Learn French: Ce cuisinier fait des gâteaux.

Ce is the masculine singular demonstrative adjective, meaning "this" or "that". You only use cet when a masculine noun begins with a vowel or a mute H (like cet arbre or cet homme) to make pronunciation easier. Since cuisinier starts with a consonant, we stick with ce.

Why use fait instead of a specific verb for "baking"?

French relies heavily on the versatile verb faire (to do / to make) for everyday activities. While you could use cuisiner (to cook) or préparer (to prepare), faire des gâteaux is the most natural, idiomatic way to say "making cakes" or "baking cakes".

Why is the article des used here instead of les?

Des acts as the plural of un or une, meaning "more than one, but an unspecified amount" (often translated as "some"). If the sentence used les gâteaux, it would imply he is making specific, previously mentioned cakes, or that he makes cakes in a general, absolute sense.

How would this sentence change if the cook were a woman?