Poetry would be entirely composed of haikus and sonnets dedicated to cakes and pastries if poets didn't devour their idyllic subjects before having a chance to write. Today's Groupon says what meter and rhythm cannot: for $20, you get a 10-inch round buttercream cake or two-dozen cupcakes at Carolina’s Cake Shop on South Church Street (up to a $40 value).

Carolina’s sculpts and ices a cavalcade of sugary specialties for its elegant wedding and birthday cakes. Sweet teeth chatter over a platter of fluffy cupcakes ($18/doz.) or a round molded 10-inch cake with three layers of buttercream icing ($40) perfect for bribing coworkers or to use as snipe-hunting bait. Patrons select from 14 available flavors of traditional and pound cake, including marble, lemon chiffon, red velvet, and piña colada. Experienced pastry artists smother the flavorful concoctions in smooth chocolate or vanilla buttercream icing, then impart helpful nuggets of parental wisdom before unleashing them into the all-consuming world.