CIFST Provides Scholarship Awards to DIY Baking Kit Project Winners

As an opportunity for experiential learning, Advanced Chocolate and Confectionary Artistry students participated in a socially distanced culminating assignment created by Chef Kenneth Ku.

The Assignment

Students worked in groups and had six weeks to create DIY baking kits for fifteen judges to take home and make on their own time. The CIFST (Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology) sponsored the culminating assignment and provided three scholarship awards - one for each of the highest performing student groups. Upon using the kit, the judges were then asked to complete a rubric and return it to Advanced Chocolate and Confectionary Artistry Program Coordinator Susan Joseph to collate.

Each kit included the following items:

ingredients
recipe cards
student video tutorial
bonus items

Filming the tutorial

Behind the scenes filming of a user-friendly video tutorial for the DIY kits

DIY Baking Kit Boxes

DIY baking kit boxes

Friands diy kit contents

Almond and dried blueberry friand DIY kit contents

chia seed brownie batter

Chia seed brownie batter ready for the oven

Students all used the same boxes for their kits to ensure fairness and designed a user-friendly video tutorial for the judges. Each group was allotted three in-lab sessions to test their product and complete the project. The assignment also provided the opportunity for students to market their brand using social media.

Over the four weeks that the students worked on their kits, three Photography graduate students captured product stills and video tutorials in the lab, all while socially distancing. This helped Advanced Chocolate and Confectionary Artistry students gain the confidence they needed both in front and behind the camera while also helping the Photography students capture dynamic shots for their portfolios.