The long awaited cupcake shop has finally opened in downtown Champaign. It is a nice space with good light, the cupcakes are very cute; but sadly they are just not good. We stopped in twice this weekend and tried the chocolate, salted caramel, and balsamic strawberry. They were all so dry; they just crumbled upon being unwrapped. The chocolate cake was lacking a good chocolate flavor and was almost too dry to eat, the salted caramel was really just awful, the icing had an artificial metallic flavor and completely lacked the buttery flavor that comes from a salted caramel; the balsamic strawberry, while the best tasting cake, was still very dry and the balsamic drizzled on top served almost no purpose as the strawberry flavor was too subtle for any benefit the balsamic might have lended it. If you get your cakes to go, they are tossed in a bag, where they crumble more and the icing, by far the best part of the cake, can’t hold up in the bag. They have boxes, but you have to buy them for a buck, which is outrageous to me, as I have been to good cupcake shops, where there is no seating, but you can get an amazing cake for less and it always comes in a box to properly protect it. I feel very strongly that if you are going to make the decision to open a cupcake shop you should make an amazing cake. While these cakes are cute, they are just not amazing. Perhaps the shop will last because the space is really nice, the cakes, cute, which may make them tolerable, and it seems to be what people want in this town despite how good they are. The hours are spotty right now and the menu is unpredictable. They want to serve some sandwiches and maybe cereal, but they just can’t seem to figure it out and are prone to take down the menu if they don’t feel like making their sandwiches. Being on the very tail end of a trend is nothing new for Champaign, and neither is having the trend not delivered properly; it is disappointing. Perhaps they will work on the quality of the cake and really try to deliver something worthy of its own shop and give Champaign a cupcake worth stopping in for. If not, a trip to the city can always include a stop at a worthy cupcake shop.