Discover the Best Kid's Baking Classes in NYC
New York is a culinary center of the world and home to some wonderful bakeries. With this inspiration, it’s no wonder NYC is a great place for kid’s baking classes. Sign your children up for courses with award-winning instructors who will teach them how to make cakes, muffins, cookies, and bread, as well as the ins and outs of buttercream. Not only will your children come away with goodies they have made, but they will gain confidence, build self-esteem, and acquire skills they will use throughout their lives. You can sign your child up for in-person or virtual baking classes in New York City.
Why Should Kids Learn to Bake in NYC?
Learning to bake helps children build life skills, strengthen confidence, and explore creativity, plus it’s fun! With many different talented bakers and teachers in the city, New York offers many opportunities for children to learn this valuable skill.
Learning to bake can be just the beginning of a child’s culinary adventure. Taking kid’s cooking and baking classes can spark an interest in the culinary arts and lead to the desire to explore different restaurants, farmer’s markets, and specialty stores that the city has to offer. It could lead to hours of fun in the kitchen with relatives as they learn to make favorite family dishes. It could even lead to an eventual career as a baker or chef.
In-Person Kid's Baking Classes & Schools in NYC
There are many opportunities for children to sign up for kid’s in-person baking classes around New York. Some schools teach both baking and cooking classes and offer multi-day camps for different age groups. Others specialize in cake and cookie baking and decorating. It is easy to find a class in New York that will fit your child’s interests.
Taste Buds Kitchen takes a whole-life approach to cooking and baking. A kid’s kitchen during the day and an adult kitchen at night, the group offers classes for ages 2 to 99. Where some schools insist that adults must always accompany children, some of TBK’s classes are designed for parents to drop children off and come back at the end of class. There are also classes for groups of family and friends or corporate events for up to 72 participants. Adult classes are BYOB and TBK strives to make their facility welcoming and safe for everyone. They offer gluten-free, vegan, and dairy and egg-free menus, and classes are held in a nut-free space.
Send your kids to camp on Memorial Day with Memorial Day: Cake Decorating Camp (Ages 4-8) and Memorial Day: Cake Decorating Camp (Ages 9-13). Participants will learn to bake a vanilla cake from scratch and then make buttercream frosting to use to decorate it. It’s up to your kid if they want to share the 4-inch cake they bring home.
TBK also offers a series of seasonal cupcake decorating classes for kids ages 2-8. Children must be accompanied by a caregiver for this one, but it is fun to bake together. Kids will bake cupcakes from scratch and then have fun frosting and decorating Flower Cupcakes, Mermaids, Sea Creatures, or Dinosaur Cupcakes. Children can sign up for one class or take them all!
Taste Buds Kitchen has two baking camps for kids. Cupcake and Cookie Bakery Camp for ages 4-8 and Cupcake and Cookie Bakery Camp for Ages 9 -13 meet for five days and cover baking techniques and recipes for sweet and savory treats. Cookie & Cupcake Designs Camp (Ages 4-8) and Cookie & Cupcake Designs Camp (Ages 9-13) focuses on decorations and designs. Students will learn icing techniques like drizzling and piping, as well as adding sprinkles and fondant. Participants will bake rainbow donuts, decorate sugar cookies, and create a mini birthday cake.
Baking Adventures Camp is a four-day course for kids ages 4-8 from TBK where students will explore different baking techniques to create bread, pies, muffins, and cookies. Both sweet and savory recipes will be included.
NY Cake Academy has offered some kid’s baking classes, including Kids Cupcake Baking Class and Kids Cookie Baking, where participants learn to bake cakes and cookies from scratch, decorate them, and then take their creations home to enjoy. NY Cake Academy is run by award-winning cake decorator Joan Mansour, who is a member of the Wilton Cake Decorating Hall of Fame.
Your children can also attend a kid’s cooking camp with Home Cooking New York. Founded in, the group is led by a former food editor for The Wall Street Journal and Martha Stewart Living, Jennifer Clair. Home Cooking New York classes are held at their cooking school in Soho. The cooking camps are separated into two age groups: 10 - 13 and 13-16, and while they are not specifically baking classes, each class includes at least one baked item. Sessions B, C, D, and E include a “Chopped” Challenge on the final day!
The first Cooking Camp for Kids - Session A is for 10 - 13-year-olds. The first course will explore Northern Italian, Asian, and Mexican cuisine, and comfort food items. The menu includes a Mexican chocolate torte and individual apple or peach pies.
Cooking Camp for Kids - Session B, also for 10 - 13-year-olds, will include French bistro, Northern Italian, and Japanese dishes, plus more comfort foods, and the menu includes cream puffs with vanilla pastry cream.
The next three camps are for 13 - 16-year-olds. Cooking Camp for Kids - Session C includes classes on Greek cuisine, brunch dishes, and Indian cooking, with a session on baking that includes making a birthday cake and eclairs with caramel-vanilla bean pastry cream.
Cooking Camp for Kids - Session D also includes a baking day where students will make individual summer fruit crisps with homemade vanilla bean ice cream, and molten chocolate cakes.
Cooking Camp for Kids - Session E will cover Mexican, Spanish, and Korean cuisine. Students will bake Mexican wedding cookies and blueberry cobbler.
Virtual Kid's Baking Classes & Schools
In addition to in-person classes, your kids can also take virtual kid’s baking classes. Face-to-face groups are fun, but it isn’t always possible to find in-person kid’s baking classes in the topic you are looking for. Online kid’s baking classes run similarly to in-person sessions with an instructor and students in a kitchen, and other participants joining in through Zoom or some other video conferencing platform. Your kids can attend live online classes from anywhere with a laptop or tablet or other device with a microphone. You don’t have to fight heavy traffic or leave an hour early to find a place to park. Some schools put together course packages with ingredients or tools, while others send a list of what students will need, and you and your child can go shopping for supplies.
Food Craft teaches classes in Hell’s Kitchen and focuses on “made from scratch” cooking to build confidence in their students. Cookie Decorating presented by Food Craft is a live online baking class for kids 12 and up or adults. The class will cover seasonal cookie decorating with decorating techniques like icing flooding, marbling, and wet-on-wet decorating.
Home Cooking New York is offering its cooking camps as online classes as well. Virtual Cooking Camp for Kids, 10+ doesn’t involve much baking but it does introduce cooking techniques to kids ten and up. The camp includes four sessions and each one ends with a meal and then 15 minutes of kitchen clean-up! Session D is currently on the calendar, but others are added on a regular basis, so join the Wish List if you don’t see a scheduled class that you want.
Private Group Kid's Baking Classes in NYC
If you are looking for a special way to celebrate a birthday or graduation, you can sign up a group of friends or family for private group kid’s baking classes. Get together and learn to bake a cake from scratch or have a contest to see who can decorate the best cupcake. If you don’t see a private group event that you want on the schedule, reach out to CourseHorse and request to book a class for your group. Use the contact form to arrange your private group event. If you need to add more people after you’ve already booked your event, don’t worry. CourseHorse will get back to you within 24 hours and won’t charge an extra booking fee for adding more participants.
If you want to set up a kid’s baking class birthday party, Cupcakes 101 is a good choice. This all-levels class for participants aged 12 and up is offered at Butter Lane bakery in the East Village. All equipment and ingredients are supplied, so your group doesn’t have to worry about bringing anything. Just come and have fun learning to bake and decorate cupcakes!
Kids Bake Off from NY Cake Academy lets kids enter a fun competition just like the bake-offs on TV. After learning some fundamental baking techniques, participants will make chocolate chip scones, devil’s food cupcakes, and a berry galette. This is another great birthday party idea.