Claire Clark reveals further details of Patisserie Academy

07 April 2017 by
Claire Clark reveals further details of Patisserie Academy

Pastry chef Claire Clark has revealed more details of the Patisserie Academy she is opening with Milton Keynes College next month.

The Claire Clark Academy for Patisserie Excellence will cater to home bakers, full-time students and professionals, with course starting mid-May and the first intake of students in September.

As well as short and one-day courses for professionals on techniques and skills such as chocolate, sugar work, plating desserts, bread, pastry work and modern desserts; the one-day courses for home bakers will cover everything from afternoon tea and macaroons to truffles.

The two-year, full-time course will cover all aspects of patisserie in detail. Based around the former City and Guilds advanced pastry 706/3 parts one and two, the Academy can accommodate 14 full-time students.

Clark first revealed her plan to create an academy for pâtisserie excellence in August 2016 when she confirmed that she would not be involved in the second series of BBC Two TV show Bake Off: Crème de la Crème.

Andrea Ruff, formerly a programme manager of patisserie and confectionery at Westminster Kingsway College, will be teaching the full-time students. Clark will also be taking courses and all students will spend a month with her at her patisserie supply business Pretty Sweet doing work experience.

Industry pastry chefs involved will include Will Torrent, James Campbell, Mark Tilling, William Curley, Sarah Hartnett, Graham Hornigold, Helen Vass, Samantha Rain, Matt Owens and Barry Johnson.

Clark formerly worked as Thomas Keller's head pastry chef at the French Laundry in California, was a judge on the first series of BBC Two's TV show Bake Off: Crème de la Crème, and was awarded an MBE in 2011. She was the first British female pastry chef to win a Master of Culinary Arts award, one of the first recipients of the Academy of Culinary Arts' Annual Awards of Excellence, and is two-time winner of the Craft Guild of Chefs' Pastry Chef of the Year.

Clark said: "I'm so excited it's outrageous. It was the brain child of chef Tony Oxley [programme manager for hospitality and catering at Milton Keynes College], who… asked if I would take it on. The college is switched on and committed to training and education going above and beyond to provide the students with the best education possible. It's a pleasure to be involved with them.

"It's been a lifelong dream and now it's about to be a reality. Teaching is what I do best, and I can't wait to make a difference to the industry that has nurtured and made me who I am."

No second series of Bake Off: Crème de la Crème for Claire Clark >>

Pastry chef Claire Clark awarded MBE >>

Claire Clark takes on consultancy role in Barbados >>

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