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Baking and Pastry Certificate
Get hands-on experience in a professional kitchen, learn the techniques behind great baking, and earn a Baking and Pastry certificate from Kennesaw State University Community and Professional Education.
About the Baking and Pastry Certificate
Whether you’re looking to launch a career in the culinary industry or take your passion for baking to a professional level, this hands-on certificate gives you the foundational skills and real-world experience to get there. Taught in KSU’s professional catering kitchen by an experienced pastry chef, this program blends classical techniques with modern applications and a ServSafe® Manager Certification.
Students gain practical training in:
- Artisan bread baking: sourdough, enriched doughs, and the fermentation science behind them
- Cake design and decoration using custards, icings, and advanced finishing techniques
- Basic chocolate tempering and confectionery skills used in restaurants, hotels, and specialty shops
- Foundational pastry work spanning pies, tarts, and classic laminated doughs
- Food safety and sanitation standards required for professional food service licensure
Course Offerings
In-Person
Baking and Pastry Certificate In-Person
Includes Chef coat, both course textbooks, and ServSafe® exam voucher.
What You’ll Learn in the Baking and Pastry Certificate
This program moves through the craft progressively, building your skills from the ground up and preparing you for a professional kitchen environment. Upon successful completion, you will be able to:
- Apply ServSafe safety and sanitation guidelines to prevent cross-contamination and food-borne illnesses.
- Utilize formulas and measurement systems to measure ingredients accurately.
- Recall baking techniques, methods, and ingredients used to produce breads, muffins, and cookies.
- Identify the qualities of well-crafted breads made with preferments and natural starters.
- Form and bake a variety of pies and tarts.
- Assemble and decorate cakes using a variety of techniques.
- Identify and use alternative ingredients to meet special dietary requirements and address food allergies and intolerances.
- Describe and use various methods for tempering chocolate.
- Design and plate desserts professionally by applying the basic principles of plate presentation, composition, and design.
Who Is This Program For?
This program is designed for three types of learners, each starting from a different place but moving toward the same goal: a real, marketable skill set in professional baking.
You’re considering a baking career change. Maybe you’ve spent years in a different industry and are ready for work that engages your hands and your creativity. A baking career change doesn’t require starting from zero. This certificate builds your skills from the ground up, covering baker’s math, food safety and sanitation, and hands-on preparation of everything from quick breads to laminated doughs, so you can move into a professional kitchen with real, demonstrable skills.
You’re a passionate home baker ready to go pro. You’ve spent years perfecting recipes in your own kitchen, and now you’re wondering if that passion could become a career. This program bridges the gap between home baking and professional standards, teaching you the techniques, consistency, and food safety practices that commercial kitchens expect, including your ServSafe Food Protection Manager Certification.
You’re a food service professional seeking credentials. You may already work in a kitchen, catering company, or restaurant and want formal training to expand your role or qualify for new opportunities. This certificate adds structured baking and pastry knowledge to the experience you already have.
Is a baking certificate worth it?
For all three of these types of learners, the answer comes down to what a certificate provides that experience alone cannot: a structured foundation in baker’s math and food safety, hands-on practice with professional techniques, and a recognized credential, including a ServSafe certification, that signals real, verified skill to employers. Rather than piecing together knowledge through trial and error, you leave with a clear, demonstrated standard of training.
If you’re looking for an adult culinary arts certificate in Metro Atlanta that combines hands-on training with the industry-recognized ServSafe certification, this program is designed to meet you where you are and prepare you for what’s next.
Why KSU — What Makes This Program Different
Train under a chef with a real Atlanta kitchen pedigree. Your instructor, Michelle Pellegri, has been baking and teaching professionally since 2004, with experience at some of Atlanta’s most respected kitchens, including Bacchanalia, Star Provisions, Rainwater, and Varasano’s Pizzeria. You’re learning from someone who has worked at the level this industry demands, not just someone who teaches about it.
Earn a university-backed credential, not just a class certificate. This program is offered through KSU Community and Professional Education, giving you a university certificate backed by Kennesaw State University’s name and reputation. You’ll also earn a digital badge that you can display directly on LinkedIn, giving employers an instant, verifiable way to confirm your training.
Build your skills on an evening schedule made for working adults. Classes meet twice a week in the evening at the KSU Center, so you can keep your current job and income while training for your next one. The full program runs over several months, giving you steady, structured progress without requiring you to put your life on hold.
Learn in a small, hands-on professional kitchen, not a lecture hall. This program is built around a small class size, so you get real attention and real practice time at the bench and the oven, not just a seat in a crowded room. That kind of direct, hands-on instruction is part of what makes a university-backed culinary credential different from a larger, more generalized program.
What’s included in your tuition
A ServSafe Food Protection Manager Certification test voucher, both required textbooks, and a white KSU-embroidered chef coat are included in the tuition fee.
Who Teaches the Baking and Pastry Certificate at KSU?
Michelle Pellegri
Baking and Pastry Instructor
Michelle Di Maio Pellegri has been baking, cheffing, and teaching professionally since 2004. After leaving the corporate world, she turned her passion for baking and creativity into a full-time career, graduating from the culinary program at Chattahoochee Technical College in Marietta, GA, before completing a transformative culinary internship at École de Cuisine La Varenne in Burgundy, France.
A native Atlantan and first-generation Italian American, Michelle grew up surrounded by fresh-baked bread, homemade pasta, and a backyard vegetable garden — experiences that shaped a deep appreciation for cooking and eating really great food. Her professional pastry career includes time at some of Atlanta’s most respected kitchens: Bacchanalia, Star Provisions, Rainwater, and Varasano’s Pizzeria. She teaches cooking classes throughout Atlanta, and if she could bake just one thing for the rest of her life, it would be croissants.
What Do I Need to Bring to Class?
Working knowledge of computers, access to a laptop or desktop computer, access to a printer, and the Internet are required. Please note that there will be strict rules regarding personal hygiene, jewelry, and attire for student and food safety. You will need to bring the following to every class session taking place in the kitchen:
- Comfortable non-skid shoes (Shoes for Crews, Dansko, Dr. Scholl’s, Genuine Grip)
- Comfortable, non-baggy pants (jeans, khakis, or tech pants)
- A pocket thermometer (digital or analog)
- A hair tie and covering (chef’s toque, ball cap, chef bandana, or chef beanie)
- A beard net (if applicable)
- A small kitchen notebook
- A sharpie and a pen
- A cake carrier and some airtight containers to take food home from class
- Your KSU-provided chef coat
- Binder with plastic sheet protectors
You will be creating and feeding a starter to make sourdough bread at home for homework. A straight-sided 32 oz plastic or glass container with a lid, a stainless-steel mixing bowl, a rubber spatula, plastic wrap, a sheet pan, a spray bottle, and access to an oven will be needed for homework use. Access to a mixer with a dough hook is optional. The instructor will provide a list of any needed food ingredients for this homework assignment.
How Can I Pay for the Baking and Pastry Certificate?
Tuition for the Baking and Pastry Certificate is $9,995 and includes a ServSafe Food Protection Manager Certification test voucher, both required textbooks, and a white KSU-embroidered chef coat. Several pathways may be available to help you fund your training.
- Payment plan options available at enrollment, subject to approval.
Contact our team to discuss your specific situation and explore all available options.
Email Financial AssistanceFrequently Asked Questions About the Baking and Pastry Certificate
The Baking and Pastry Certificate at KSU’s CPE will take students 29 weeks to complete, with 58 class sessions.
This program is designed to accommodate the schedules of working professionals and career changers, and is held in the evenings from 6 pm to 10 pm.
A ServSafe Manager Certification is the industry standard for professionals to learn food safety regulations and guidelines. Personalized instruction and this exam is built into our rigorous curriculum.
Students will receive an embroidered chef’s coat, the course textbook, the ServSafe book and exam voucher, access to our learning platform, and access to all equipment and ingredients in our professional catering kitchen at KSU Center as a part of the tuition.
Upon successful completion, you will be able to:
- Apply ServSafe safety and sanitation guidelines to prevent cross-contamination and food-borne illnesses.
- Utilize formulas and measurement systems to measure ingredients accurately.
- Recall baking techniques, methods, and ingredients used to produce breads, muffins, and cookies.
- Identify the qualities of well-crafted breads made with preferments and natural starters.
- Form and bake a variety of pies and tarts.
- Assemble and decorate cakes using a variety of techniques.
- Identify and use alternative ingredients to meet special dietary requirements and address food allergies and intolerances.
- Describe and use various methods for tempering chocolate.
- Design and plate desserts professionally by applying the basic principles of plate presentation, composition, and design.
The answer comes down to what a certificate provides that experience alone cannot: a structured foundation in baker’s math and food safety, hands-on practice with professional techniques, and a recognized credential, including a ServSafe certification, that signals real, verified skill to employers. Rather than piecing together knowledge through trial and error, you leave with a clear, demonstrated standard of training.
Georgia does not require a state license to work as a pastry chef, but employers expect two things: demonstrable hands-on skill and a food safety credential. Most professional kitchens require a ServSafe Food Protection Manager Certification for anyone in a supervisory food-handling role. This certificate covers both — foundational technique across breads, pastry, cakes, and chocolate, plus the ServSafe Manager Certification exam built into the curriculum.
A culinary degree is a multi-year academic program covering the full breadth of savory and pastry cooking, along with general education coursework. This certificate is focused entirely on baking and pastry and is completed in 29 weeks of evening classes, so you can keep working while you train. You finish with a university-backed certificate from KSU Community and Professional Education, a KSU digital badge, and your ServSafe Manager Certification.
Use the button at the top of this page to reach our team directly, or see the Tuition and Funding section for payment questions.
Ready to Start Your Baking Career?
Seats in this baking and pastry certificate program are limited, since classes are kept small to give every student real hands-on time in the kitchen. Classes meet twice a week in the evening at the KSU Center, giving you a steady path to a university-backed credential without putting your current job on hold.
What Other Courses Pair With the Baking and Pastry Certificate?
Culinary Apprenticeship Certificate
Learn More →
