Cooking: Culinary Arts

• Measure, mix and bake brownies, cookies, muffins and shortcakes

• Whip cream, prepare frostings and decorate finished desserts

• Knead and shape pita, focaccia and French bread dough

• Make hummus, tomato jam, fruit jams and fresh butter

• Prepare meringue, crème anglaise and composed pavlovas

• Bake éclairs and cream puffs using pâte à choux

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Apply accurate measuring, mixing, kneading and baking techniques across several recipes

• Compare how different ingredients and methods affect texture, structure and presentation

• Organize multistep bakes that combine dough, filling, sauce or decoration

Students will leave with a course completion certificate, practical experience across breads and pastries, and greater clarity about continued study in baking, culinary arts or food entrepreneurship.

Baking develops precision, timing and the ability to follow a process while paying attention to how ingredients behave. Measuring accurately matters, but so do judgment calls about texture, dough development, browning and doneness. Students learn to observe those signals and adjust their work thoughtfully.

More complex recipes also build organization. A baker may need to prepare dough one day, shape and bake it the next, then add a filling, sauce or decoration. Planning those stages strengthens patience, sequencing and practical problem solving while giving students a clear result they can evaluate.

This course is for high school students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade and enjoy cooking, baking, working with their hands or understanding why recipes succeed. It is a strong fit for students who want repeated kitchen practice rather than a demonstration-only experience.

Students should be ready to follow food-safety and classroom procedures, measure carefully, work through multistep recipes and help keep a shared workspace organized. The course begins with accessible recipes and progresses into breads, custards, meringues and pastry techniques.

Based on students surveyed in Summer Discovery’s 2026 UCLA high school program.

UCLA gives high-school students the opportunity to explore an academic interest while experiencing university life in Los Angeles, a city where entertainment, technology, business, science, and culture constantly intersect. The campus has its own community and rhythm while connecting students to a wider environment built around creativity and new ideas.

Students learn alongside peers, navigate a large campus, and gain independence through everyday choices and responsibilities. Time outside class expands the experience through friendships, campus life, and opportunities to notice which subjects and settings hold their attention. For families, UCLA offers a valuable combination of substantive academics, personal growth, and clearer direction about what a student may want to study, experience more deeply, or pursue next.

Baking appears in restaurant kitchens, bakeries, hotels, catering businesses, food media and product development. Pastry chefs balance flavor, structure and presentation. Bread bakers manage fermentation and dough. Food entrepreneurs also make decisions about consistency, cost, packaging and customer experience.

The course introduces that range through products with different methods. Kneaded breads behave differently from quick breads. Meringue relies on foam structure. Pâte à choux creates hollow pastries ready for filling. Experiencing those contrasts can help students decide which parts of culinary arts they may want to study more deeply.