Favor Desserts — Restaurant in Durham

This will not be a friendly review but a bluntly honest one.

Their business model completely revolves around availability. There is no respect here for the customer and bare-minimum passion for the craft. As long as they get the bills paid and money in pocket, there is no reason to change bad behavior.

I will start with the positive since I want to give some relief. The frosting seems slightly thicker last I’ve been here. (Usually indication of higher ingredient/technique(time/effort). This main building will always be clean and service kind.

The relevantly negative: The cake is ‘fall apart’, holding low uniform. There’s no point in trading flavors. You will find the familiar taste of a combination of cheap ingredients. Instead of just saying “cost”, since there is clearly a naive behavioral problem here, I am going to give a relatable explanation:

It is clear that if a dessert spot cannot aim high enough to be a Bakery due to quality…then they are selling an experience. That’s their service. A moment to break away and have something sweet in life’s bitter. Here’s the question. If thats your voice, What experience are ‘you’ offering? A spoonful of sugar? A copy of a legitimate existing flavor when much of what you see in life is fake? All Americans eat is sugar. All we get is fake. All we get advertised to is nostalgia. What’s the experience offered?

When I finished my dessert, I remembered people ALWAYS spend double then they think, beyond regular currency…..you spent TIME-and the message received? “if it’s not worth OURS, yours certainly isn’t:”

And I’ll end it as always with financial wisdom to a consumer: invest in what you want to see, not...

Nice store, nice staff, convenient parking. I bought 5 different combos. All were nicely moist with about 2x the amout of icing I needed... although, the dolop of icing does look cute.

--Chocolate cake with white icing. Too sweet for me. I might consider buying one sans icing, but probably not for $3.50. --Strawberry cake - fruity/jammy flavor, tasty. Not just a tsp of strawberry flavoring. --Lemon pound cake is really, nice, bright, lightly tangy. Would love a tiny loaf with a dainty stripe of icing. I opted to cut the lemon slice in half (top&bottom layers), the icing is sweet (gratfully not as sweet as white or pink icing) and a wedge of pound cake is rather substantial.

I'm wishing for less icing, on everything.

--Carrot cake is one of my favorites... I have yet to try this one. I see huge nut particles and fine shreds of carrots. Saving it for this evening... followed by some kind of massive workout.

I wish the prices and combinations were labeled. The counter clerk was very knowledgable, but with about 17 combos of the same 7 cakes and 3 icings that I lost track. Its nice a nice treat to buy something already baked, I understand you have to make a living, and I like supporting local businesses especially eateries... but $3.50 for a cupcake is the same cost as a whole box mix + can of icing. (I like to make from scratch, but its one way to compare)... or compare to a slice?

I recommend Favor if you're looking for a cake or...

Two stars might be too few but three might be too many. I live nearby and pass by frequently so I finally stopped in earlier today to try it. I chose from the selection of just slices and basic cupcakes, all in chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, red velvet or carrot cake, and all with the same thick cream cheese frosting. Tried the strawberry and chocolate cupcake.

The chocolate one was alright, tasted just enough like chocolate but nothing special and a bit dry. The strawberry cupcake had no strawberry flavor at all and was completely dominated by the cream cheese frosting, even after I took off half of it. I'm afraid Betty Crocker boxed strawberry cake mix tastes more like strawberries than this.

Overall I was very disappointed and honestly puzzled as to what all the fuss is about. They miss a real opportunity, among others, by putting the same one-note, sweet cream cheese frosting on all their "flavors". The chocolate cupcake needs a good ganache frosting or some other chocolate icing or glaze, the strawberry cupcake desperately needs strawberry in the cake itself but also strawberry frosting or glaze for a proper full strawberry treatment. For a proper bakery and dessert experience with great unique variety, incredible flavors, flawless execution and a wonderful, hidden setting, go to La Recette...