A couple of weeks ago we wrote a post on Free Online Learning Resources, and one of the courses I wrote about was Yuppie Chef’s Free Baking Course. Well a number of folk wanted to know more about the course and is this is the post that tells you a little bit more…
Last year Yuppie Chef started an online cooking school and they began with a baking course… I am a big believer in kids being enabled in the kitchen and I am determined that they all leave home with some basic cooking skills mastered. While all my kids help in the kitchen and each of them have a signature dish that they have mastered so that they can at least create a meal… they all want to do more and learn more in the kitchen. Here is the perfect opportunity to learn. I have found that, while it is one thing to let my kids master preparing vegetables and cook a packet of pasta, it is quite another to leave them free to bake. Yes, I too have visions of explosive explosions… Anyway this course appears to be the answer for us.
As soon as this course became available Hood #3 dived in, she wanted to be a part of this. Week by week she baked her way through the course. The courses are pitched perfectly at the beginner baker, and I have to say that they were quite manageable, for a then 12 year old, to tackle on her own. There are six lessons each covering a different aspect of baking, from cakes to cookies, bread and pastry. Each lesson has a video tutorial, printable lesson notes, and printable recipes… and a quiz that you need to pass to crack open the next lesson. I have to say it was very good… there was no dashing through it, you had to slow down and really watch the video and read the notes in order to do your best in the quiz. I am all for slow and steady, and spending lots of time to practice their skills as well, this is not something I want my kids to dash through and forget later… The recipes are lovely and everything a new and aspiring baker would love to learn.
Often when we think about baking we think about cakes and cookies… it is nice that this course offers more, with a fabulous lesson on baking bread – loaves and focaccia. And after you have mastered cake and bakes… there is a life lesson in learning how to use icing. I have to say I was really impressed with what the course had to offer and our tea time treats have vastly improved. There is something wonderful about knowing that impending guests are arriving and you can turn to a child and say “would you like to bake?” and then confidently forget about it until you are serving coffee and there is a cake alongside it!!! Not to mention when they invite friends over they can bake a batch of cookies themselves, without any intervention from an adult. This is a vital step in the list of life skills required before you leave home.
At the end of the course you will have a printed out recipe book, packed with recipes and tips… not to mention a couple of hours worth of baking training under your belt. Hood #3 loves the idea of having her own recipe book packed with recipes that she has tried… it is a great way to start a life-long baking journey and something to look back on in years to come. This is not a course directed specifically towards kids, which is another good reason to love it. This course is aimed at beginner bakers of all ages, there is so much to learn and it will give you a great overview of the best of baking. What can I say, except where was a course like this when I was a lot younger!!
So one of our students has successfully completed the course and a couple of siblings will be following in her footsteps… one lesson at a time. This is an “extra-mural” that I added to our curriculum this year and most of our kids will be working their way through the course. No-one complained at this extra-mural, in fact I had to schedule it on one day a week so that we don’t get completely lost in the world of flour and icing sugar. Not to mention one day a week when I know to invite friends over and to stay out of the kitchen before they arrive!!!
Turns out that there are more courses in the series and we have just started the meat course… we are very exited about this… If you follow us on instagram you will surely see our meat dishes as they appear. There is one fabulous thing that I love about this course already… you don’t just learn how to cook the meat portion. but they show you how to cook all the side dishes as well… It is going to be fabulous and we are so looking forward to sharing the results with you. Click on the image to find out more about the course…
If you follow our blog you will know that we absolutely love and adore all things Yuppie Chef… I was not paid to write anything about their courses, though they have given us free entry to their meat courses for us to try and tell you about. The opinions expressed in this post are as usual totally our own.
oh I love how you sell the benefits (you just mention to a child “would you like to bake something?” and it magically appears) – just DIVINE!
Oh Marcia, I am all about enabling!!! And I realized my calling far too late, I should have been in marketing… Always selling a “wonderful” idea or project to my kids!!!
I really appreciate how your kids are encouraged to get involved with cooking – not just kiddie sprinkles on Marie Biscuits! – but really useful life skills.
We are excited to do the meat course too!
Oh Debbie… Thank you for such a fab comment, you are such an encouragement to us!!! How brilliant that you are going to be doing the meat course too… we are really looking forward to diving in to feast after feast… sending lots of love from a freezing Cape Town!!!