Father's attempt to be a kind of cook (6)
I believe the answer is:
pastry
'a kind of cook' is the definition.
'father's attempt to' is the wordplay.
'father's' becomes 'pa's' (pa can mean dad or father).
'attempt to' becomes 'try' (I've seen this in other clues).
'pas'+'try'='PASTRY'
'be' is the link.
(Other definitions for pastry that I've seen before include "choux, perhaps" , "Cooked dough" , "Dough for baking" , "Dough base" , "Eg, pie crust" .)