Desire to eat a soft dainty (8)
I believe the answer is:
appetite
'desire' is the definition.
(I know that appetite is a type of craving)
'a soft dainty' is the wordplay.
'soft' becomes 'p' (musical abbreviation for piano, 'soft').
'dainty' becomes 'petite' (I've seen this before).
'a'+'p'+'petite'='APPETITE'
'to eat' acts as a link.
This may not be right. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for appetite that I've seen before include "desire to take courses" , "A feeling of craving something" , "Physical desire as for food" , "Hunger; desire" , "Hunger or zeal" .)