MANILA, Philippines – What started as just a hobby more than six years ago is now self-taught baker Cara’s home-based business, thanks to her love for ube at a young age and the Filipinos’ penchant for anything made with the famous purple yam.

Cara’s passion project only officially became family-run business CRVE By Cara a few months ago, named after her own initials (although it also looks like “crave” to me). The best-selling towering cake, the Ube Crème Brulée Cake, is what spurred CRVE’s word-of-mouth success – everybody loves ube, which to many sweet tooths’ surprise, is actually really good paired with sweet crème brulée.

“Countless ube cakes and recipes have been tried, so we decided to create our own. We wanted it to be enjoyable and very addicting and the first of its kind in the Metro,” Cara told Rappler.

With the goal to introduce classic flavors “in a new light,” Cara created the soft, light Ube Crème Brulée Cake – a bright-purple, fluffy, and moist ube chiffon cake with a generously thick layer of airy, lightly sweetened ube cream. It may not look like it, but the cake’s ube flavor is actually subtle and not very overpowering. However, what seals the deal is the homemade custard cream layered on top – it’s blow-torched until slightly crisp and charred, resulting in a thin crème brulée topping that’s addictively sweet and creamy (I wish there was more of it, actually)!

CRVE by Cara’s 9″ round Ube Crème Brulée Cake costs P900, which is pretty affordable considering the height of the cake. It can easily please five to six people. All of Cara’s homemade items are preservative-free and made from scratch.

The home-based bakery, which is located in Quezon City, also offers Tres Leches Cakes in Dulce de Leche and Ube Yema flavors. Customers can place their orders via Instagram. – Rappler.com