A baking and pastry arts degree is a culinary associate degree preparing you for the responsibilities of baking pastry professionally. As a student, you cook and bake in a professional kitchen, learn to read, follow, and modify recipes, and master the art of baked-goods decoration and presentation. You also learn other necessary skills for your career, like safe food handling, maintaining a clean working environment, building a business, and developing a menu. You learn most frequently in an on-campus kitchen, but many degree programs offer internships to garner real-life experience of the duties found in a professional kitchen.