• Riccardo Magni is an Italian Pastry Chef with over two decades of experience in the confectionery industry.
He began his career working alongside his father, Paolo, combining laboratory work with solid professional training, which included numerous specialization courses, internships and collaborations.
Over the years, he has accumulated extensive experience both nationally and internationally, working in highly professional contexts. He has collaborated with important entities in the confectionery field, both in Italy and abroad, and has published numerous articles in prestigious specialized magazines.
At the moment, Riccardo Magni works as a trainer and consultant, a complex role that allows him to leverage his knowledge and expertise in multiple directions. His transition from Pastry Chef to consultant in the field opened up opportunities for collaboration on an international scale, carrying out projects in Europe, Asia, the Mediterranean area and the Arab countries. Through partnerships with profile companies, specialized publications and educational and demonstration activities, he contributes to the development and innovation of the confectionery sector at a global level.
Two years after the previous dialogue, held at the Sigep 2025 international exhibition, Riccardo Magni gave a new exclusive interview to the Arta Albă editorial team, which you can read below.
1. How have trends in confectionery manifested themselves in the last two years, since our last discussion?
I think that trends in confectionery in Italy, but also outside of Italy, are undergoing very strong changes. We are certainly observing – and I share this with many other colleagues – a return to desserts that are a little simpler, to what we call "comfort food". Those dishes that have to be very, very good and must please customers in a clear, simple and immediate way.
A lot of attention must be paid to production techniques and the use of technology, which is absolutely very important today. The use of cold, the use of molds, the precise knowledge of raw materials, all this means that a professional can make sweets designed for today, modern, adapted for 2025.
I like to use the term "contemporary desserts". They have their roots in the past, carrying with them important, very strong traditions, as well as the use of noble raw materials. And we come and reconstruct this wealth and value from the past with the help of technology and knowledge that we have today.
2. How do you see the fusion between tradition and innovation in Italian sweets?
The traditional products, these iconic names, are always very, very popular and are the ones that customers love the most. But I rebuilt them in a slightly more contemporary, slightly more elegant way, using the means that we have at our disposal in 2025: using technology, using the blast chiller, using different molds.
It's easier, faster, safer and more hygienic! And it's also much more profitable for a company's economy, because the working time is shorter. You have to give the traditional dessert a more modern, more elegant, cleaner, minimalist aesthetic. This is what really attracts.
If you want to create something really spectacular, it takes up to two days to get the baking bases, the creams, the finishes. But now there are also those cakes that the confectioner can make quickly: he can go home and make them the next morning. Certainly not elaborate things, with many layers, but a little simpler, but this fact is really valuable.
Trends come and go, but these traditional desserts remain, as does the use of flavors considered classic, such as hazelnuts, berries, vanilla, tastes that everyone likes. Because when you eat dessert, you have to be able to immediately say "It's good!", very direct and simple. It shouldn't make you think: "It tastes like this, it tastes like...". No! The reaction must be: "I'm eating, it's good, it's tasty!".
3. What desserts do you think represent modern confectionery?
I like to think that today's pastry can sometimes be represented with simple ingredients and classic flavor combinations, but which can take various forms within a dessert, like, for example, a cake. Sacher cake, with chocolate, a hazelnut cake, a yarrow, all these products can represent contemporary desserts. Because today we are also working on the type of structures, on the aesthetics. This is a bit of my vision.
4. Can you tell us about projects or collaborations that have particularly inspired you lately?
One of the things that has inspired me the most over time is the work we had to do every year to renew and innovate the menu range in the bakeries where I worked.
This was a constant challenge, because we always applied a strategy that was a bit like the one in the fashion world, namely spring-summer desserts, autumn-winter desserts. Along with these, there could never be a lack of bestsellers. And that meant a constant research for new cakes that we wanted to create.
Even today, as freelancer, I have this constant challenge, because in collaborations with companies, when we develop new recipe books, new proposals, we must always have the ability to innovate. So, this challenge always accompanies us and is the most stimulating activity for a professional in the world of confectionery. This keeps us, in my opinion, absolutely alive: this continuous spark that must never be missing!
5. Are you working on any new projects or books now?
Absolutely! I am working on a new editorial project. But in this case the times are always very long, because it involves correlating several aspects. And I am also working on various projects, in and outside Italy, which, certainly, can be interesting especially for the future, both in the didactic sphere and in the world of consultancy, of collaborations with various companies in the field. In other words, you should never stand still!
6. Is there an ingredient you love working with?
One of the ingredients I love the most is chocolate. Because chocolate is a product that can take many forms: it can be used for structure, for taste, for aesthetics. And it has its place in all preparations in the confectionery world, from chocolate, to snacks, ice cream, pastry bases and then to the preparation of desserts in the entire restaurant industry, and even in gastronomy!
So it is a product that I would call magical, it is a multifunctional product. And, above all, it is a product with a strong character, because when it is present in a recipe, it is really the ingredient that catalyzes all the attention on it. Therefore, the use of chocolate must always be done in a professional manner, being equally a difficult ingredient, which can bring significant structural changes to recipes.
7. What motivates you to continue?
What drives me – and it seems easy to say – is the passion for this job. Because I have a job that I love and that is so stimulating, I wake up in the morning thinking about how lucky I am and what I will do that day and go to bed at night thinking about the same thing. I couldn't do anything else and I don't want to think about doing anything else. That's all I care about. It's an unconditional love for confectionery.
Interview conducted by Gabriela Dan, Editor-in-Chief of Arta Alba, during Sigep World 2025.
Read on White Art and: Interview with Riccardo Magni – Pastry Chef extraordinaire
