Professional pastry
15 week full-time professional program.
focusing on precision, science, artistry, classic preparations, and modern interpretations.
Class is Monday to Friday 830am-4pm
Blending Tradition with Imagination
The art and science of pastry require patience, accuracy, and diligence. Though it often asks you to stay inside the boundaries of a tried and true recipe, it also invites personal design, artistry, and creative nuance.
We focus on foundational techniques and in-depth knowledge of the classics. But we also open up to modern interpretations, including plant-based alternatives. More importantly, we create opportunities to put your personal spin where it warrants flavour and architectural possibilities, to explore with unbridled imagination.
engaging lessons & hands-on learning
Before students arrive, our instructors plan the day’s lessons and objectives. The doors swing open at 7:45 am, and by 8:30 am sharp, we're scaling the day’s recipes together as a group.
We kick things off by discussing the day's timeline, highlighting the skills involved in the recipes and dishes we'll create. Then, our instructors showcase specific techniques while breaking down the theory behind them, giving everyone the chance to ask questions and see the results in real time.
After the demo, students dive into the recipes, depending on the recipe student will working independently or with a partner. This cycle repeats 3-4 times throughout the day, blending theory, demonstration, and hands-on practice to maximize learning through direct experience.
More importantly, this structure acclimates students to the pace, intensity, and expectations of a professional kitchen, fostering clear communication, accountability, and essential time-management skills.
*Note*
If you’re in Vancouver, we highly encourage you to schedule a visit to our pastry kitchen. It would be an excellent opportunity to observe a class in session, get a sense of our kitchen space, and see what we’re all about.
WHAT IS COVERED, HOW, AND WHY
The art of baking requires forethought, methodical planning, and attention to detail. Our professional pastry curriculum is designed to build the foundational skills to support creativity. It exposes strengths and, more importantly, the abilities and attributes that need further focus and development. This builds the hand-skills and confidence needed to tackle more complex techniques like tempering chocolate, sugar work, and cake decorating.
We take a module-based approach to cover each topic in-depth, for example - artisanal bread, entremet cakes, laminated doughs. This provides repeated opportunities for our students to gain a strong understanding of each concept through practice and development.
Menu development and practical projects are incorporated throughout the program enabling our students to blend creativity and skill in an environment that encourages structured experimentation. This is vital to each person’s learning process, as it directly applies the knowledge being built through hands-on experience.
If you’ve ever dreamed of exploring the world of pastry and expressing your imagination through baking, our program is for you!
laminated dough
Exploring Layers
Our instructors will guide you through each step, from mixing and folding to shaping and baking, helping you develop the skills to create tasty pastries.
Croissants: Achieve the perfect balance of crispiness and tenderness.
Mille Feuille: Layer puff pastry with pastry cream for a multi-textured dessert.
Danishes: Craft beautiful, fruit-filled pastries.
Kouign-Amann: the sweet and salty caramelized treat.
Palmiers: Roll and bake these crunchy, heart-shaped cookies.
And more
breads
the art of bread making
Learn essential bread-making techniques, covering fermentation, yeast, gluten basics, Theory of Desired Dough temperature, lavain starter, dough shaping and more.
Week one includes making brioche, sourdough, and rye beer rolls plus more, while week two focuses on advanced shaping with recipes like bagels, fougasse, and sticky buns. In Week 2, you will apply all your bread knowledge to create your own project
chocolates
Learn about the world of cocoa beans, understanding their origins and the bean-to-bar process through tasting a variety of types of chocolate. We will also teach you how to properly temper chocolate, make ganache and truffles, and how to mold and decorate to create elegant, handcrafted presentation pieces.
gum paste & fondant
Crafting Edible Art
Learn to transform cakes into stunning works of art using fondant and gum paste. Our instructors will teach you the techniques to cover cakes smoothly with fondant and create intricate decorations with gum paste.
10 reasons
1. CHEF-OWNED
This means teachers with more skin in the game, who are committed to their students and their workplace beyond a teacher’s contract. It also means learning your instructors’ commitment to leadership and smart operational-business practices. Learning from chef-instructors is one thing: learning from chef-owners is another.
4. STUDENT-DRIVEN
We screen, first and foremost, for smart learners. And by communicating with them as adults, we evolve our school collaboratively. It is what the best teachers, chefs, and owners do: they listen.
6. KITCHEN DESIGN
Our island-configured kitchens allow for greater collaboration and more seamless choreography between theory and practice. And though you share a 6-burner range and double sink with two other partners, you perform the majority of your daily practical tasks individually. This is unheard of for culinary schools. It means more accountability, better assessment from your instructors, and a faster path to competence and, most importantly, confidence. The working space feels more like an atelier or studio rather than an industrial environment, which promotes artisanship, focus, and behaviour.
9. LOCATION
Our region is known for its enthusiasm for great ingredients, and this is what continues to define Vancouver as an eclectic food destination city. We chose to build Northwest on Main Street, the most artisanal business strip in the city, surrounded by independent one-of-kind cafés, breweries, restaurants, grocery stores, and some of the city’s more visionary, non-corporate businesses fostering community values. After more than 15 years, we have seen these unique enterprises grow up around us in this very student-friendly residential neighbourhood which is centrally located and very accessible by transit from all directions, with plenty of nearby free street parking.
2. 8:1 STUDENT-TEACHER RATIO
There are always three instructors on the floor. And on key days (the first week of class, menu developments, mid-term, and final practicals) all the instructors are available for coaching. In effect, that means on the most important days students will have a 8:1 ratio.
8. CREATIVITY-FOCUSED
Some schools abide by the “do it the chef’s way or highway” philosophy, limiting creativity and spontaneity. All schools will teach you techniques, and indeed techniques are vital. But chefs are born to think beyond rules and formulas. They bend them using their own senses and ideas. We discovered that students apply techniques with greater focus, motivation, and craft when we put them in more creative situations. It is a challenging teaching method, but it pushes the mind, hands, and confidence much further along.
3. REALISTIC TUITION
Some ask why our tuition is lower than most private culinary schools. The real question is why are they so expensive? As a chef-owned school, we obviously have a different business model. All but one of us work in the classroom for your tuition money. We don't have a massive administration. And that means you get much more attention and quality ingredients for your education money.
5. INNOVATIVE
Our teaching approach reflects a shift away from hierarchal and antiquated ego-driven kitchens. Each term we start over and look at learners, our teaching methods, and ingredients with a new lens. This attitude encourages the discovery of new and better ideas and attitudes, which best describes tomorrow’s influential chefs. It also best describes great teaching!
7. CONDENSED PROGRAMS
Every day is purposed to maximize learning and performance. We achieve more in a day than traditional schools because of a simple strategy: treat learners as mature adults capable of bringing a lot to the table. On the very first day we collaboratively discuss and establish our expectations for each other, set some common-sense ground rules we both agree on, roll up our sleeves, and get to work. Welcome to a profession where every second counts!
10. UNIQUE HISTORY
In 2004, Northwest was built by experienced chef-instructors who had a vision for a model of culinary education that did not yet exist. A defunct metal fabrication shop on the eclectic Main Street was gutted and every square inch strategized with chalk lines, viewed through the eyes of the learner. Northwest quickly attracted the attention of a new type of student...one that was mature, educated, well-travelled, and, for the most part, shifting careers. And we quickly achieved positive attention and success. Nothing complicated about it really: leave ego, big chef hats, and old-school practices at the door and concentrate on craft, ingredients, creativity, integrity, and recognize that a school is only as good as its learners. That includes us!
Our kitchens are warm, inviting spaces, a departure from the fluorescent lights and maroon quarry tiles of a typical industrial setting. Theory and practical go hand-in-hand so everything is done in the kitchen. Part art studio and workshop, part classroom, all craft
Our pastry class takes place in an island-configured kitchen with open spaces, promoting clear visibility and communication. This setup helps our instructors coach students more effectively as they work.
our culture
Northwest Culinary Academy is a school that prides itself on promoting a progressive, forward-thinking culture that’s more fitting for the contemporary professional kitchen. Unlike traditional culinary institutions, we’re committed to breaking away from the “yes chef” mentality, fostering an environment of respect towards the craft, the creative process, technical skill, discipline, and most importantly, respect for each other. Come with an open mind so we can focus on your individual learning experience and help you become the best version of you.
midterm
final service
intake dates
September 4th - December 15th, 2023
January 8th - April 19th, 2024
September 2nd - December 13th, 2024
apply below
Clicking one of the buttons below will take you to a PDF which can be filled out and submitted to info@nwcav.com
TUITION
CDN $25,900.00
ADDITIONAL FEES
Application Fees: CDN $100
Uniform: CDN $448
Toolkit: CDN $970
(students can either buy their toolkit from the school or furnish it themselves)
TUITION
CDN $25,900.00
ADDITIONAL FEES
Application Fees: CDN $100
Uniform: CDN $448
Toolkit: CDN $970
(students can either buy their toolkit from the school or furnish it themselves)
TUITION
CDN $15,950.00
ADDITIONAL FEES
Application Fees: CDN $150
Uniform: CDN $448
Toolkit: CDN $795
(students can either buy their toolkit from the school or furnish it themselves)