Ginny Roces de Guzman, the brains behind Tilde Bakery and Kitchen, has been baking since she was a child.

"My mom taught me how to bake as soon as I learned how to read. She gave me a Betty Crocker book for children, the one with the red-and-white checkered cover, and left me to figure it out on my own," says Ginny who was 13 when she started giving baking lessons to the neighborhood kids every summer.

In 1983 armed with a full repertoire of amazing cakes, Ginny partnered with friends to open Sugarhouse, which easily became famous for its not just delicious but also humongous cakes. The standard size was nine-by-five inches! The restaurant had a good 25-year run before Ginny and her partners decided to sell in 2008.

Ginny spent the next three years doing consultancy work with restaurants and bakeries. Missing baking, though, she teamed up with her buddy from grade school, Chiqui Lara, and opened a small bakery and private dining place in Bonifacio Global City. After seven years of operations, they moved it to Poblacion, Makati City, and renamed it Tilde Bakery and Kitchen, after Matilde Street, where the bakery was located. Tilde served sourdoughs, babkas, hot cross buns, pour-over coffees, cold brews, and home-made soda concoctions, and customers came to savor its Kimchi Reuben Sandwich, Black Pancit, spinach gnudi, and sisig carbonara.

Then the pandemic reached the Philippines in 2020, forcing Tilde to close down café operations and make bakery concentrate on cakes and breads for delivery. The cakes became really popular, including the now ubiquitous French Apple Pie that Ginny is known for, Chocolate Truffle Cake (light chocolate cake with whipped chocolate truffle layers and a dusting of cocoa powder on top), Turtle Pie (chocolate shortbread filled with caramel, walnuts, chocolate mousse, plus a dark chocolate glaze topping), Pistachio Sans Rival (layers of meringue and pistachio buttercream, covered with chopped pistachios), Limoncello (light sponge cake with tangy lemon curd, covered with white chocolate and cream cheese icing), and Lychee Cheesecake (lychee cream cheese filling on Graham crust).

Tilde moved to Brixton Street in Pasig City, later that year to become a full-fledged cake shop. Cakes like (moist olive oil cake with fresh orange slices, finished with a sprinkling of chopped pistachios), Carrot Cake Cheesecake (carrot cake with a baked cheesecake center, topped with cream cheese frosting, sprinkled with chopped pistachios), Canonigo (fluffy meringue covered with dark caramel sauce, and Rum Custard served on the side), Honey Cake (layers of chiffon and whipped buttercream, covered in crunch candy), and Strawberry Shortcake (vanilla sponge cake with strawberry filling between layers, covered in whipped cream, with fresh strawberries on top), rivaled the early favorites.

Most cakes are available in full and petite sizes. For orders and delivery, Tilde Viber and mobile phone +63 966-9467137, or email tildebakery@gmail.com.