Life is like a box of chocolates: it ends quickly when it tumbles into lava. Enjoy the transient experience of sweet pleasure while you can with today's Groupon to Dragonfly Cakes in Sausalito. Choose between two options:

• $80 for a build-your-own-chocolate-bar class (a $160 value)
• $80 for a petits fours class (a $160 value)

Dragonfly Cakes, together with their chocolate counterpart Coco-luxe Confections, field a skilled team of confectionary clairvoyants that are ready to share their gourmet candy-crafting skills with the cacao-hungry masses. The build-your-own-chocolate-bar class instills beginner chocolatiers with the mediation skills needed to tame the melancholy attitude of rich and pensive dark chocolate by schooling them in chocolate-tempering techniques. Students can then combine fresh and flavorful ingredients to create six customized edible ingots ready to be devoured on-site or in the privacy of your own dessert den. Artistically inclined academics looking to expand their sugar-sculpting skills beyond the slab can opt for the petits fours class, where a morsel midwife will lead a demonstration of the birth of baby bite-sized cakes before setting sugar students free to focus on finishing, dipping, and decorating their own litter of 12. Dainty and elegant, these picturesque pastel delicacies make a welcome addition to baby showers, tea parties, or parallelogram-based diets.

Classes run approximately two hours, and attendance is kept at a maximum of 15 students in order to ensure bourgeoning bar and bonbon artists get the attention they need to become proficient in the chocolatier-ing basics. All necessary ingredients and equipment are supplied by Dragonfly Cakes, and classes are held in its commercial kitchen. Aprons are provided, and participants are advised to wear closed-toed shoes and clothing suitable for baking, such as Poppin' Fresh hats. Classes are held on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings and afternoons—check the schedule for complete details.