‘Yes,’ he said, grabbing her arm and leading her out of the house. With no other option, Rachel allowed herself to be led. ‘We’re going to the supermarket.’

‘The supermarket?’ She stopped dead. ‘That cake took me a week to make, Darcy. I don’t have time to bake another one. Besides, I have ingredients here.’

‘We’re not getting ingredients,’ he said, ushering her towards his car. ‘We’re getting cakes.’

‘Cakes? They paid four grand for this cake! You think the bride isn’t going to notice that it’s a supermarket cake?’

‘Of course she won’t. She probably won’t even eat the damn thing.’

He opened the passenger door and waited patiently until she got inside. It was, admittedly, a fair point. So many brides who’d been incredibly finicky about their wedding cake later admitted that they hadn’t even eaten a slice of it. Still.

Darcy shut her door then walked around to the driver’s side and got in. ‘And the guests aren’t exactly going to say, Hey, your wedding cake tasted exactly like Woolies’ chocolate mud, are they?’

‘Even if that’s true . . . it’s the fondant that takes the time,’ Rachel said. ‘And I spent days on the sugar flowers.’

Darcy pointed to the clock on the dash. ‘Sorry, no time for fondant. We’re going to have to get Betty Crocker’s buttercream frosting.’

She gaped at him. ‘Darcy! I cannot give Emily and Peter a Woolies mud cake with Betty Crocker icing.’

He waved his hand, unbothered. ‘You’ll be able to fancy it up. Add some sprinkles?’

‘Sprinkles!’ she cried. ‘And what do I say when they ask: where is the cake we ordered?’

‘I’ll say: This one has your name on it. Do you want me to take it away? Rachel’s away for the weekend, though, so I won’t be able to get you anything else today. They’ll have no choice but to take it. The next day they’ll send you an angry email, you’ll explain that the dim-witted delivery man got the cakes mixed up and offer them a fifty per cent discount, and everyone will be happy.’

It wasn’t a brilliant solution. But it was a solution.

And if she said so herself, she did a pretty good job with the mud cakes and Betty Crocker icing. She’d got the icing the exact shade of the fondant, and decorated it with extra sugar flowers purchased from the specialist cake store. She added fresh flowers as well, and by the time she was finished, the cake didn’t look half bad. Not exactly like the one Emily and Peter had ordered, but pretty close.

And, as luck would have it, the groom had accepted delivery of the cake without noticing anything was amiss (despite having been present for three tastings), and when Rachel had emailed the bride the next morning to apologise for the mix-up, Emily had said the cake was delicious and there was no need for a discount. She also had had many requests from guests who wanted the same cake for their own wedding.