The launch event featured a two-metre sculpted cake, Italian artistry and local flavours, showcasing how haute pâtisserie can thrive in unexpected places
On a breezy Zanzibar evening, just as the sun was beginning to sink into the Indian Ocean, I found myself walking into a place that felt more Milan than Mbweni Road.
Marble counters gleamed, pastry cases sparkled under the soft lights, and the scent of butter and espresso hung in the air.
This was the launch of Iliki, the new Italian pastry café by celebrated pastry maestro Luca Porretto and his business Claudio Moras.
The name Iliki means “cardamom” in Swahili, and from the very first glance, the space captured exactly that philosophy, Italian precision spiced with island soul.
Guests, a mix of locals, expatriates, and travellers, filled the café with the hum of excitement. Plates clinked, champagne fizzed, and phones were raised, ready to capture the evening’s centrepiece, a cake that defied lgravity.
At the heart of the café stood a towering two-metre sculpted cake, a masterpiece designed and crafted by Luca Porretto himself.
When the art arrived, a collective gasp filled the room… It was less dessert and more edible architecture, a work of art that seemed to capture the very spirit of Iliki.
Porretto, with the calm confidence of a master who has spent decades folding dough and tempering chocolate, described his philosophy simply, “Pastry should surprise at first glance and delight at first bite.”
The bottom layer, shaped like a cappuccino cup, anchored the creation in Italian tradition, while the next layer, called Starry Nights, captured the magic of Zanzibar’s skies.
Vivid sunsets with silhouetted palm trees reflected the island’s natural beauty, leading to a deeply symbolic heart-shaped Tanzanian flag embraced by the Italian flag, a poetic gesture of Italy embracing Zanzibar with love.
Another layer carried a quote from Claudio Moras, “At the end of the day, dreams are nothing else than goals that you set for yourself, but the more you believe in them, the more you increase the possibility that those dreams will become true.”
Crowning the creation, the topper bore the message “Handcrafted with love and Zanzibar flavours,” set against a backdrop of a starry night, perfectly marrying sentiment, artistry, and place.
Each layer represented something Luca and Claudio loved about Zanzibar, its skies, sunsets, culture, and flavours, all wrapped into one edible masterpiece.
Luca speaks passionately about the inspiration behind the cake.
“For the colours, I chose three shades of the sky, dawn, sunset, and night sky. The night sky is where you can see all the stars clearly, the classic blue of daytime, paired with palm trees, either in shadow or natural colours. All of this emerges from a cappuccino cup.”
He reflects on past monumental creations, including a 5.6-metre cake in Bologna, complete with aquariums and fire, and a Guinness World Record win involving 20 pastry chefs, triple decorators, and 300 people on the floor.
Compared to that grand spectacle, the Iliki cake required a different kind of focus, intimate, precise, and personal.
Each layer of the cake told its story and tested Luca’s skill. Humidity and heat challenged the sugar, delicate toppers demanded careful handling, and even the starry night layer had to be remade twice to achieve perfection. Luca recalls that the most difficult part was not its design but its careful placement.
“Probably, if we had made this cake in Italy, it would have been much easier,” he admits.
Yet, despite every obstacle, Luca approached the work with calm determination, ready for each step of the process. “I wasn’t waiting, I was ready,” he shares, embodying the patience, passion, and artistry that defined the launch of Iliki.
“There is a deep love and respect for this land,” he says, adding that a strong connection with Claudio made Iliki possible.
“If it had been only about business, it probably wouldn’t have been in Zanzibar. The challenge was bringing the concept of modern pastry, the kind refined all over the world, to a place that doesn’t yet have it.”
He highlighted the creativity in blending local ingredients with classical Italian techniques, such as cashew nuts to make salted caramel.
“The sweetest fruits you’ve ever tasted are here in Zanzibar. We don’t just create brand-new desserts from local ingredients, we also take classic Italian recipes and give them a twist. That’s what I love about this place.”
Throughout the night, waiters glided through the room carrying trays of mono-desserts, sculpted pastries that balanced lightness with indulgence.
A dome of glossy mango mousse cracked under my fork to reveal a tangy passion fruit core.
Another was a crisp puff, filled with soft apple and a touch of Zanzibar’s cinnamon.
Even the savoury bites had Porretto’s signature touch, miniature focaccia squares brushed with olive oil and pizzette topped with tomato confit, all impossibly light.
The coffee, flown in from Italy and brewed on gleaming machines, sealed the authenticity. With an espresso in hand, one could almost imagine being in Bologna until a waft of sea breeze and a distant call to prayer reminded us we were in Stone Town’s backyard.
While Luca tackled artistry, Claudio focused on philosophy. “It’s part of our job and our dream,” he tells me.
“If you do this work, you must always innovate, know when to change, and give something new to the customer. In my other restaurant, guests came every day for lunch, I had to surprise them. Here, we do the same. Every two or three weeks, something new.”
He gestures around the café, protective of its essence. “This kitchen should smell of butter, chocolate, hazelnut, pistachio, and cream. Not onion, not vitunguu, not tungule,” he says while laughing.
He further adds, “We want people to breathe sweetness. That’s why we’ll never add meat or turn it into a restaurant. Iliki is about pastry, nothing else.”
Zanzibar has long been a cultural crossroads, but Iliki adds a fresh layer to its culinary landscape.
By marrying Italian haute pâtisserie with the island’s own ingredients, spices, tropical fruits, and that easy rhythm of life, Porretto and Moras have created not just a café, but a meeting point of two traditions.
For Claudio, it’s also a story of patience and persistence.
“It all started with a few missed phone calls,” he shares smiling. “And tonight, to see people here, smiling with a pastry in hand, I know we made the right decision.”
The opening night wasn’t just about pastries. It was about ambition...showing that world-class craftsmanship can thrive in unexpected places.
Guests lingered, reluctant to leave, as if savouring not just the flavours but the idea that Zanzibar had suddenly joined the global pastry map.
As I stepped back into the night, the memory of that towering cake still vivid, I thought about Porretto’s words. Surprise at first glance, delight at first bite.
That, I realised, was exactly what Iliki had delivered, a bold statement in sugar, butter, and soul, born of an unlikely partnership and an island that has always embraced the unexpected.
