Hello all!

I am a long time lurker and tonight I finally took the plunge and signed up at CC! I am an avid baker and have basic decoration skills.  I have been considering the Cake Decoration program offered at International Culinary Centre at New York.  It is a 3 month course.  Has any one here taken this course or has any ideas of how the program is?  Here is an outline of the course offering:

Unit 1: Introduction to Cake Baking, Filling, and Finishing (85 hrs)
Unit 2: Advanced Cake Decorating Techniques, Flavor Pairings, & Texture Combinations  (65 hrs)
Unit 3: Sugar Paste Flowers and Advanced Floral Decorations (30 hrs)
Unit 4: Advanced Cake Designing, Starting a Cake Design Business (95 hrs)

I plan on taking a tour next month but was wondering if I could get some genuine feedback on the program if someone has been to this school or has heard about it from their friends/fellow bakers.

I would love to start my cake decorating business (with all the legal permits).  I want to do it as my full time profession and am hoping this course would give me a push in the right direction. 

Appreciate your feedback.

How much is tuition? Can you easily afford it?

AIt is 21,000$ for the program. I have money saved up and I should be able to afford it wo any financial aid as well. I would like to convert my basement into a cake studio (permitted in my town) once I have the skills and some experience and would like to focus on wedding cakes. MimiFix, have you heard about this program?

AI decided against it. The money is insane! I figured out how many cakes Imwould have to,sell to pay for the course,l and it would takes years and years. For me, not worth it, Nancy

Nancy-Thanks for responding.  Yeah I agree it is a CRAZY amount of money but I think that proper education and training will set us apart and then hopefully our cakes will not feature on the cake wreck website ;)  Well I was hoping to get a job in a hotel (we have several high end hotels in my neighbourhood) as an entry level pastry chef after graduating from ICC to recover the money.  Hopefully I would get the money back in a year or 2.

Its interesting how you mentioned the number of cakes you would have to sell to pay for the course.  So how much does an average wedding cake cost? around 800$ (okay-I am just guesstimating-I do not know how to price cakes). It would take 21,000$/800$=26 cakes.  i understand this price includes material,overheads etc so, maybe around 50 wedding cakes to recover your tuition.  So maybe around 1-1.5 years to get your money back.  That is not too bad.  I do not know I am just thinking aloud....I need to give it a serious thought and then decide.  

I was really hoping that someone here had been there so I could get a better idea.  

$21000 is insane!  Units one and two sounds pretty basic … do you know how to bake?  Units 3 and 4 - I would rather take a few fancy cake decorating classes, like when Ron Ben Israel teaches somewhere for example.  I went to pastry school and it was no more than $4000 for the year.

I need to keep in mind that I am 52 and have a full time job. If you love this, and want it to be your full time job, then go for it. I would consider, however, if you want to take the full pastry course. I think it would give you a lot more flexibility in working, even though it is a lot more expensive.

And honestly - what better place to go to cake or pastry school than NYC!!

Good luck!

Nancy

Sorry, you are not being realistic. It will take you years to recover that money, especially since there's a lot of competition these days. If you want your own business, finding enough work will be hard. This is not the profession it used to be. You'd be further ahead getting a job as a cake decorator. 

Hey, 

Did you ever take the course?

Hello 

• marbiedavies

No i did not take the course yet as I had some prior commitment...but I hope to signup for the February batch or maybe the one after that.

Are you thinking about signing up too?