More About Pastry Chefs

Whether you're ordering off of a pricey hotel menu or simply dashing into your local fast food joint, the efforts of pastry chefs can be seen everywhere. These cooking professionals use their knowledge of pastries, skills in the kitchen, and imagination to bring you the best in desserts new and old. If you're curious about what exactly a pastry chef does, and how much they get paid for it, read on.

What does a pastry chef do?
A pastry chef is so much more than someone who just makes cookies or bakes cakes, they also make everything from confections and chocolates to breads and tarts. Depending on where they work, pastry chefs may also be responsible for coming up with brand new desserts using their vast knowledge of sweets and pastries. Pastry chefs are also concerned with more than just making their food taste good -- they also work hard to make sure that the presentation of their food accurately conveys the taste and whets the appetite. Presentation, also called plating, is something that pastry chefs are trained in during their time at pastry chef schools.

Because of the many types of skills and services they provide, pastry chefs can be found in a multitude of professions and serving a variety of purposes -- from a chef at a four-star restaurant to someone who bakes wedding cakes to order.

How much do pastry chefs get paid and what kinds of pastry chef jobs can I get?
Although pastry chefs' salaries differ based upon the skill of the chef and the type of the establishment she or he works in, there are also some differences based upon where they work. According to PayScale (www.payscale.com), the median salary for pastry chefs in Los Angeles is $50,000 a year, while in Seattle they may earn only $30,198. New York also tips the scale with a median salary of $45,781, while Chicago comes in at $38,974. Of course, because these are median earnings there will be pastry chefs at both ends of the spectrum no matter where you order your dessert.

Wherever there's a sweet tooth and a taste for the decadent, there's a place for a pastry chef. While four-star restaurants and pastry shops are well known for their talented pastry chefs, other employment opportunities include hotels, cruise ships, catering companies, bakeries, the food service industry, and the hospitality industry -- basically anywhere that someone might have a sugar hankering. You'll even find pastry chefs working for fast food chains as they work on creating the next big dish to grace the dessert menu.

Though pastry chefs may not always work at the forefront of these fields -- for example, you won't find a pastry chef working inside of a fast food restaurant -- you'll find them in test kitchens across the United States, dabbling with new dishes and standardizing recipes for use across their company/organization. Every time you see a new dessert offered at your local restaurant, you likely have a pastry chef somewhere to thank.

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