Culinary education strategist Kimberly I. Houston has launched the Baking and Pastry Arts Program Curriculum (BAPC), a complete, Career and Technical Education (CTE)-aligned curriculum built to help high schools start or strengthen baking and pastry arts programs without building one from scratch. It’s designed to help train the next generation of cake decorators and pastry artists before they even reach a culinary program or apprenticeship. Houston built it to close the gap between passionate students and industry-ready skills. The curriculum and its companion platform, BakingAndPastryCurriculum.com, are now available to educators and school districts nationwide.
BAPC Level I is organized into eight units, progressing from foundational safety and sanitation through baking science, breads, cookies and bars, cakes, and basic decoration. Each unit downloads as a complete, classroom-ready package—guided notes, lesson plans, in-class activities, a quiz, a Jeopardy-style review game, and substitute teacher plans—available in both full color and grayscale for easy printing and projector use. Units are formatted to meet a variety of unit review standards, giving instructors a curriculum built to the same rigor expected in a public-school CTE review.
“Most culinary teachers are handed a kitchen and a course title, and that’s it—no roadmap, no materials, no support,” said Houston. “BAPC is the roadmap. It’s a full teaching system, already built, so educators can spend their time in the kitchen with students instead of writing lesson plans from nothing.” Houston developed the baking and pastry curriculum by drawing on her training as a Le Cordon Bleu-trained pastry chef; her two master’s degrees in Adult Education, specializing in Instructional Design and Transformational Leadership and Coaching, and years of experience translating culinary expertise into structured, standards-ready instruction.
BAPC Level I is available now for $647 per level at BakingAndPastryCurriculum.com. Unit 1 (Safety and Sanitation) is offered as a free download so educators and administrators can review the curriculum’s format and quality before purchasing. Half-day district professional development workshops are also available, starting at $1,800. For more information on this complete, ready-to-teach curriculum, visit BakingAndPastryCurriculum.com or reach out to Kimberly Houston directly at info@teachmehowtobake.com.
Find more from Kimberly Houston in each issue of American Cake Decorating.
Chef Kimberly I. Houston
Chef Kimberly I. Houston is an award-winning pastry chef, business strategist, and educator helping creative entrepreneurs and bakers align purpose with profit. She is the founder of Teach Me How to Bake, hosts the Kitchen Table Dreams podcast, and serves as the Director of Member Experience for Retail Bakers of America.
