Twenties-era jazz plays in The Velvet Buttercream’s small shop as chef-owner Aaron John Curiel spins a petite layer cake on a decorating stand, spreading on buttercream in a silky-smooth layer. The aroma of chocolate – cakes baking in the back kitchen – wafts through the small shop, filling every corner and triggering this chocoholic into a salivating state.
Curiel’s culinary roots go back to the 1940s, when his great-grandfather opened a bakery in Holbrook. Curiel’s grandfather came back from the Vietnam war and went to work with his dad, and eventually he and Curiel’s grandmother started adding lunch items such as burritos and sandwiches.
“That side of the business got busier and busier, and when my great-grandfather retired in the early ’70s, my grandparents bought the business and phased out the bakery side of it and turned it into what it is today.”
That would be Romo’s Café, a Holbrook institution, known, among other menu staples, for its frybread.
“My grandfather made it bigger and more accessible to a restaurant crowd,” Curiel said. “The building is still in the family.”
Curiel, who grew up in Show Low, carried on with the family tradition.
“When you’re close to a restaurant it becomes part of your life, and it’s fun,” he said. “I started doing culinary in high school and when I graduated, I wanted to continue going with it.
There were 24 grandkids, but Curiel is the sole professional cook among them. “I’m the only one who followed in my grandfather’s footsteps,” he said. “I think he would have been proud to see this place, to see one of his offspring do this. When I opened, three years ago, I dedicated it to him. My grandmother was here for the ribbon-cutting.”
Curiel also credits Blue Ridge High School teacher Kay Shores for encouraging his career. “She was so hands-on with us, finding kids who wanted to do more, to be more, and give us that opportunity to continue growing,” he said. “Unfortunately, they eliminated her program. It hurts me to hear that because, had I not had that experience, I don’t know if I would have been in this industry. It’s really frustrating. I see what I was able to get out of it, and I wish that was something that everybody could continue with.”
Curiel went on to culinary school at the Art Institute in Phoenix. “I tried to do culinary as a whole and I found I was better at baking pastry,” he said. “That’s what I aimed for.”
Another mentor was Matt Simon, executive chef at Torreon Grille in Show Low. “He really took me under his wing and showed me the ropes,” Curiel said. “I got my work ethic from him. Matt taught me design and how to do beautiful things.”
Simon was a stern taskmaster. “One time he made me pipe little butter pats in squares and every one had to be correct. If any one was off, he made me take them all out and re-start. It only took me one time to mess up, and I learned. It made me a better chef.”
His career continued with jobs including cake decorating at an Albertson’s bakery and a wedding cake company in Maryland before moving back to Phoenix and back to Albertson’s, then Whole Foods and La Grande Orange.
“At Albertson’s, I learned to be really fast,” he said. “The fastest I ever decorated was one cake every minute and 20 seconds – and still made it look really nice.”
Perfection certainly shows in Curiel’s baked goods, with a menu centered on his six-inch, three-layer cakes, which start at $42 and go up with size and complexity of design for signature cakes.
A trio of tarts: raspberry rose (top), lemon and ganache (photo by Darryl Webb for North Central News). 
Macarons, from cornmeal to rose flavors line up at The Velvet Buttercream (photo by Darryl Webb for North Central News). 
Assorted cupcakes (photo by Darryl Webb for North Central News). 
Assorted cookies (photo by Darryl Webb for North Central News). 
Assorted tartletes (photo by Darryl Webb for North Central News). 
Colorful bonbons, in flavors including bananas Foster, key lime, strawberry and passion fruit, stand in rows at The Velvet Buttercream (photo by Darryl Webb for North Central News). 
Macarons, raspberries and buttercream kisses and swirls decorate a vanilla raspberry cake (photo by Darryl Webb for North Central News).
While in those early jobs, Curiel began working on a concept for his own bakery. At age 30 he began visiting coffee shops, seeing how they operated, getting inspiration, and making cakes in his home kitchen.
A friend convinced him to contribute to the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce Festival of Trees in 2017, and he put out 500 mini-cupcakes for the event, his table decorated with ornaments from Goodwill. By the end of the event, every cupcake was gone, and “people were raving about them,” Curiel said. “That put us on the map.”
He left La Grande Orange and the next week COVID hit.
“It was a blessing and a curse,” he said. “Grocery stores stopped doing custom cake orders, and there I was. We went from one or two cake orders every week to four or five cakes every day. The word started spreading like wildfire.”
He saved up enough money over seven years to open his own shop, a small space with a front case filled with lemon tarts, ganache tarts, cookies, macarons and cupcakes, mini-cakes and rolls and other small bites. His grandfather’s carrot cake is a favorite, along with Scarlett O’Hara, a red velvet cupcake with buttercream icing, topped with cream cheese icing, bourbon caramel dark chocolate drizzle and toasted pecans. Customers also can order party platters, pies, Buche de Noel and other holiday favorites.
At press time, Curiel hadn’t settled on a December special, but past years have featured his Joyeux Noel, a red velvet cake filled with chocolate ganache and peppermint buttercream, iced with more peppermint buttercream and decorated with chocolate macarons and other fancy designs.
“It’s one of our big-time favorites,” he said.
The Velvet Buttercream, 702 W. Camelback Road, Suite 5, is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Sunday. For information, call 602-734-1408 or visit www.velvetbuttercream.com.
