What Does It Take To Become a Great Cake Decorator

So You Want to Become a Professional Cake Decorator

If you go to baking school or attend a pastry arts program, you’ll most likely encounter one or two students who hope to enter the field of cake decorating. Cake decorating is a design-oriented field that combines basic culinary skills with a flair for creating art—with frosting as both your canvas and your tools.

By definition, a cake decorator is a culinary professional who is trained to create designs on pastries, cakes, and other baked goods. In addition to the frosting that tops the dessert, many cake decorators also work with fillings and baking the cakes themselves. This is especially true if you are considering the career opportunities for bridal and party desserts.

Baking and Pastry Arts Programs

Although it isn’t required to enter the field, most successful cake decorators have a culinary degree or some culinary education training. In a good program, you will not only learn the basics of baking and cooking desserts, but you will gain skills in:

Blending colors

Creating shapes out of dessert items

Using sugar for molding

Working with chocolate

Designing cake centerpieces

Building towers out of cake

Project planning/Sketching

Degrees vary in length depending on the type of culinary program you choose, but you can expect a training time between 6 months and 2 years, and anything from a certification of completion to an Associate Degree in baking and the pastry arts once you’ve finished.

Where Do Cake Decorators Work?

Cake decorators typically work for (or own) bakeries. By spreading your skill set out to cover both cake decoration and baking other types of pastries and desserts, it is easier to build a long-standing career. These professionals may work in:

Grocery stores

Bakeries

Wedding specialty shops

Catering companies

Hotels

Restaurants

Because so many bakers work in grocery stores and commercial food production companies, the average annual salary is fairly low at $24,000. However, if you have a true artistic talent and some business acumen, you may be able to work in specialty cakes and wedding cake creation.

And as the popular television show Ace of Cakes shows us, if you are able to reach the top of your field and create a niche for yourself, there are professional opportunities beyond that.