Before cupcake pans, personalized dessert portions were made by baking full-sized cakes and shrinking them in the dryer. Skip extra steps with today's Groupon to the America's Biggest Cupcake Decorating Event, the Richmond Edition, from Charm City Cupcakes, held September 24 at the Richmond Marriott. Choose from the following options:

• For $45, you get a Cupcake Decorating 101 workshop from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., including a decorating kit (a $90 value).
• For $45, you get a Cupcake Decorating 101 workshop from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., including a decorating kit (a $90 value).
• For $55, you get a Mommy/Daddy & Me cupcake-decorating workshop from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., including a decorating kit (a $110 value). This includes admission for one parent and child; an extra participant can be added for $30.
• For $45, you get a Girls' Night Out Cupcake Decorating 101 workshop from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., including a decorating kit (a $90 value).
  
  

The pastry chefs at Charm City Cupcakes hone apprentices' abilities to artistically adorn baked goods through fun-filled workshops that borrow directly from Charm City's cupcake classes. During the Cupcake Decorating 101 workshop, students learn to create frostings as well as proper piping and filling techniques. Armed with edible accouterments, cupcake artisans slather prebaked chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with mouthwatering buttercream icing, creating cupcake borders and icing flowers and allowing tiny cakes to stylishly comply with standard "no shirt, no service" policies. Alternatively, the Mommy/Daddy & Me workshop facilitates quality time between parent and child as they take sweet-toothed cues from a friendly instructor. With prebaked cupcakes in hand, participants learn to create kid-friendly shapes and tasty floral arrangements. Afterward, embellishment laureates in both workshops can take home their finished products to complement dinner or display in edible picture frames on the living-room wall.