Eve M. TaiDiva cupcakes,Back in the day, cupcakes were pretty straight-up. Your mom would drop some fluted paper cups in a cupcake tray, pour in batter from Duncan Hines, and slide the tray into the oven before waiting for the cakes to cool and slapping on some frosting from a can. If it was your birthday, you might get sugar sprinkles too. Now you’re all grown up and it’s your birthday every day at the Yellow Leaf Cupcake Company in Belltown. Come here to live cupcake versions of champagne wishes and caviar dreams. Liberally frosted and primped, cupcakes here literally perch on pedestals like beauty contestants. The menu of flavors changes daily; one afternoon my friend and I sampled the Boston Cream, Maple Lavender, and of course their signature Pancakes ‘n’ Bacon.Eve M. TaiEverything goes better with bacon.First up, the Boston Cream, a moist yellow cake with a top dipped into chocolate ganache, then frosted prettily and criss-crossed with chocolate sauce. The pastry cream dipped into the batter, and although on the mild side, it worked. Not so much with the Maple Lavender, where the teensiest whisper of maple came through and barely any lavender. On the up side, the cake was dense–grainy, even–giving it the hearty base that would have worked so well for something as robust as maple.The Pancakes ‘n’ Bacon cupcake gets the star treatment. Makes sense, given that it’s apparently been featured on The Cooking Channel and is the shop’s most popular cupcake. The concept of breakfast in a cupcake appeals, and the maple batter is generously studded with savory bacon sections. And although the frosting was also laden with bacon, the frosting itself felt out-of-place. The sweetness actually got in the way of getting a proper salt fix. Nobody really wants frosting on their pancakes ‘n’ bacon, and I suspect not on this cupcake either. (Maybe they should try a maple glaze?) Yellow Leaf Cupcake Company gets an A for effort on their creative flavor combinations and fanciful frosting techniques. The allure factor is high–some cupcakes fall short, but all are worth trying. Follow Voracious on Twitter and Facebook.