Cupcakes, although not the rage they once were, are maintaining their A-status enough to warrant interior design from places like the award-winning avroKO. The effect makes Crave look—with its abundance of glass and sunlight—every bit like a fine jewelry store. It’s no accident that the colors within are brown and turquoise, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the famous palette of Tiffany’s. Cupcakes arranged in precise lines are carefully iced in elegant shades of taupe, cocoa, and eggshell. While the cakes are uniformly moist, the intensity of flavor varies: key lime cake has more vanilla than tart lime, and red velvet doesn’t taste enough like cocoa. Dark chocolate has the unmistakable taste of chocolate, but without the deep bitterness implied by the “dark.” Frostings are more assertive and usually garnished well: a burst of tartness from key lime zest rounded out with finely crushed graham cracker, and cream cheese frosting with just the right blend of sweet and sour.

The $3.25 price tag is a bit hard to stomach. In many cases, it feels as though you’re really paying for precious touches like the fondant seal that comes on some of the cakes, imprinted with the Crave logo. For that reason, they make popular gifts and wedding-cake substitutes. What, we wonder, will become the cupcake substitute?