The Secret Ingredient

by Sophie Devlin

Selbie ran to the supermarket, her heart thumping in her chest. She crashed into the shop and stumbled over to the baking aisle. "Yes, they have everything I need!" She cried, overwhelmed.

Selbie snatched a pink bag of sugar, some flour, a packet of eggs, an orange box of baking powder, some fondant, sprinkles, and lastly, her secret ingredient no one could ever know. She shoved all her things onto the checkout and took a deep breath.

"Did something disastrous involving cake ingredients happen?" The man at the counter asked, scanning the items far too slowly. "I'm starting up a cupcake stall this afternoon and I had nothing ready! Except for the stall, of course." Selbie replied, pushing a pink shopping bag onto the scanner. "I'll take this as well." The man nodded and scanned the bag after the final secret ingredient was scanned.

"See you some other random time!" Selbie shouted. The man smiled and waved, "good luck on the stall!"

Selbie sprinted out of the shop and to her house as fast as her legs could take her. Once she reached her house, she slowed to a stop beside a yellow and pink stall. A banner draped over the top of it saying 'Selbie's Delights!' Selbie grinned at the sign before dragging her bag inside.

Her mum rushed over to her and gave her a hug.

"Honey, I'm so proud of you! Starting your first food stall just like your mother." She said, smoothing down Selbie's hair. Her mother was a famous dessert maker, and ran a shop down the road called 'Divine Desserts'.

Selbie nodded and pulled away, "save the hugs for later, I need to get baking!" Selbie's mother laughed.

"Go on! Make some incredible cakes!"

Selbie leapt towards the kitchen and pulled her ingredients out of the bag. She hauled out a massive bowl and began to make a large cake batter.

First, she mixed the eggs and sugar together before adding three other ingredients. Using a spatula, she folded the mixture together until it was silky smooth. She then added five dollops of her secret ingredient and mixed well. She poured the batter into a few different tins and shoved them in the oven.

Selbie took a deep breath and lumbered towards the sofa. She lay down and let out a long sigh. Her mother walked in and smiled.

"I think you won a world record for the fastest cake batter made!" Selbie groaned and rolled onto her back.

"Now I have to wait thirty minutes before I can decorate all five cakes. I can't wait that long!" Her mother chuckled and poked her foot.

"Why don't you go fix up the stall a bit more? Maybe you could make some lemonade as well!" Selbie leapt up.

"Lemonade, of course! What a great idea, mum!" She sprinted into the kitchen and made a huge jug of lemonade as quickly as she could.

Finally, her timer went off and she pulled the cakes out of the oven.

"Decorating time!" She announced, pulling the jar of fondant towards her. She waved at the cakes, trying to cool them. She

started on the one closest to her. She opened the fondant jar and scooped out a big blob.

She had bought white fondant, as she decided she would try coloring it. She grabbed the red food coloring and squeezed it gently so only a few drops came out.

She mixed the fondant until it was bright red. Selbie whipped up a good batch of buttercream and iced her first cake.

She then draped the fondant over top of it and cut it so it fitted nicely. Finally, she added a dash of sprinkles over top for every cake but with different fondant colors. At the end, she had a red, an orange, a yellow, a green and a blue cake.

She carefully took them outside and laid them out on the stall with the lemonade.

Soon enough, tons of people lined up for a slice of cake and a glass of fresh lemonade. The man from the supermarket walked past and gave her a huge wink. "I'll take two cakes, thanks," he said.

She baked more and more cakes, as the queue of customers was getting very long. She made a new batch of lemonade as well.

When the day ended, she collapsed onto her couch and began to watch the news, completely flabbergasted at what showed up.

"Breaking news, traffic problems in Frankton were caused by a young girl named Selbie after setting up a cake stall, not knowing how popular it would get. Her queue was way longer than the world famous 'Divine Desserts' queue. All because of her secret ingredient, YAMS!!!."

"Aaaaargh!" cried Selbie, "they've revealed my secret ingredient! Oh well, I'll just come up with another one!"

— Highly commended, Tamariki category, Anna-Marie Chin Architects Writing Competition 2023.

Sophie Devlin is in Year 6 at Remarkables Primary School and her piece is written in response to the prompt: "Write about someone who cooks for a living – it could be a caterer, a junior chef at a fancy restaurant, a fast-food worker, a young woman running her first cake stall or someone who prepares airline meals – anyone who works with food!"