The name says it all — Best Brazo Cake or BB3C created by renowned chef Gene Cordova and business partner Daki Fernando.

This all-time favorite Brazo de Mercedes is a sure winner for its uniqueness. Cordova's round version (not rolled) is extra fluffy, thick and chewy, and layered and topped with a decadent, velvety and not-too-sweet custard.

"We call the cake and our business BB3C for Best Brazo Cake, Best Butter Cake and Best Best Cake," explains Fernando. "BB3C started during the pandemic but after six months of home-based business, we finally opened our physical store in Salcedo Village, Makati City."

Cordova and Fernando used to run a culinary school in Makati, AHA Philippines, "but after we closed it chef Gene pursued his passion for baking."

"When he had the time to bake during the pandemic, he made brazo cakes and later on decided to sell," shares Fernando.

Brazo, adds Fernando, is a cake that chef Gene always bake wherever he goes. He loves to travel and would always stay in serviced apartments to have an available kitchen to cook. His vacation means going to the local market to check out ingredients and then cook or bake. The brazo, being his favorite, has always been a staple and he has tried many versions of the brazo from every country he would visit, from Europe to United States to Asia.

Chef Gene studied culinary arts at Le Cordon Bleu, Paris, and at the Ecole Ritz Escoffier, Paris, but would take on the side courses on pastry and baking.

Fernando shares BB3C is 100-percent all natural, with eggs straight from the family farm. "Aesthetically, it's not the usual brazo because chef Gene wants to make the meringue extra chewy to contrast the texture of the custard. It may look unappealing to some but the reaction when you taste it will be totally different," he says.

"We look at our cakes as works of art. Chef Gene, who is classically trained in baking and culinary arts in Paris and New York, and I, as a UP Diliman Fine Arts professor, have put so much thought process on how each brazo should look like given the parameters of the baking technique used and the textural feel of the cake that we want. With the way the brazo is baked, it's impossible to have your usual rolled or the perfect round-shaped brazo. There are no two cakes alike. Each cake has a character of its own," Fernando adds.

Yes, they purposely didn't aim for a uniform, perfect pretty cakes. They hope to show the varying temperament of the process in baking the meringue — how it rises high up the pan with high heat and how it immediately falls flat with cool air. "We then look at it as a process of assemblage, where we make the brazo rise again by putting all the elements of the cake together. We curate with the cream based on the contours of the meringue. We find beauty in spontaneity and all its imperfections," says Fernando.

BB3C other popular cakes include 10-inch Belgian Chocolate Brazo, P1,250; 10-inch Marble Brazo P1,150; 10-inch Orange Butter Cake P1,250; 10-inch Classic Butter Cake P1,250, 10-inch Ube Butter Cake with Custard Dip P1,500; and 10-inch Chocolate Fudge Cake P2,500. The 10-inch Classic Custard Brazo is priced at P1,050.

Call two days in advance for bulk order. The bakeshop, open from 10 am to 5 p.m., is on the ground floor, Classica 1 Building, Fronting Bautista Street (backside of the building), Salcedo Village, Makati City. For more details, call 0920-9385645 or visit www.bb3cbakeshop.com; Facebook: Best Brazo Cake; Instagram: best_brazo_cake.