John McCann

jmccann@heraldsun.com; 419-6601

DURHAM -- It has to be a real nuisance for the neighbors -- the Favor Desserts business Keijuane Hester runs out of his southern Durham home.

Hester bakes cakes for a living, and the man's handiwork teases the nostrils even before he opens his front door and unleashes a scent that absolutely slaps the sinuses.

The joke is his to-die-for cakes are so addictive that crack must be one of the ingredients. Which actually is a workable punch line considering that Hester was a drug dealer who traded the street life for the sweet life.

"His cakes are delicious," Blue Coffee Cafe cashier Frances Brandon said.

"Phenomenal," William's Gourmet Kitchen manager Will Roumanis said. "His red-velvet cupcakes sell like crazy."

Yeah, but all Hester's doing is following recipes. Give another baker the same scripts and the results would be the same, right?

"I have an eye for it," Hester explained. "I'll give you the recipe all day. But you have to have an eye."

The guy makes his own icings, and Hester on Thursday was slathering some on a German chocolate cake. He said he follows recipes. But the man doesn't stand in the kitchen reading line by line.

"I got all my recipes in my head," Hester said.

What people have to understand is this baking thing is about timing, Hester said. It's about feel, he said.

A sure-enough baker knows just when to turn off the mixer, knows just when it's time to ease those cakes out of the oven, Hester said.

Now, right along then the timer went off on one of Hester's ovens.

But if this baking thing is about feel and not some clock, then who's to say those cakes actually were ready?

"I know my cakes," Hester insisted.