Casinelli Pastries was created in 2020 at the start of the pandemic, fueled by a desire to bring a touch of sweetness into everyone’s lives!!

Victoria Casinelli fell in love with baking at a very young age!  She’d help her mom Sheila with all the baking projects for all the family events.  Coming from a big Italian-Irish family, there was always some birthday party, baptism, or graduation to go to. Victoria would sneak downstairs to watch Sheila decorate the birthday cakes for Victoria and her siblings.  The mesmerizing swirl of icing being mixed and the metallic shine off of the container of piping tips fully drew Victoria in and she was hooked!! She  graduated from Johnson & Wale’s University in 2018 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Baking & Pastry Arts. 

After graduation she worked at a seafood restaurant as the Lead Pastry Chef, creating all desert components for plated desserts as well as creating  a rotating gelato menu and weekly specials.  After being injured at work, Victoria was looking for something creative to do while sitting down recovering from a knee injury.  That’s when she found cookies!!

After moving back to Connecticut at the start of the pandemic, she began making cookies for friends and family. Even though we were all in lockdown, people still wanted to celebrate milestones and cookies were a super sweet way to do that!  From that point forward, Casinelli Pastries exploded!

You can catch Chef Victoria Casinelli on Season 9 of the Food Network’s Spring Baking Championship. It was an absolutely incredible experience with the most wonderful group of chefs. Victoria grew up watching Duff Goldman on tv so it was a lifetime dream of hers come true to have him try a slice of her cake. She’ll be back in the future, don’t you worry!! That opportunity opened the door for a cookie demo on Great Day Connecticut on WFSB, it was such a blast!

Casinelli Pastries went on a brief hiatus while Victoria was the Sous Chef at a bakery cafe where she led a team of 5 though daily production and custom orders.  After an exciting journey in boutique catering and discovering a love for teaching through cookie classes, Victoria accepted a position as a Baking & Pastry Arts Chef Instructor. She has been teaching full time since early fall ‘23 and absolutely loves it. It fuels Victoria’s passion to talk about all things pastry with the next generation of chefs!

When not in the professional kitchen, you can find Victoria in her home kitchen experimenting with savory foods to share with her friends and family. She loves nature and plants, which is why any set involving greenery is her absolute favorite. Victoria is so grateful for the support of her family and friends on this journey!!

Keep an eye out for her cookie decorating classes where you get to learn how to make your own edible works of art.