are five ways to become a cake decorator without getting a cooking school:

1. Get a job at a bakery – Baking and cake decorating can be learned on the job. This is how it was always done in the past, and I’m a big fan of going this route because you have the opportunity to watch experts do their thing day in and day out, and you get lots of practice, without paying for the privilege. You are the paid one! 

Whether it’s a side hustle, or a full-time gig, your real job here is to absorb as much as you possibly can, and to practice, practice, practice!

2. Volunteer/intern with a cake designer – It can be tough to get in with a cake designer without a culinary degree, since we get approached constantly by people wanting to do this work and can pick and choose who to accept, however it’s not impossible. 

You aren’t likely to get in with one of the stars of the cake world due to competition from culinary students, however there are plenty of successful cake decorators that would be willing to take a chance on someone without a degree if you bring something to the table beyond the offer of free labor and a willingness to do whatever is needed, since that is a given. 

Emphasize the skills you already have, be available when they need workers (Tuesday-Saturday), and be persistent without being a pest. Just because you get turned down once, doesn’t mean you can’t go back to them later and try again. You should. I know it’s something that impressed me.

3. Take classes with experts – Do you want to learn carved cakes? Take classes with Mike McCrary. Do you want to pipe like a master? Learn from Toba Garrett. If you want to be in the presence of a star, Ron Ben-Israel teaches all over the country. 

I was working for Gail Watson as a flower-maker when I signed up for my first class with Nicholas Lodge so that I could improve my sugar flower-making skills. I was quite poor then and a trip to Atlanta for a 3 day class was tough to swing, but it was an investment in myself that was worth every penny. 

If you don’t have the money or time to take an in-person class, several famous cake designers, and many more lesser-known experts offer online tutorials on Craftsy. This amazing website provides users with the opportunity to get training from an expert craftsperson for a very reasonable price.  Check it out!

4. Sign up for short courses or certificate programs – While I don’t recommend getting a pastry degree from a culinary school, many schools offer specialized short courses that are totally worth the time, effort and expense. 

Institute of Culinary Education in New York City has a pretty robust recreational program with an amazing cake decorating course taught by Toba Garrett!

One added benefit to completing a recreational program at a culinary school is that it could put you in the running for internships with the top decorators, if that’s something important to you.

5. Learn on your own – Who says you need to get a formal education to be a cake decorator? You don’t! What’s important in this field is skill, not your background or how you get there. In fact, many of the top cake decorators are self taught.

With books and the internet – especially YouTube – you can always find information on how to do things. Is there something you want to learn? You can find it. 

Many people have said to me over the years that they’d love to do what I do, but aren’t able to go to cooking school and I’m telling you what I told them –  You don’t need to go to cooking school to make cakes. You just have to find the way to learn that works best for you.