Cupcakes are so popular in America that the top three Internet searches are cupcakes, hunky firemen, and hunky firemen kissing cupcakes. Get web 2.0 with today's Groupon: for $5, you get $10 worth of gourmet cupcakes at Phoebe's Cupcakes in Lakeview.

Decorating unsuspecting baked goods with a host of frostings and fillings from their pastry holsters, Phoebe’s Cupcakes’ quick-draw confectioners keep the peace at dessert tables around the city with more than 200 cupcake flavors. The cupcakery’s pastry school trained taste technicians bake 15 carefully culled selections from this list each day.

Like the world’s worst traffic light, the line-up changes weekly, but recent edible entrants include the Breakfast Cupcake's maple-glazed bacon bits, the espresso-soaked Tiramisu, and the Tuxedo’s elegant vanilla and chocolate duet, which adds a touch of class to postdinner noshes and prefuneral food fights (cupcakes are $2.75 each). Inquisitive culinarians can sneak peeks at weekly menus and flame wars with rude gingerbread men by checking out Phoebe's Twitter page.

Reviews

Although Metromixers give Phoebe's Cupcakes a 2.7-star average, it is recommended by Metromix and Centerstage Chicago, and it has a four-star average from more than 245 Yelpers. More than 1,200 Facebookers like Phoebe's Cupcakes.

• That's probably why Lakeview has been anticipating the opening of Phoebe's so heartily. The cute robin's egg blue walls and dark wooden tables and chairs give the place a coffee shop feel with a bakery heart. – Christy Bonstell, Centerstage
• Walters and McNamara focus on high-end ingredients, using whole vanilla beans, fresh-fruit garnishes and other gourmet touches. They've also got more than 200 flavors up their sleeves, from strawberry mojito to mint chocolate chip. – Metromix