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![Renato Poliafito’s new cookbook showcases desserts and pastries Renato Poliafito with cake on stand next to him against yellow background with outlines of pie slices](https://aarp.widen.net/content/jzw7pcvzsh/jpeg/1140-dolci-promo.jpg?crop=true&anchor=0,0&q=80&color=ffffffff&u=7xsf69&w=1140&h=655)
Renato Poliafito, 50, grew up in New York assisting his mom in the kitchen while she prepared authentic Sicilian dishes for their family. He built a career in the fast-paced world of advertising but found himself drawn back to the kitchen. In 2005, he cofounded the successful Baked bakery in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and opened the nearby Italian bakery and coffee shop Ciao, Gloria, in 2019. The self-taught baker has cowritten five successful cookbooks — all packed with recipes for cakes, cookies and pies to satisfy the most ardent sweet tooth. His newest, Dolci! American Baking With an Italian Accent, showcases his unique take on desserts and pastries that are a blend of American and Italian favorites. Bonus: The book is packed with colorful photos from Italy that will have readers longing for a trip.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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You turned 50 this year. How did you celebrate?
I am ever the procrastinator, and part of me was hoping that there would be a huge surprise party for me, but … at the last minute, I threw together a little birthday shindig at the cafe [Ciao, Gloria] after hours. I had a bartender, had it catered, got some music and just had all the people I love together with me for a few hours on my 50th birthday. Then I went to Mexico City.
What is your go-to birthday dessert?
It’s been the same for years: I love Blackout Cake. That’s my big celebratory birthday cake. I’m a big chocolate fan. Basically, it’s a super-dark chocolate cake, usually with a buttermilk base — at least that’s how we make it — and then it has chocolate pudding filling and then a frosting on the outside. It’s a cake made famous by Ebinger’s, a bakery that no longer exists.
You dedicated this new book to your mom. How has she influenced you, particularly in the kitchen?
My mom just turned 90 this past November. [I thought it would be cool for the book to come out] when my mom turned 90 and I turned 50. She’s influenced me in so many ways. I grew up in the kitchen watching her cook. She had her specialty items that she would bake — the same three or four things all the time. I learned from watching her because she was also a traditional Sicilian housewife. There was a list of things that needed to be done every single day, so she was very regimented, and I would be her little assistant. I’ve kind of taken that into adulthood, where I’m pretty regimented.
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