Our Teen Experiences are 5-consecutive day sessions and designed to introduce high school kids to the professional side of cooking. In addition to learning many techniques and recipes, students are taught how chefs work in professional kitchens through rigorous hands-on learning. These immersion courses are perfect for any passionate teen cooks who may be considering a future career in food.
What You'll Learn
By the end of the class, you will:
- Know how to prep for any baking project, including a thorough understanding of ingredients and how they work
- Understand the principals of choux pastry and how to pipe it for a variety of eclairs and cream puffs
- Master a flaky, butter master dough for pies, tarts, and cookies
- Understand how to construct a multi-layer celebration cake and decorate it like a pro
- Build a foundation of pro-style kitchen skills for future culinary careers
About This Class
Do you want to go to pastry school one day? Dream of owning your own bakery or working as a pastry chef? This intense week of professional-style training in pastry arts will lay the foundation for that future.
Our Teen Pastry Arts Experience is designed for high-school students who are ready to who are ready to roll up their sleeves and learn how to bake with confidence. Each day will focus on core fundamentals through hands-on learning and many tips used by professional chefs. Rather than simply memorizing recipes, we will help you understand more about how things work in the kitchen and, in many cases, the science behind what you’re doing. Through a variety of methods and techniques, you will become more comfortable with many homemade pastries. Eclairs, Pies, Cookies, and intricately decorated Cakes will all be part of the program.
Where better to cement a life-long love of pastry than in the professional kitchen of San Francisco Cooking School?
This class is restricted to high school students only and this policy will be enforced. We recognize there are many talented pre-teen aspiring cooks out there, but this class is not for them (check out our Kids Pastry Camp instead). Students must be either enrolled in high school, or be a recently-graduated senior to be eligible for this course.
Menu
Day 1: Choux, Tart Doughs
Day 2: Cookies
Day 3: Cake Batters and Frosting
Day 4: Cake Assembly and Decorating
Day 5: Choux, Tart, and Cake Assembly for your Bakeshop
Details
- Full meal served in class
- Work in teams
- Five-session series
FAQ
The average duration of our cooking classes is 4 hours, and they are broken down into three segments: Introductory lecture or demo, hands-on cooking, and eating.
The class will begin with a short discussion or demo from your instructor. After, you can expect to work either on a team or individually to prepare the class menu. As a group, your class will prepare the selected menu in its entirety. In most classes, not every student will make every dish.
Learning happens throughout the class, and your instructor will often call out key techniques as they happen in each recipe.
Most classes conclude by sitting down as a group to eat what you’ve prepared, followed by a discussion of each recipe. You will leave with a copy of the recipe packet and a working knowledge of every dish that was made so you can recreate them at home.
Doors open 15 minutes before the class start time.
You do not need to bring anything with you to class, unless otherwise noted in the class description. The kitchens at SFCS are fully equipped and aprons, recipes, equipment, food and wine are all provided for you.
In most classes, you will be sitting down to eat a complete meal that you have prepared along with your classmates. Since this typically occurs towards the end of the class period, an appetizer or small plate is usually prepared early on in class. However, you’re welcome to additionally have a snack before you arrive or bring one with you.
Please note, for our Baking & Pastry classes, a light meal will be provided for you.
We suggest wearing casual clothing you can easily move around in, and highly recommend wearing comfortable closed-toe shoes. Long hair should be pulled back.
Cancellation Policy
Christine Simard
Christine came to San Francisco with the dream of pursing a career in pastry after her previous life in tech. Since graduating from the Professional Pastry program at SF Cooking School, she has worked at Nopa and Black Jet Baking Co., does professional recipe development and bakery consulting, and loves teaching cooking to kids and teens.
Jill McIntosh
A graduate of the Pastry & Baking Program at SF Cooking School, Jill works on the lamination team at MH Bread & Butter and was formerly at Jane the Bakery. She has also spent time working in pastry at Cotogna and Quince.