Cranky Hazel's Cake Read Online Free

the washing up.

Chapter Six
Ellie Judges The Cakes
    Cranky Hazel hopped from one foot to the other while Brainbox slowly opened the oven door. They stared at the two VERY different creations inside. One was smooth, round and golden. The other had completely EXPLODED out of the cake tin; burnt cheese sat smoking on top of brown sausages, which protruded from a lumpy sea of baked beans, crispy chips, over-cooked biscuit bits and fluffy sponge cake. It looked like something you might expect to find at the bottom of a dustbin.
    â€˜Oh Cranky Hazel, I’m SO sorry –‘ Brainbox began.
    â€˜Its – its PERFECT!’ Cranky Hazel shouted, clapping her hands. ‘I’ve never seen such a SCRUMPTIOUS lookin’ cake in my life. Sorry yours didn’t turn out very interestingly,’ she raised her eyes at Brainbox’s sponge cake.
    Brainbox opened his mouth, then shut it again.
    â€˜Right.’ He said. ‘Yes. Absolutely. Yours does indeed look, er, unbelievable.’
    While Brainbox mixed up some white icing and Cranky Hazel was admiring her cake, Ellie’s face appeared at the kitchen window.
    â€˜Ellie!’ Cranky Hazel cackled, going over to open the back door. ‘You’re back. Did you have a completely horrible time at your grandparent’s house without me?’
    â€˜Of course I did,’ Ellie said, flinging her arms around her friend and giving her a tight squeeze. ‘It would have been MUCH better if you’d been there. Ooh, what’s that funny smell?’
    â€˜That,’ Cranky Hazel growled. ‘Is what the AMAZIN’ surprise I just made for you smells like.’
    â€˜I like surprises,’ Ellie said, trying to peer round Cranky Hazel. What is it, can I see?’
    â€˜Perhaps,’ Brainbox said quickly as he deftly smoothed icing all over his cake with a knife. ‘We should just explain to Ellie that we BOTH made our OWN versions of the surprise.’
    â€˜Ooh, two surprises, even better,’ Ellie laughed.
    Cranky Hazel cleared her throat.
    â€˜Brainbox and I,’ she growled. ‘Have both made you Welcome Home cakes, because we missed you so much this weekend. Brainbox tried hard but mine’s definitely the best.’
    She stepped aside. Brainbox slid his perfectly iced cake back next to Cranky Hazel’s mountainous one. Ellie’s mouth fell open as she stared from one to the other. She took in the smooth, round edges, the careful icing and the flat, circular top of Brainbox’s cake. Then she stared at the higgledy piggledy eruption of sausages, chips, baked beans, biscuit bits and cheese amid mountains of fluffy sponge cake that made up Cranky Hazel’s cake.
    â€˜I think,’ she said, concentrating hard and not looking at either Cranky Hazel or Brainbox. ‘That they are BOTH perfect cakes in different ways.’
    Brainbox grinned, then stalked off towards the cutlery drawer.
    Cranky Hazel nudged Ellie.
    â€˜Mine’s really your favourite isn’t it?’ She growl-whispered as Brainbox pulled out a knife.
    â€˜Yes,’ Ellie whispered back. ‘Yours is amazing. No one’s EVER made me a cake with ALL my favourite food in it before! Thank you very much, it was a wonderful idea.’
    â€˜Yes it was, wasn’t it,’ Cranky Hazel growled, looking pleased.
    â€˜Who’s would you like a slice of first?’ Brainbox said, his eyes gleaming.
    â€˜Ooh, pick mine, pick mine,’ Cranky Hazel shrieked.
    â€˜I think,’ Ellie said. ‘That yours is just TOO beautiful to eat, Cranky Hazel. Perhaps we could all have a slice of Brainbox’s?’
    â€˜Of course,’ Brainbox said, holding the knife with his paw and cutting his cake up while Cranky Hazel took three black side plates out of the cupboard. ‘It would be my pleasure.’ He carefully placed three big slices on the three plates.
    So then Ellie, Cranky Hazel and Brainbox munched away in