On a chilly December morning, the line at Sophia Marie Patisserie snakes through the shopping center from the front of the bakery at 241 E. Hundred Road in Chester. Bundled in coats and scarves, eager patrons are seeking one surprise in particular: trompe l’oeil pastries, the hyperrealistic desserts designed to mimic real fruits. From glossy red apples to golden mangoes, the labor-intensive creations have become a daily draw. Owner and baker Stacia Palomeque says, “They have increased our traffic over 300%. People are arriving an hour before we open, and we’ve been selling out. We sold 80 Christmas trompe l’oeil boxes within two hours.”
For Palomeque, though, the viral treats are only part of a new chapter deeply rooted in family, determination and commitment. Her connection to baking began during her pregnancy with her daughter — Sophia Marie — when she craved French pastries, particularly macarons. She ambitiously tried making them at home, quickly discovering the precision and patience the finicky creations require. “Through a whole pregnancy, batch after batch, I was failing and failing, cracked shells and soggy shells,” she says.
Prior to the patisserie, Palomeque ran a wedding floral business in Houston. But when the COVID-19 pandemic halted big events, her work came to a standstill. That period also sparked a home-cooking boom and sourdough craze for many, nudging her deeper into the world of flour, fermentation and laminated dough.
Her motivation, however, sharpened when her son Chase joined the Navy and went to boot camp. Wanting to mirror his challenge, she pushed herself to master something difficult. “It became about focus, learning something new and staying busy,” she says. What started as a hobby evolved into a form of therapy, a practice that grounded her when she needed it most, with her son serving as her North Star.
Tapping into the unyielding dedication that can come with motherhood, she decided to hone her skills and enrolled at the Culinary Arts Institute in Houston. “I told my husband, ‘You know, I really want to learn how to do this,’ so I went to school. They didn’t teach me anything about my career,” Palomeque says, laughing, “but they taught me everything else I needed to know.”
After relocating to Virginia, she began taking her creations to local farmers markets including South of the James, Carytown, Hopewell and Dorey Park. Operating under cottage law, which allows vendors to produce certain items in their home kitchens, she focused initially on cookies, scones and breads.
During Thanksgiving last year, when extended family came to visit for the holiday, Palomeque realized there was literally nowhere for them to sit; her at-home operation had spilled into every room of the house. “It became very clear that I either needed to stop or scale up,” she says. With encouragement from her husband, she did the latter and opened the bakery in April.
“It’s all family owned, no investors,” she says. “Everything’s from scratch.” What Palomeque expected to be a glorified production kitchen for farmers market sales has quickly transformed into a bustling brick-and-mortar bakery after the community welcomed her creations with open arms. Her portfolio now includes nearly 170 French pastries and baked goods.
The pastry case dazzles with almond croissants filled with housemade almond cream, pains aux raisins, caramel-y kouign amann and macarons. There are also less common French showpieces and choux pastries such as Paris-Brest and Saint-Honoré, eclairs, and profiteroles. Find fraisier (strawberry), opera (almond, coffee and chocolate) and raspberry-pistachio cakes; the flaky-layered mille-feuille; and vanilla rum-spiked canelés made with the classic copper molds. Other menu items include palmiers, fruit-studded tarts and danishes, and a handful of savory options from jambon beurre to a chicken salad croissant.
And she hasn’t forgotten where she started. Sourdough, which undergoes a three-day ferment, remains central, with over a dozen varieties from olive-feta to garlic-rosemary and blueberry-lemon, as well as dinner rolls, sandwich buns and baguettes. “This is what gave me my boost in the market world,” Palomeque says.
They do make a brioche cinnamon roll — an acknowledged favorite — but sugar isn’t the focus. “You won’t see American-style cupcakes or cakes here,” Palomeque says. “We stay true to our mission of clean, specialty, made-from-scratch pastries. People who understand quality feel it immediately; they recognize the difference.”
Looking back at a whirlwind journey, “The hardest problem we’ve had in six months is keeping up,” Palomeque says. “What sets our croissants apart is that they’re never frozen. The dough is made the night before, the butter comes from Normandy, and everything — lamination, shaping, proofing, baking — is done in-house.”
Palomeque is supported by four degreed chefs and Tisha Sawyer, a retired pastry chef who now oversees front-of-house operations at the bakery. After carefully building her team, she’s surrounded by people who share her vision: pastries that are refined, intentional and never overly sweet. Sawyer has been with her since the start of her Virginia journey; the two first met three years ago when Palomeque was selling at the Hopewell Farmers Market.
Palomeque grew up in a kitchen-centered household influenced by European traditions. “When family or friends came over, you were in the kitchen. That energy, that hands-on approach, that’s what I bring here.” Her son Chase recently visited and tasted her pastries for the first time since the bakery opened. “He’s seen how hard this has been, and he’s my cheerleader.”
For Palomeque, each pastry is a chance to share her story, her craft and a little piece of home. The business is named after her daughter, who is named after both her grandmothers, pictures of them hanging on the walls in the bakery. “I know this is a huge leap of faith, a huge jump,” Palomeque says, “but I want to be able to make people just stop and enjoy life.”
Sophia Marie Patisserie is open Tuesday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Dining and Cooking