Do you remember the first time you tasted something that made you stop mid-bite and think, “I had no idea this was possible”?
For an entire generation of Mumbaikars, that moment happened at Toujours. And why not? Its chocolate mousse entremet was flawless, and the macarons were impossibly delicate. Plus, it brought them the sense that dessert could be art, theater, and emotion distilled into a single bite.
With Toujours, Alpa Pereira brought French patisserie to Mumbai and, in the process, gave the city a new language written in sugar, flour, and dreams.
Speaking with The Restaurant Times, the woman who has spent four decades redefining what dessert means in India reveals why she believes baking is the ultimate form of storytelling, and what it really takes to make people fall in love with something they never knew they were missing.
The First Spark
It started when Alpa was just seven years old, standing in her aunt’s kitchen. “A homemade cake by my aunt sparked something in me,” she recalls. “By age 10, I was trying to bake things myself.”
In 1970s India, when homemade desserts were rare and French patisserie was unheard of, that spark felt unlikely to last. Yet it grew into something that would eventually reshape Mumbai’s dessert culture. The journey, though, had to survive decades of doubt, reinvention, and the question that shadows every creative entrepreneur: Is this actually possible?
The answer, it turns out, was more complex than anyone imagined.
Building the Foundation
Cake n Candy launched in 1984, when Alpa was barely out of her teens. “Cake n Candy was my launchpad in 1984, but formal training abroad reshaped everything,” she explains.
Most entrepreneurs would have been satisfied. She had a working business, steady customers, and a clear path forward. But Alpa knew that copying what worked elsewhere would never create what Mumbai really needed. She needed to go to the source.
So she left. Paris. Switzerland. Germany. Las Vegas. Each destination taught her something different about the craft. “Paris gave finesse and the value of fine ingredients, Switzerland taught precision, Germany offered structural discipline, and Las Vegas emphasized bold presentation.”
However, eventually, mastery came not from any single school but from weaving them all into a style that was unmistakably her own.
The Leap: Defining a Generation
By 2009, Alpa faced a decision that would change her career and Mumbai’s relationship with desserts. She could stay comfortable with Cake n Candy, or she could risk everything on a vision that most people thought was impossible: bringing authentic French patisserie to a market that barely knew it existed.
“Toujours was born out of a desire to bring refined, elegant patisserie to India,” she says. “It was about merging technique and emotion to offer more than just dessert, an experience rooted in authenticity and beauty.”
The risk was huge. French patisserie requires ingredients that were nearly impossible to source in India. Plus, customers here had never tasted authentic macarons. A market she was dealing with only associated dessert with mithai. And there was this constant pressure to simplify, to make things “more Indian,” and to compromise the vision for commercial viability.
Alpa refused.
Creating Magic in Motion
The best thing about Toujours is how it creates story-driven experiences through custom designs. Whether it’s a motion cake with revolving teacups or a Halloween coffin with a sitting skeleton, each piece moves, resonates, and delights. Still, the spectacle is only part of the magic. What lingers is the emotional connection behind it.
Alpa understands that people want to be part of a story. They want an experience that transforms an ordinary moment into something unforgettable. She shares: “Creativity starts with a theme or feeling. We sketch, prototype, taste, and refine. It’s a process of balancing form and flavor until it all comes together harmoniously.”
This process (from feeling to form to flavor) is what separates Toujours from every other dessert shop. People here don’t just buy cakes; they commission memories.
The Price of Perfection
Behind every perfect entremet and flawless presentation lies a truth that Alpa speaks about with unusual candor for someone in her position: the emotional cost of obsession.
“There are important family moments I’ve missed, but I’ve been able to push forward thanks to the support of my loved ones. Resilience here has become a necessity.”
It’s a recognition that building something extraordinary requires sacrifices that go far beyond money or time. It requires choosing your craft over convenience, your vision over easy victories, your standards over sleep.
But for Alpa, these weren’t sacrifices made in vain. They were investments in something bigger than a business. “Our workspace feels like family, and I often tell my team they are my first family, because I spend so much time with them. That bond is what sustains us.”
Toujours On the Venn
Toujours sits at the intersection of innovation, inclusivity, and consistency. Innovation drives its technical and creative audacity. Inclusivity ensures everyone can partake, with both classic and egg-free options crafted to the same exacting standard. Consistency guarantees every creation meets the benchmark customers have trusted for decades.
Early on, Toujours earned its place in Mumbai’s elite cake-design circles with a landmark project: a 25th wedding anniversary cake for Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu. That commission signaled the brand could operate at the highest level of craft and prestige.
Reviews call Toujours “a brand that never lets customers down.” People often praise the brand’s reliability, packaging, and how custom creations often surpass reference images.
Going digital only expanded that trust. Toujours.co.in made premium patisserie accessible across Mumbai, with delivery designed to feel as polished as any in-store experience. Alpa and her daughter Natasha approached the online space as an extension of the brand’s storytelling, using thoughtful packaging and service to make sure nothing was lost in translation.
Decades later, Toujours has become more than a patisserie. Customers here don’t just order cakes; they trust the brand to transform occasions into lasting memories with creations that include everyone and never compromise on quality.
Redefining Success
Ask Alpa what success means today versus when she started, and her answer reveals how entrepreneurs mature alongside their creations.
“Earlier, success meant recognition. Now, it’s when people who grew up eating my cakes bring their children to me. That sense of legacy and emotional connection means everything.”
It’s the shift from building a business to building a legacy. From making desserts to making memories. From serving customers to serving generations.
This evolution is visible in her signature creation: the chocolate mousse entremet she developed in 1987 after a trip to Paris. “It remains a best-seller and a personal milestone.” Because it represents the perfect fusion of technique, emotion, and story that defines everything Alpa creates.
The Language of Dessert
What sets Alpa apart is her understanding that dessert is fundamentally about communication. About creating moments that people remember long after the last bite is gone.
“There’s huge potential in blending Indian ingredients with classic French techniques—not just in flavour, but in structure and story. Interactive desserts and seasonal, experience-led menus are also waiting to be explored.”
This perspective has sustained her through decades of challenges that would have ended most careers: being a woman in a male-dominated industry, pioneering techniques that didn’t exist, and creating demand for products people didn’t know they wanted.
“Breaking stereotypes and juggling roles has been tough. But owning my identity, strengths, and voice has been the most empowering part of the journey.”
The Untold Revolution
Alpa Pereira’s story redefines our perspective about dessert, experience, and possibility.
Before Toujours, Mumbai’s dessert scene was limited to traditional Indian sweets and basic bakery items. Today, it’s a sophisticated landscape where technique meets emotion, where French precision meets Indian warmth, and where every dessert carries a story.
Alpa didn’t just bring French patisserie to Mumbai. She created a new language for expressing joy, celebration, and connection. A language spoken through carefully balanced flavors, precise techniques, and experiences that transform ordinary moments into extraordinary memories.
And perhaps most importantly, she proved that authenticity doesn’t mean compromise, and that the most powerful business strategy is simply caring more than anyone else thinks is reasonable.
For four decades, Alpa has been teaching Mumbai how to speak this language. One perfect dessert at a time.
