Events
Aspiring Bakers Showcase Tasty Treats
Bakers’ Row Helps Students Prepare for Careers
RALEIGH, N.C. (May 6, 2025) – Future pastry chefs, cake designers and bakery managers showed off their skills Tuesday during Wake Tech's popular Bakers' Row event on Scott Northern Wake Campus.
Students in the Baking & Pastry Arts AAS degree program displayed and sold a delectable variety of goodies made from scratch, including savory items such as bagels, spinach and feta croissants and bacon and cheese quiches, alongside tempting sweets such as tarts, cakes, cookies, eclairs, cinnamon rolls and baklava.
Bakers' Row is an end-of-year project that prepares aspiring bakers for entry into the industry. Not only do they learn to bake large quantities of desserts, breads, pastries, candies and cakes efficiently, they also use the marketing skills they have acquired to promote their creations to shoppers at the event.
"Bakers' Row is the culmination of all the skills students learn in the program," said Assistant Professor Chef Melissa Attanas. "They gain a real understanding of what an industry baking job will be like."
Mei Goodrich, one of Wake Tech's Spring 2025 graduates, says the Bakers' Row project helped improve her ability to produce food on a large scale while working on a team. She says Bakers' Row is just one of the highlights of her time at the college.
"Wake Tech's Baking & Pastry Arts program allowed me to pursue my love for baking, gain skills from talented chefs and continue the journey of connecting people through food," she said. "The college helped feed my passion for baking and prepared me for a successful career."
Goodrich, who was awarded a gold medal and won "Best in Show" for a three-tiered wedding cake at the North Carolina American Culinary Federation competition in February, already knows her next step after Wake Tech.
"I have the pleasure of starting a position at Union Special, a full-service bakery and cafe in Raleigh. I am excited to learn as much as I can!"
The college hosts Bakers' Row twice a year, in May and December. The event always attracts a huge crowd and almost always sells out. Proceeds help support the program.
