Vegan French Patisserie in March and April 2027

Classic French patisserie is famous for its elegance and precision. Delicate pastries, beautifully layered cakes and refined creams have defined French baking for generations.

Traditionally these rely heavily on eggs, butter and cream, which makes many people assume that recreating them with plant-based ingredients is either impossible or incredibly complicated.

In reality, once you understand the principles behind pastry, it becomes surprisingly achievable in a home kitchen. During this four-day vegan patisserie course you’ll learn how to recreate many classic French pastries using plant-based ingredients while keeping the flavours, textures and elegance that make patisserie so special.

When I first started experimenting with vegan patisserie, I assumed many classic pastries would simply be impossible without eggs or butter. But with enough experimentation — and quite a lot of failed batches along the way — I discovered that most of the textures and flavours that define French pastry can be recreated using plant-based ingredients. Some techniques require a slightly different approach, but when everything comes together the results can be every bit as elegant and satisfying as traditional patisserie.

Who Is This Vegan Patisserie Course For?

This course is designed for keen home bakers who enjoy a challenge and want to take their baking skills further.

You don’t need professional equipment or training, but you should already feel comfortable baking and following more detailed recipes. Over four days we’ll explore the techniques behind vegan pastry and show you how to adapt them for your own kitchen.

Many participants are simply passionate home cooks who want to learn how to create elegant plant-based desserts for family, friends and special occasions.

This is our smallest-group course, typically with just four students and never more than six. Patisserie is much more precise and technical than our savoury courses, so students need more individual attention and more space in which to work. Keeping the group particularly small means I can watch what you’re doing closely, help troubleshoot as you work and give you hands-on guidance at the points where very small differences in technique can completely change the result.

Vegan patisserie is also a relatively undeveloped field. Traditional French pastry depends heavily on eggs, butter, cream and very specific technical reactions, and there is still far less reliable information available on how to reproduce those results with plant-based ingredients. Developing this course has therefore involved a great deal of testing, experimentation and reformulation to understand not simply which substitutions work, but why they work and how to make them repeatable in a home kitchen.

This means the course is challenging as well as rewarding. You’ll be weighing carefully, working methodically and learning techniques where temperature, timing, texture and handling really matter. You don’t need professional training, but you should come expecting focused, detailed work rather than an easy or casual baking class. You’ll work in my own kitchen using equipment and methods that translate to a home kitchen, and the small group size gives you the space and support needed to tackle that level of precision properly.

The course is also rather different from our savoury cooking holidays. You’ll spend your workshop time making pastries, cakes, creams and desserts rather than preparing your lunch and dinner, so we cook separate savoury meals for you throughout the course. That leaves you free to concentrate properly on the techniques you’ve come to learn — while still sitting down together to eat, talk and enjoy the social side of the holiday.

What You’ll Learn

Foundational Techniques in Pastry-Making

• Pastry doughs: Learn the art of making perfect shortcrust, sablé, puff and fermented doughs.
• Viennoiserie: Master the intricacies of vegan croissants, brioche and filled pastries, achieving delicate layers and airy textures without animal products.

Cakes and Entremets

• Layered cakes: Craft a selection of elegant entremets featuring classic French cake bases and harmonious flavour combinations.
• Classic cakes: Master traditional cakes and techniques that form the foundation of refined pâtisserie.

Classic Creams

• Chantilly
• Crème pâtissière
• Crème Alba
• Buttercream
• Mousseline
• Crème diplomate

Presentation and Plating Skills

• Decorative techniques: Practice piping, making delicate tuiles, crafting intricate chocolate shapes and mirror glazing for beautiful presentation.

Included

• 4 days of small-group workshops in our air-conditioned kitchen
• Breakfast each day
• Lunch each day, prepared for you so that you can concentrate on the patisserie workshops
• Dinner each evening, prepared separately from the pastries and desserts you make during the course
• A simple welcome meal on Monday evening, including wine
• Station transfers to and from Caussade or Lexos stations on the course start and finish dates
• Recipes
• All ingredients
• An apron, which is yours to keep

Optional

• Accommodation: You can book this course with or without accommodation. If you want a room, you can book it as an extra.
• Accompanying person sharing your room: Someone who is not taking part in the course is welcome to share your room. There is an additional charge to cover their food, which can be paid when you book.
• Airport transfers: We don’t provide airport transfers ourselves, but we can put you in touch with a reliable, English-speaking taxi service.

Not Included

• Alcohol, other than the wine served with the Monday welcome dinner

This course can be booked with or without accommodation. Often we don’t have enough rooms to accommodate everyone, so we’ve teamed up with an excellent local b&b a very short walk away, which means that everyone who wants a room can have one. All our rooms are single occupancy with en suite bathrooms unless you book with someone you want to share with. You are welcome to share your room with someone who isn’t doing the course, and they are welcome to join us each day for a light breakfast. However, if they want other meals, there’s a supplement to pay at the time of booking of €250. There is no supplement for people doing the course. There’s more detail on our accommodation page.

Our village, St Antonin Noble Val, is a great place to spend time, especially if you’re into outdoor activities. Many of our guests extend their stay so that they can explore the region. We’re happy to do that when we have rooms available.

Questions? Let’s talk.

Please note that this vegan patisserie holiday is normally non refundable, so we strongly suggest you take out holiday insurance at the time of booking. However we are happy to transfer your booking to someone else at no charge. Full terms and conditions are here.

Our online courses are here