Royal Cheesecake & Varieties, LLC — Restaurant in Raleigh

Quickly after embarking on an online search for a decadent cheesecake for my husband’s birthday, I came across Royal Cheesecake & Varieties. They stuck out to me not only because the cheesecakes looked and sounded extraordinarily delicious, but because after seeing another bakery/restaurant that made a concerted but wholly futile effort to brand themselves as elitist and therefore inherently exclusionary (well, the latter stuck), I was drawn to the warmth and kindness that Ken and Tamara asserted. In any scenario, but particularly when concerning small businesses, my money is best spent where I feel the most resolute about the caliber of human(s) that it goes to support. In this case, I’m very pleased to report that it’s undoubtedly who Ken and Tamara are through and through. They’re the kindest, most accommodating, and endlessly talented bakers you’ll ever have the pleasure of meeting. They genuinely care about their customers in a way that cannot be faked and even checked in with us thereafter to make sure we were happy with it. Now, the cheesecake itself: I went with a 10 inch cherry cheesecake. It was absolutely massive, but not just in circumference. I expected what I generally see from other bakeries — a larger circumference that would compensate for a shorter or thinner cake — this was anything but. I personally weighed it and it came in at exactly 9.5lbs of pure heaven presented in a beautiful powder pink box. It’s unquestionably the best cheesecake I’ve ever had, incomparably smooth and perplexingly both dense and impossibly airy. The flavors are tastebud-bursting marvels; the cherries are perfectly tart, balanced beautifully by the cheesecake itself, and the crisp crunch of the graham-cracker crust has remained undaunted even days after it was made. The 10 inch is enough to feed a small country, and I’m thrilled to be half of said small country. Plus, I feel rather confident that as long as I take a Royal Cheesecake to the diplomatic meeting, I’ll leave with NATO membership. In all seriousness, it brings my heart great satisfaction to have found such talented and lovely people whose passion produces the most exceptional cheesecake you’ll ever taste. Next time I want cheesecake (which won’t be long as I can’t wait to try other flavors), the search will extend only to my iPhone’s contacts list. Ken and Tamara earned a...

I ordered a carrot cake from Royal for my husband's birthday. His comments pretty much nailed it: "I have no notes. I do not believe you could have a better carrot cake than this." The cake itself was perfectly moist with just the right amount of nuts and raisins. The spice profile was magical and the texture was spot on. And the icing? It was equally delightful. This was not your standard block-of-cream-cheese-and-a-whole-lot-of-powdered-sugar icing. While it had cream cheese in it, the flavor was balanced with a sweet (but not too sweet) creaminess that combined for a more elegant and cake-complimenting cream cheese frosting than I've ever had (most of the time cream cheese frosting is like the candy side-car with your cake as opposed to part of the cake). While I have a big sweet tooth, I'm not generally a huge cake fan because my tolerance window is small - the consistency, moisture, texture and flavor have to be perfect for cake to be even tempting, and the icing can't be too much of an in-your-face sugar bomb. But this cake? It may be one of the best desserts I've ever had. Cannot thank you enough,...

We asked our son what type of cake he wanted for his birthday. He said, “Red Velvet Cookies and Cream”. Needless to say, we didn’t even know where to start.

First things first, I wanted to find a black owned bakery. A quick google search brought up several options. The first place I called said they make two types of Red Velvet cake (basically, nothing custom).

Thankfully, my second call was to Royal Cheesecake and Varieties. Chef Kenneth J answered and we brainstormed for a little while to figure out what this cake could be. We agreed that Red Velvet cake with Cookies & Cream frosting would likely be the best option. He told me that (Baker) Tamera would call me back to finalize the order. We set the date and time of pick-up and I was sent an invoice.

When we surprised our son with this cake he was sooooooo happy! It was exactly what he wanted! Not to mention how amazing it tasted!

5 stars is not even enough! Thank y’all so much! I’ll be sure to try a...