Cupcakes overcompensate for their relatively short stature with height-enhancing frosting helmets, show-offy sprinkle epaulets, and repeated attempts to invade 19th-century Russia. Boost a cupcake's confidence with today’s Groupon: for $5, you get six cupcakes at Courtney’s Bakery (up to a $15 value).

Bewitched by baking at a young age, Courtney’s Bakery’s namesake sweetsmith has dedicated her career to crafting colorfully decorated delicacies. In her kitchen's confines, whisk wizards fashion baby cakes from carefully chosen ingredients, coating moist, fluffy cake bases in silk-smooth buttercream ($1+ each). Alternately, a passel of specialty cupcakes sport frosting designs intricate enough to impress magnifying-glass-wielding microscopes ($2.50 each). With diverse flavors and decorations, Courtney's Bakery cupcakes can sweeten a wide range of occasions, from birthday shindigs and office meetings to reenactments of medieval custard-slinging festivals.