The best dessert and pastry classes in NYC: macarons, croissants, chocolate, and cake

Learn the art of the French croissant in this introductory pastry making course that aims to help even the most inexperienced chefs become comfortable making this buttery, layered treat. In this pastry making course, you’ll learn how to create the thin, buttery layers of flaky pastry dough that make the French croissant so light and airy and so delicious (and so difficult for relatively new chefs to make). With the help of an experienced chef, you’ll learn all of the skills you need to start making a wide variety of different, perfectly baked French croissants in your home kitchen.

If you want to learn the art of cake decorating, look no further than the introductory course offered by NY Cake Academy, one of the nation’s premiere cake decorating schools. This course will introduce students to classical techniques for cake decorating, the proper ways to pip and sculpt icing and the fundamental design techniques that are most frequently utilized in the process of decorating cakes. You’ll get hands-on experience decorating your own cake as a professional instructor guides you through using basic tools, creating flowers and designs and perfecting the cake’s design from all angles. By the end of the class, you’ll be confident in your cake decorating skills and you’ll be prepared to move on to more advanced cake decorating challenges.

Macarons are another particularly intimidating dessert that many people feel is just beyond their abilities. However, with the help of a professional instructor, you too can easily learn how to make these delicious French cookies from scratch. You’ll learn how to make and handle meringue, how to create the flaky and brittle cookie base most commonly associated with the Macaron. This hands-on course will give you all of the training you need to feel comfortable making your own macarons at home and you’ll leave the class with a box of cookies to enjoy or share.

If you are interested in learning how to make light and fluffy, filled pastries, you can enroll in this eclair and cream puff making course. These pastries, which can be filled with everything from cream and jelly to chocolate or another flavoring, are sure to be a massive hit at any event and you can learn how to easily and quickly whip up a batch in your home kitchen. In this course, you’ll learn the traditional French art of preparing and filling eclairs and cream puffs under the instruction of an experienced pastry chef. Everyone will leave the class with half a dozen pastries to take home and the knowledge and experience to recreate these recipes in their kitchens. Plus, the event is BYOB, so you’ll be able to enjoy a relaxing beverage as you work with others to get your pastries prepared.

The Great British Bake Off is one of the most popular comfort shows on television and it has become incredibly popular stateside. If you have ever wanted to replicate some of the technical and creative challenges that make the show so memorable, you are in luck, because in this Bake Off inspired cooking course you’ll get to learn how to best impress a hypothetical Paul Hollywood as you make classic bakes such as Victoria Sandwich Cake, Swiss Roll, and savory scones. You’ll leave with a collection of classic bakes and a recipe card recreating a past Bake Off winner's famous Lemon Poppy Seed Drizzle cake to make in your home kitchen and enjoy with family and friends.

This course offers students another opportunity to learn about the complex world of French pastry traditions as they learn how to make their very own tarts and madeleines. These filled treats make for the perfect afternoon snack and they can be made with all sorts of jellies, fruits and other fixings, making them as versatile as any other French pastry you can learn to make. In this course, an experienced pastry chef will teach you how to make tarts filled with light custard cream and how to add the delicate taste of lemon and chocolate or fresh fruit to your tarts. You’ll also learn how to make madeleines to accompany the tarts, so this course will pull double duty when it comes to helping you become more adept around the kitchen.

If the thought of various French pastries and their many, many complexities is too much for you, consider enrolling in this cupcake making class and learn how to make elevated versions of this simple but delicious treat. You’ll learn how to make a pair of cupcakes: lemon cupcakes with zesty lemon curd and raspberry cupcakes with luscious raspberry pate de fruit. This course is an ideal place to learn how to take your cupcake game to a whole new level and impress your family and friends with elevated complex cupcakes that go beyond the usual chocolate cupcake with store bought icing.

France isn’t the only country with a pastry making tradition and in this class, you can learn some of what Italian dessert making has to offer as you learn how to make the perfect tiramisu. In this class, a professional pastry chef will guide you through all of the steps of making tiramisu from scratch, including hand making delicate savoiardi biscuits and preparing the light mascarpone cream that makes a tiramisu a tiramisu. This course is a great introduction to an otherwise uncommon type of pastry making so students looking to expand their repertoire should consider booking this course.

Another option for students looking to learn quite a few classic pastries and desserts, this course covers Crème Brûlée, Chocolate Mousse & Madeleines and will provide students with a hands-on chance to make (and sample) these delectable dessert treats. An expert chef will guide students through the process of making all three desserts and ways to alter the recipes to fit your personal tastes (or available ingredients). This course will give students the opportunity to prepare a trio of delicious desserts in a controlled test kitchen, giving them the training and experience they need to attempt these recipes again in their home kitchen. Plus, you’ll be able to take your mousse and madeleines home with you at the end.

Given their relative proximity and long history of cultural exchange, it is no surprise that there is some overlap between French and Italian culinary traditions. In this class, you can learn how to make the Italian equivalent of the macaron, which takes the French dessert and highlights the crispness of the cookie. Students will get hands-on experience making all parts of the recipe from scratch and they’ll get the guidance they need to take these skills back home to their kitchens with them. Whether you’ve already taken a course in making French macarons or you want to start your training with the Italian version, this course is a great option for any would-be amateur dessert chef.

Another pastry class designed to give participants a wide range of different baking experiences, regardless of their comfort level in the kitchen, this class offers students the opportunity to learn how to make a trio of delicious desserts. Students will learn how to make lava cakes, madeleines and homemade ice cream, all of which can be brought together in various combinations to create the perfect desserts. With the help of an experienced chef, everyone will get the training they need to make these treats on their own, even if they aren’t exactly the most experienced home chef. This course is the perfect experience for chefs of any level.

If this article hasn’t made it clear already, the French culinary tradition is full of different, delicious dessert pastries and you can enroll in a class dedicated to exploring that tradition and giving you the opportunity to make some of these pastries for yourself. This course covers Choux pastries, which, despite their reputation for being challenging to make, are rather accessible even for inexperienced pastry chefs. Students will learn how to make Eclairs and Cream Puffs but the skills that they learn in this course are readily transferable to other desserts, like Gougères, Churros, French Cruller Donuts and Choux Beignets. If you want to learn the art of French dessert making, a course like this is the perfect place to start.

If you are looking to host a team building event or you want to organize something for a large group of people to do one night in NYC, enrolling in a dessert making class is a great way to ensure that everyone has a fun, sociable evening and that everyone has the chance to enjoy delicious desserts once the event is done. You can sign your team up for everything from a french pastry class to a cake decorating course to a holiday themed cookie decorating class, all of which provide ample opportunities for your team members to socialize, learn a new skill and become closer as team members and colleagues. Plus, these classes are likely to generate a lot of interest, since they are practical, hands-on skills courses with the added bonus of getting to enjoy a delicious, homemade dessert at the end of the event.

Why learn dessert making?
Of all of the culinary skills you can learn, dessert making and pastry making are among the most accessible and versatile. You can learn how to make desserts that you can share at almost any event and having things like cake, ice cream or cream puffs on hand can make even a regular night special. Plus, the skill involved in cooking desserts, particularly baking and pastry making is far more accessible than once might be led to believe by television or film. Learning how to make delicious pastries, croissants, cakes or cookies is among the easiest baking skills you can learn, especially if you have the expert guidance of a professional chef to assist you on your culinary journey.

Plus, dessert making is a great way to contribute to any event you are attending and want to bring a dish to a party, potluck, holiday event or other get-together. Learning how to make just a few desserts can help you impress your family and friends and make sure that you are never empty-handed when showing up for an event (without needing to spend a lot of money or a lot of time).

Is it hard to learn to make desserts and pastries?
While pastries (particularly French pastries) have a reputation for being imposing and difficult to make, this isn’t necessarily the case. While it is very difficult to become a Michelin star pastry chef, this is true of literally any culinary tradition. The idea that pastries are uniquely challenging to make is mostly about rhetorically elevating these traditions (again, especially the French ones) in the minds of cultural connoisseurs and consumers. You too can learn the art of French pastry making in only a few classes, provided that you have the patience to learn slowly, the willingness to make mistakes and the help of an experienced instructor. You probably shouldn’t dive right into making croissants and eclairs from scratch without the aid of a recipe, but if you enroll in a guided pastry making class, for example, you can easily pick up the skills needed to start making these once intimidating pastries will be just another recipe you can make with regularity.

Is it expensive to learn how to make desserts and pastries?
As with most cooking classes, the cost of learning how to make desserts and pastries is fairly up-front, since what you are really paying for in terms of the class is access to the instructor and their test kitchen. This means that you will be paying a lot of the first few lessons (relative to what it would cost to just buy a box of eclairs or a fresh piece of tiramisu) but you’ll also be learning skills that can save you money in the long-run (assuming you are the kind of person who is going to be regularly making these pastries). These classes can also be useful for anyone looking to turn their baking hobby into a side hustle, since the courses aim to provide students with the training they need to work in a real kitchen environment.

How long will it take me to learn to make desserts and pastries?
By and large, the answer to this question depends on two factors. The first is fairly straight-forward: how many different styles of pastries and desserts do you want to learn how to make? While learning how to make eclairs will make it easier to learn how to make cream puffs, they are still distinct enough that you’ll need to spend time learning the differences between each different kind of pastry. This means that you can very quickly learn how to make a single pastry to bring to your next group function by just enrolling in one class over the weekend, but if you want to be able to pull up a large library of pastry recipes, you’ll need to spend more time learning and practicing a host of different recipes.

The second question is a bit more complex: how much time and energy do you want to spend mastering the art of pastry-making. If you are only interested in learning how to make a few desserts well enough to show off for family and friends, it won’t take you that long provided you are dedicated and take a class or two. If you are looking to develop your own signature pastry styles, learn how to make perfect eclairs or croissants every time or even start selling your pastries from home, you’ll need to spend a lot more time and energy in order to reach the level of talent that these skills require.

Do I need to enroll in a class to learn how to make pastries and desserts?
You may be asking yourself whether or not it is worth spending the time and money to enroll in a dedicated baking class, given that people have learned how to cook from home without the help of professional instructors for centuries. No matter what you may assume about learning to cook these desserts and pastries, there are still plenty of fun and accessible classes that can help you learn how to make delicious French pastries at home. If you have the time and patience to trial and error your way to learning the art of baking and pastry making, you can learn without having to enroll in a class, but this can be a solitary endeavor and might end up costing more time and money than a cooking class. Enrolling in a class will not only speed up the process and cut down on the number of mistakes that you make, but it will ensure that you are set up to succeed from the beginning (because at home, it is very possible that you will make a mistake at the start of the process and essentially doom your pastry experiment from the start). This guidance and support can help you learn quickly and comfortably, particularly if you are aiming to learn a specific pastry making skill in anticipation of bringing your own personal tiramisu to a family or work function.