If you walk by Valosh Pâtisserie on a Saturday morning, the buttery and decadent smell of freshly baked croissants is enough to pull you right into the shop. Behind the pastry case filled with rows of intricately assembled pavlova, macarons and tarts, you’ll find Valeria Garcia in the kitchen, prepping, piping and perfecting every last detail of the treats she’s crafted.
Garcia’s baking career began at a pastry school in Puerto Rico, where she grew up.
“I grew up with a family that cooks [because] in Puerto Rico, it’s very cultural to eat good food,” she says. “Dessert-wise, I kind of started from a cake from a box mix.”
After graduating high school, instead of launching directly into a baking career, Garcia pursued a bachelor’s degree in accounting.
“I always said since I was a kid that I wanted to have my pastry shop next to my accounting office. That was a dream of mine,” she says.
A couple of years into that journey, she transferred to a pastry school and fell in love with the art of pâtisserie. After finishing her degree, she craved more training and preparation, so she traveled to France to dig deeper into classical French techniques. From there, Garcia moved to the United States to find a job in the pastry industry, working with chefs in New York, serving at restaurants and returning to her accounting roots working at a bank. With a pandemic unfolding, she decided to prioritize her love of baking, quitting her job and selling pastries from home. One year later, Garcia opened Valosh Pâtisserie in Elizabethtown—her flagship bakery, named after a nickname she received from classmates during her internship in Paris.
Valosh Pâtisserie is open on Fridays and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., but Garcia works every day behind the scenes to prepare for business hours, with a multiday preparation process. Each delicate cream, custard and filling is prepared at the beginning of the week, with the following days consumed by the creation of tart shells, pâte à choux and pavlovas. Finally, everything is filled, assembled and ready to be enjoyed.
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From traveling and experiencing new ingredients to sipping a juice that has a unique flavor combination, Garcia draws inspiration for her pastries from everyday life. But her greatest inspiration are the memories she carries with her.
“Most of the pastries that we do at the shop, they’re specifically done with a low sugar taste, but then there’s a story behind them as well, with flavors. Everything I bake, I [am] emotionally attached to it,” Garcia says. “Having the time and [the] space to create it, that works wonders for me. Instead of following a recipe or having something that stays the same, I love switching the menu.”
Whether she is making a cake with a recipe passed down in her family over four generations or intentionally pairing flavors like strawberry and rhubarb because they remind her of time spent in France, Garcia curates a selection of pastries that aim to evoke the same feelings within her customers.
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“Especially the croissants … we serve them hot [and] bake them early in the morning, right at 7:30, before people come in,” she says. “They will take that first bite and [they] roll their eyes, and they’re like, ‘This tastes like France. … I was transported.’”
Valosh Pâtisserie is an open-concept bakery, with pastries being made right in front of the guests.
“Right when you enter, you will see the kitchen,” Garcia says. “When I was looking for a space, I wanted people to be able to see where we work so they can see how we work [and] so they can trust what they were eating.”
Beyond serving delicious pastries in Elizabethtown, Valosh Pâtisserie has set out to educate people on the basics of pastry. Twice a month, Garcia opens her bakery to the public, teaching pastry lessons that aim to make intimidating techniques more accessible.
“Sometimes people think that [baking is] a hard thing to do,” she says “Learning online sometimes can be hard, but if you’re like a more visual person and you see that someone just did that right in front of you, people feel comfortable.”
From hands-on pastry lessons to the conversations that happen while customers select which pastries they want to savor, Garcia treasures the relationships she’s developed with the regulars who visit her shop each weekend.
“There’s a couple clients that have [been] loyal since day one,” she says. “Since it’s a small town, the vibe is literally like family.”
Valosh Pâtisserie
23 E High St, Elizabethtown
717-608-2224
IG: @tastevalosh | FB: @tastevalosh
