My Secret Passion
Pastry has always been my secret passion. Not because it is prettier than savoury cooking, but because it asks for a completely different way of thinking.
A meringue is not a tart. A tiramisù is not a chocolate cake. Choux pastry, custards, biscuits, fruit tarts, cheesecakes, yeasted cakes — each has its own logic, its own technique and its own little moment of magic.
Endless possibilities
What I love about pastry is how much there is of it. Techniques, textures, flavours, traditions — each one opens onto another, and I have never quite been able to resist following them.
Italian classics are naturally part of the story — and tiramisù will always have a place at the table — but curiosity has taken me further: chocolate, fruit, pastry, creams, meringues, baked desserts and recipes borrowed from many different traditions.
I still find it fascinating that flour, butter, eggs, sugar and fruit can become so many completely different things.
Made to be eaten
I love beautiful desserts, but I have never been interested in making something beautiful at the expense of making it delicious. For me, the important moment is still the one when the cake is cut and everyone takes a bite.
And then there was cake design…
Cake design is a serious business. Luckily, I was never a cake designer.
But every now and then, friends — or children — refused to take no for an answer. So there were princesses, unicorns, cartoon characters and more sugar paste than I care to remember. Underneath all that decoration, though, was always a cake worth eating in its own right — chocolate or strawberry, with pastry cream and real fillings.
The decoration was the adventure. The cake was still the point.
Sweet things, simply because I love making them.
This isn't a separate cake business or a catalogue of celebration cakes. It is simply another part of my kitchen — the one where precision, curiosity and a little patience turn into something sweet.