It’s all about the finer points of baking and the students at Wisk baking studio in Mumbai are hanging on to celebrated pastry chef Janice Wong’s every word. Wong is working her magic on a complex guava-mango dessert at the swanky, new baking studio that has rows of ovens along the walls and a long table where would-be pastry experts are learning new skills. Says the studio’s youthful founder, Vrinda Jatia: “Baking a near-perfect dessert is all about structure, methodology and precision.”

Cut to Bangalore, where Shwetha Kurada can be found behind the counter at Desserted, a patisserie where she sells her signature tea-cakes and gateaux, and also holds workshops in basic and advanced baking. Kurada teaches novices at the baking game how to make easier items like cupcakes and cookies, and moreadvanced students tougher-to-make goodies like fondant cakes. A basic class with her costs about Rs 800 and she charges around Rs 2,000 for advanced sessions. “The demand for baking classes has shot up. Bakers are now seriously looking at honing skills that will help them start their own business in the long run,” says Kurada who earned her baking spurs by doing an 11-month course in pastry and chocolate at the Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.

Jatia and Kurada are part of a growing tribe of stay-in-the-kitchen entrepreneurs who’ve discovered that professional training courses for baking are very much in demand. These highly trained chefs like Kurada hold lessons for everyone from seasoned pastry chefs and home bakers to plain baking enthusiasts out to feed only family and friends. Says Wong who switched careers to become an acclaimed pastry chef: “Baking is a science and one needs to learn about techniques in baking from sugar-artistry to pairing and plating.”

But let’s get one thing clear. Gone are the days when learning to bake was an all-woman affair done mostly in the slack, mid-afternoon hours. Today, bakery courses are semi-professional affairs run by bakery entrepreneurs who might have foreign degrees or experience in hotels and who’ve set up posh kitchens and baking studios. The courses are job-oriented and aimed at people who want some sort of career that involves being near an oven.

So what has led to a sudden spurt in such baking courses? Says Jatia: “People are exposed to various food shows on TV and the Internet. So today, people are not just satisfied with baking a classic cake. There is an urge to do much more.” Jatia believes the bakery business will grow rapidly and has also set up an e-commerce platform called Cakesmiths that sells high quality baking equipment and ingredients. Besides, she often invites leading pastry chefs from India and abroad to hold workshops at her studio.

It’s a similar story for Bangalore-based chef Vinesh Johnny, who has set up his almost two-year-old Lavonne Academy of Baking Science and Pastry Arts. Johnny worked with Starwood, the international hotel chain, in India and his courses are aimed at everyone from home bakers to chefs and technicians who want to upgrade their baking skills. Says Johnny: “Bakery skills are in huge demand in India now and there are plenty of job opportunities right now from five-star kitchens to gourmet bakeries. We provide the scientific and professional approach needed for a professional career.” The five-month intensive course at Lavonne costs Rs 2.25 lakh. The practical classes are backed by a mix of tests and projects through this period. Lavonne also offers certificates from City & Guilds, London, a vocational education body that awards certificates in basic and advanced technical courses.

Several bakery entrepreneurs focus on specific areas in baking. So, Mumbai-based sugar-artist cum chocolatier Rakesh Saini’s 32 Degree Studio set up in 2012 offers five different types of classes. Says Saini: “We do not run hobby classes but our focus is mainly on specialised courses to better people’s techniques.” The studio’s two-day foundation course focuses specifically on how to bake a basic sponge cake and one ‘theme-based’ cake.

But, in addition, students can chose from seven types of advanced skill-based modules from sugar-craft to modelling chocolate. Saini sometimes travels to conduct workshops in Delhi, Calcutta and Bangalore. He emphasises: “I take it up as a responsibility to teach the techniques of making specialised cakes.”

The fact is that many people are chucking up their careers to take their places by the oven. Look at Mumbai-based ad- 00vertising professional Anurita Ghoshal, who traded her career in advertising to set up her baking service-cum-training studio, Eighth (she says it’s named after what she calls the eighth deadly sin). Ghoshal honed her home baking skills at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, where she did a short course in pastry making before setting up her kitchen and studio in Bandra. She says: “I have to be at the cutting edge in this Internet-driven age. Through the workshops which I conduct, I am happy to give away baking related tips and tricks.”

On the other hand, Subhashini Ramsingh at Fondbites was an IT professional who took to home baking after her child was born. “My specialisation is on-cake decoration and everything that goes on top of the fondant. I teach techniques like ruffles and 3D animals and figures. The idea is that students learn it in class and go back and confidently start their own set-up,” says Ramsingh, who operates out of her home and awards certificates to her students when they complete their course.

So who are the people who turn up to take these classes? Says Saini of 32 Degree Studio: “It’s for those who
cannot afford to fly to UK and France to learn the techniques from the masters themselves.” However, what sets these classes apart is that these are not just hobby classes but professional courses.

Each of these studios and bakery entrepreneurs is aware that the market is getting more competitive all the time. And, in a bid to stay ahead of the pack, they are offering carefully targeted seasonal calendars of innovative classes. So Ghoshal has held breakfast baking classes and basic baking classes for kids in the recent past. (She charged
Rs 2,000 for two-day classes).

On a similar note, Fondbites in Chennai held a class on using buttercream (a type of icing) and taught modern techniques like stain-glass painting and palette knife painting.

Jatia’s baking studio Wisk offers five types of courses spanning everything from pastry and chocolate making
to making non-crystalline confections and breads.

The fees at these bakery schools are not low. Classes at Wisk can range from one-day at Rs 2,000 to Rs 12,000 for a three-day class. Wisk’s calendar for the coming days includes things like a royal icing and rolled fondant classes over four days, and bread baking over two classes. At Eighth, there are 12-15 classes a year which are priced at
Rs 3,000 per student.

Everybody has their own specialisations. So while the classes at 32 Degree Studio focus on sugar-craft and moul-ding chocolates, the forte of Fondbites in Chennai is structural cakes (two- or three-tier cakes) and 3D cakes depicting animal figures. Kurada, on the other hand, is known for her chocolate and tea-time cake classes. Chef Johnny specialises in chocolate and advanced cake decoration classes.

Another way to stay ahead in the baking game is to get celebrity chefs to hold demo classes. Jatia invited Asian celebrity chef Janice Wong to hold a seven-hour class priced at a whopping Rs 57,000. And Kurada has plans to bring down Le Cordon Bleu pastry chef Nicolas Aime Houchet to hold a demo class in October. Lavonne in Bangalore too is holding a master-class on Oriental buttercream flowers with pastry chef Calvin Mark from Malaysia.

Almost all these chefs-turned-entrepreneurs are eager to expand. While chef Johnny of Lavonne is looking at setting up academy outside Bangalore, Kurada is starting her baking studio in Bangalore next month. Meanwhile, Saini is looking at introducing new additions to his advanced sugar-craft classes and starting online tutorials. Ramsingh is looking at opening a bakery school in Chennai next year which will offer both basic and advanced courses.

Many of them help with placements after the completion of the course too. Saini who mentors many students says: “With the increasing number of international bakeries opening in India, there is an increasing demand for quality bakers and patisseries.” And Lavonne helps place its students at five-star kitchens and standalone bakeries in India.

Evidently, we have come a long way from spending weekend classes in baking in someone’s kitchen to working in professional studios — indeed the sweet revolution is here to stay.