Before cupcakes, the only vehicle for frosting consumption was the bare hand, and the only place to load frosting onto that vehicle was the neighborhood frosting bucket. Eat frosting the evolved way with today's Groupon: for $10, you get $20 worth of cupcakes and drinks at Cupcakes Couture in Manhattan Beach. You can also put your Groupon toward Cupcakes Couture's baking classes.

Cupcakes Couture's squad of chefs, led by owner Jenine Cravatt, plucks fresh, high-end ingredients from local sources to prepare eye- and tongue-astounding cupcakes every morning. Topping the menu are gargantuan Couture Cupcakes such as the succulent Sunday Mimosa, a champagne cupcake lovingly injected with orange-curd filling and accented with citrus frosting, orange caviar, and the soaring anthem of a local marching band with oranges stuck in their horns. Less intimidating yet still stimulating are the 19 designer cupcakes. Little Miss Shortcake ($4) caps its strawberry cake and homemade strawberry preserves with vanilla-bean frosting and a pink French macaroon beret. Caffeine hounds sniff out the Jeweled Java (espresso-infused frosting resting on a moist hillock of flavorful chocolate mocha cake, $4) and hunt it down until it climbs a 12-ounce cup of Lavazza coffee ($1.50). Cupcakes Couture also offers bikini cupcakes, which have less than 100 calories.

You can also put your Groupon toward cupcake baking classes, where executive pastry chef Stephanie Franz schools a group on the essentials of baking (starting at $45 per person). Cupcakes Couture is an ideal environment for baking or lunch breaking, since its pleasant interior carries the air of an upscale boutique. Each friendly pastry engineer batters, kneads, and bakes directly in front of the open dining area, where it's never embarrassing to talk or eat with a dollop of frosting on one's nose.

Reviews

Over 50 Yelpers give Cupcakes Couture 3.5 stars, and Happy Hour Mom gave it a glowing review. There is also this profile on Stephanie Franz, executive pastry chef, on DailyBreeze.com for more info on the skill behind the deliciousness:

• Such a fun and inviting place, with employees who are so welcoming and friendly that they seem like they could be your girlfriends, and a display of the most inviting, extravagantly decorated cupcakes I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing (and now eating) personally. – Toni, Happy Hour Mom
• Forget Couture Clothing.... now it's all about the Couture Cupcakes. – Alexa Z., Yelp