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Pastry chef Paola Velez has a star-studded resume, from sous chef for chocolatier Jacques Torres to executive pastry chef at Kith & Kin in Washington, D.C., where she was named Pastry Chef of the Year by Esquire and the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington in 2020, and nominated for the 2020 James Beard Award for Rising Star Chef of the Year. Her highly anticipated cookbook Bodega Bakes will be published in October 2024. Velez was chosen as a 2021 F&W Best New Chef and has been contributing recipes ever since.
We’ve assembled the recipes for Velez’s most popular desserts, from a Stunning Citrus Pie to Platanos Foster, including her swaps and upgrades for more flavor and impressive presentation. Plus, most recipes include a Pastries with Paola video to help you perfect the techniques, from tempering chocolate to decorating macarons.
Baba au Rhum Punch
Velez adds layers of dark rum and fresh fruit flavor to homemade brioche for her adult variation on this cake, using almost a cup of top-shelf dark rum between the cinnamon-spiked rum soak and the strawberry-peach Rum Punch Coulis.
Maria Cookie Icebox Cake
Velez transforms an after-school snack staple from her childhood into an icebox cake with a sweetly spiced cream filling and topped with luscious dulce de leche. She garnishes the make-ahead cake with edible flowers and fresh strawberries.
Hummingbird Cream Puffs
Velez fills choux pastry with naturally sweet banana whipped cream, coconut, and pineapple for a tropical treat topped with buttery cookies.
Lemony Sumac Pie with Ritz Cracker Crust
Velez uses this crumb crust for a no-bake pie when it’s hot out. This one stars a sweet and sour lemon curd filling with fresh lemon juice and the floral and tart spice, sumac. It’s topped with pieces of tropical fruit, such as kiwi quarters, pineapple wedges, Cape gooseberries, papaya slices, sliced strawberries, and/or raspberries, for a beautiful presentation.
Chocolate Party Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache and Homemade Sprinkles
Make your own sprinkles from scratch a day ahead with this fun, crowd-pleasing recipe from Velez. Ganache makes the frosting silky-smooth for this rich, chocolaty cake.
Banana Pudding Paletas
Velez turns nostalgic banana pudding into a festive frozen treat using all the classic components — nutty browned butter, bits of banana, pudding, and crushed vanilla wafers — and decorating with white chocolate sauce and chocolate sprinkles.
Strawberry Ekmek Kataifi
Ekmek kataifi is a Greek dessert made from crispy shredded phyllo that’s soaked in syrup and traditionally topped with custard. Velez replaces the custard with a vibrant strawberry pudding and a cloud of honey-flavored whipped cream still balancing crispy and creamy.
Cornbread Tres Leches Cake
Velez makes extra sweet tres leches by replacing the classic evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk with heavy cream, half-and-half, and whole milk. Using cornmeal in the cake batter adds nuttiness and a subtle crunch, made even richer with tangy labneh.
Tropical Mendiants
Velez shares her simple method for tempering chocolate in the microwave that keeps these make-ahead treats approachable. Pipe the chocolate into rounds; top with a colorful mix of tropical fruit, toasted nuts, and seeds; and set in the fridge.
Olive Oil Cake with Buttercream Frosting and Sour Candied Oranges
Velez makes olive oil cake with earthy buckwheat flour and candied oranges to garnish with flowers for a showstopping citrus dessert.
Old Fashioned Doughnut Croquembouche
Velez trades cream puffs for homemade cinnamon doughnuts in her centerpiece-worthy croquembouche with hot caramel.
Tamarind Jelly Candies
Velez crafts colorful pâte de fruit with tamarind pulp, fresh lime juice, and liquid pectin, coating the jiggly cooked jellies with fruity and tangy flavored sugars.
American Buttercream
Make rich and creamy frosting that’s sweet and buttery in 10 minutes, with or without a mixer, using this recipe from Velez.
Platanos Foster
Velez makes Bananas Foster, the classic flambéed dessert, with Caribbean ingredients, including warm spices and coconut water in the caramel sauce and plantains instead of bananas.
Fun and Fancy Macarons
Velez fills macarons with homemade dark chocolate ganache, or store-bought holiday jam, apple butter, or firm caramel sauce and paints them with different colors of edible shimmering luster dust. These can be made ahead and frozen for festive occasions.
Black and Ruby Cookies
Velez’s enticing variation on New York’s iconic black and white cookies uses rye flour for savory, nutty flavor, and buttermilk instead of whole milk for a tender, well-risen cookie. Then there’s the dark chocolate ganache piped on one half, and fruity ruby chocolate with a pink hue on the other. Velez adds gold leaf to the finished cookies for a fun metallic shine.
Italian Buttercream
The pro pastry chef makes a thick, glossy meringue with egg whites and sugar syrup, gradually incorporating softened butter, beating it until everything turns into a light and fluffy frosting. She shares the technique for keeping meringue light and airy and adds a touch of brightness with citric acid, helping to balance the richness of the frosting.
Chocolate Ganache Sandwich Cookies
Velez fills crisp, buttery cookies with rich, fluffy milk chocolate ganache that’s made softer with chocolate and butter instead of the usual heavy cream. She decorates them with melted dark chocolate.