Master’s
Ice Cream Master’s Programme
- Schedule: Monday to Friday. Mornings and afternoons: 10 to 14h and 15 to 18h
- Duration: 70 hours
- PVP: 2400 €
Course features
- During the course, a professional visit will be made to some of the best pastry shops in Paris.
- This programme will allow you to enter the job market quickly and develop your professional career successfully.
- During breaks, students will enjoy a coffee break courtesy of the institution.
César Romero (@cesarromerovill)
A trainer at the Barcelona Pastry School (EPGB) and associate professor at the Basque Culinary Center, will deliver two full sessions to learn how to formulate ice cream from scratch, perform an optimal analysis of ingredients, and develop an original recipe. For this expert, formulation is not only about creating a recipe, but about adapting processes and mechanisms for product development on both a small and large scale.
During the training, César will explain how, through formulation, he has created ice creams such as boletus mushroom, pea, or cauliflower, demonstrating that the possibilities for creative development are virtually endless when you truly understand the product and its processes.
The aroma as the basis of flavour
Pastry chef and expert trainer Jesús Escalera (@jesusescalerac) will offer two sessions on restaurant desserts, addressing flavour theory and aromas, and encouraging the exploration of new creative approaches. He will also showcase his skills in preparing gastronomic ice creams and provide key insights for creating designer popsicles.
Jesús Escalera is the author of the book Essence, which compiles his extensive research on aromas applied to ice cream and desserts. A deep theoretical and practical knowledge that he will share with students of the Ice Cream Master’s programme over two sessions.
Professional vision
Trained students
Member professionals
Job placement
The real theory of ice cream: how stabilisers and emulsifiers affect it
Ribas’s background in chemistry, together with his perspective as a distributor of functional ingredients through his company Zealis Solutions, will help students of the EPGB Ice Cream Master’s Programme better understand the behaviour and use of stabilisers and emulsifiers in their creations.
The limits of ice cream
During the two sessions that ice cream chef Yon Gallardo (@yongallardo) will dedicate to natural display-case ice cream, he will focus on aspects such as how far this speciality can go, as well as the maximum and minimum levels of fat and sugar that ice cream can contain.
In this course, students will explore how to take ice cream to the highest level, combining advanced techniques and innovation. They will learn to make nut-based ice creams using their own pastes, perfect a vanilla ice cream with low-temperature infusions, and create coffee ice creams using three different techniques. The use of fermentation in yoghurt and kefir ice creams directly in the mix will also be covered, as well as the integration of cocktails and alcoholic beverages into ice cream, maximising flavours and textures.
In two classes, Yon Gallardo will provide a wide range of techniques to work with the ingredient that forms the starting point of ice cream, and will share his extensive recipe collection with students.
From tradition to innovation in ice cream
Master ice cream maker Albert Soler (@albertsol) will explain in two intensive sessions how to combine tradition and innovation in ice cream, focusing on his research into enzymes and Zero Waste. He will demonstrate techniques for applying enzymes in fruit and vegetable ice creams, as well as in fermented dough-based ice creams.
He will also provide key insights on how to turn an idea into ice cream. Thanks to his solid experience enhancing ice cream in molecular gastronomy in his own workshop and as a trainer in leading institutions, Soler will show EPGB Ice Cream Master’s students the key elements involved in an ice cream recipe and the high potential of creating gastronomic ice creams in any flavour, format, and variation.
Chocolate ice cream, toppings and decoration
Saray Ruiz (@sarayruizrodriguez), director of the Barcelona Guild Pastry School (EPGB), will lead a very comprehensive session that closes the Master’s programme. She will detail the best strategies for working with chocolate in ice cream and for decorating it. She will cover both production and the secrets of Bean to Bar and custom chocolates, as well as the preparation of toppings and ice cream decoration.
Throughout her professional career over the last ten years as an EPGB teacher, her work has been characterised by versatility in formats and categories, with a special focus on chocolate as a medium of artistic expression. Saray will share her expertise and inspire participants in the Ice Cream Master’s Programme with her creations.
The teaching team of the Ice Cream Master’s Programme
César Romero
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A professional pastry chef with more than 30 years of experience, he specialises in process development and formulation in both pastry and ice cream. He currently combines his work as a teacher in leading centres such as the Basque Culinary Center and the Barcelona Pastry School (EPGB) with consultancy and demonstrations for commercial brands around the world.
Born in Borriana (Castellón), he began his training at the School of the Guild of Pastry Chefs and Bakers of Valencia. After several years as a teacher at the Castellón Pastry School, in 2006 he began collaborating with various pastry shops in the city through his newly created research company, and in 2009 he became Spanish Champion of Pastry in the artistic sugar category. Shortly after, he became head of sweet gastronomy studies at institutions such as the Basque Culinary Center and Gasma.
Throughout his career, he has stood out for his expertise in formulation processes in pastry and ice cream, with the aim of introducing improvements that enhance the final product. One of his main sources of inspiration is ice cream methodology, whose procedures and basic principles he knows in depth, as well as scientific disciplines such as biochemistry.
Jesús Escalera
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Born in Seville and based in Mexico for over a decade, he defines himself as a dessert chef rather than a pastry chef. He trained professionally at El Bulli under Ferran Adrià and established himself by opening his own restaurant, La Postrería (in Guadalajara, Mexico), which broke new ground in haute cuisine by offering exclusively desserts and plated sweets using avant-garde techniques and seasonal ingredients. Among the awards he has received throughout his career is Best Pastry Chef of Latin America awarded by the 50Best guide in 2028.
His passion for gastronomic research and teaching led him to create Sweet Concept, a company dedicated to organising training courses in sweet techniques and offering consultancy services. He delivers both in-person and online courses and workshops as part of his goal to foster talent in the field of desserts. In 2024, Escalera launched Essence, an extensive book on aromas applied to ice cream and desserts, published by Books For Chefs.
That same year, together with his partner and co-founder Valeria Franco, he launched Pastrypedia, an interactive platform offering techniques, terminology and ingredients from avant-garde pastry and confectionery.
Lluís Ribas
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With a background in chemistry, he leads Zealis Solutions, a company that distributes functional ingredients to professionals and brings the technology and innovation needed to keep the artisan ice cream sector up to date with the latest trends.
He has extensive knowledge of formulation and product development, as well as experience as team manager of the national ice cream team. He has taught formulation to professionals starting their own ice cream businesses and gives lectures and courses at Anhcea and other institutions. He is an expert in the behaviour of milk and its derivatives in ice cream, from both an organoleptic and chemical perspective. He has also advised major restaurants such as El Celler de Can Roca.
Yon Gallardo
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The Basque ice cream chef represents the third generation of master ice cream makers in his Italian-origin family, the Bracone. He leads the Yon Gallardo gelateria in Irun (Gipuzkoa), where he blends the family tradition of Italian artisanal ice cream with new techniques and culinary technologies.
In his workshop, a business his family started in 1994 and to which Yon is deeply committed, he produces 100% natural ice creams: from making jams to roasting nuts and selecting fruits.
The artisanal processes and techniques he uses result in healthier ice creams, with less sugar and 0% fat. His brand Papperino is dedicated to gluten-free and dairy-free ice creams, as well as products for other food allergies and intolerances, while BasQcream is his artisan ice cream line for the hospitality sector, combining Italian tradition and Basque culinary innovation to achieve the best flavours and textures.
Yon Gallardo also regularly teaches courses for ice cream professionals at the Basque Culinary Center, the Barcelona Guild Pastry School (EPGB), and the University of Alicante, as well as at hospitality training centres such as the Aiala cooking school by Karlos Arguiñano.
Albert Soler
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He belongs to the Can Soler ice cream-making dynasty from Badalona (Barcelona), founded by his parents, originally from Xixona, in 1969, and is one of the key figures behind the continuity and expansion of the family business.
In February 2019, he was crowned Spanish Ice Cream Champion at Intersicop with a project inspired by ancient Egyptian civilisation.
Trained as an ice cream maker, nougat specialist and pastry chef, Albert Soler’s main interest lies in the scientific side of ice cream, and much of his work focuses on addressing future challenges in the profession, such as adapting products for consumers with special dietary needs.
Saray Ruiz
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Pastry chef Saray Ruiz (Bilbao, 1985) has been director of the Barcelona Guild Pastry School (EPGB) since September 2024. An alumna of the school, she was awarded best student of her class and has been a key teaching figure at the school for the past decade. She has also been a lecturer in the Chocolate Master’s Programme delivered in Barcelona, Peru, Colombia and Mexico, among others.
In 2019 she won the Lluís Santapau Trophy for Best Master Chocolatier in Spain, and she has won the International Chocolate Sculpture Competition twice, in 2017 and 2021. In addition, she combines her teaching work with the development of Norte by Saray Ruiz, her own brand of signature chocolates and nougats.
Ruiz advocates for a contemporary and innovative pastry approach that remains respectful of tradition and artisanal quality. Her proposals are a source of inspiration and learning for pastry students and professionals around the world.
Students
- This course is aimed at active professionals who wish to specialise in this professional field.
- The course is limited to a maximum of 15 participants.
Course price
- PVP: 2.400 €*
- Members’ discount: 25% discount for owners or employees of a company affiliated with the Barcelona Pastry Guild.
Payment conditions
The course must be paid in full before it begins.
Bookings and enrolments
Applications will be processed in strict order of registration, and places are limited for each course.
Accommodation
Looking for a residence to stay in during the course?
Barcelona Resident is a new residence next to the Pastry School. It offers single rooms with private bathroom and exterior access, designed to combine study and rest, with symmetrical fibre optic internet, TV, mini fridge, large desk, air conditioning and spacious wardrobe. The residence also includes additional services such as a study room, communal dining area, laundry, 24-hour reception, solarium, etc.
EPGB students benefit from special conditions at Barcelona Resident.
We offer:
- Single room with private bathroom
- The best possible location
- Free enrollment when signing up for our student residence.