A pastry chef's responsibilities might include the following:
- Creating menus
- Creating their own recipes for breads and desserts
- Updating older recipes
- Decorating cakes, cookies and cupcakes
- Training newer cooks and bakers
- Supervising staff
- Taking and fulfilling orders from customers
- Managing a kitchen by taking inventory and ensuring that everyone in the kitchen abides by health and safety procedures
Pastry chefs must have the following skills:
- Technical knowledge: Bakers must operate ovens and other machinery. They must use mathematical knowledge to measure ingredients and their knowledge of chemistry allows them to ensure that their confections are baked under the proper conditions.
- Creativity: Pastry chefs need to use their creativity as they create new recipes or update older ones. Also, bakers at craft stores or proprietary bakeries thrive by coming up with unique decorations for cupcakes and wedding cakes.
- Managerial skills: Pastry chefs must have managerial skills, especially if they operate their own bakeries and/or supervise a large staff.
- Time management : Pastry chefs will take orders from customers but depending on the type of dessert/food the customer wants, pastry chefs might need more time to fulfill those specialized orders. Pastry-makers should prepare enough pastries to meet demand on any given day and develop policies for taking and fulfilling specialized orders. Ultimately, they must budget their time wisely.
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