Read Online The Chocolate Dog by Holly Webb - Free Book Online Page A

didn’t have one!”
    â€œKate could make one.” Lara’s bottom lip edged out stubbornly.
    Amy sighed. “She doesn’t know how. She’s never had the practice, Lara. Cakes are hard.”
    â€œMummy promised.” Lara put out a small, hot hand and grabbed the side of Amy’s shorts, pulling her under the table to hug. Choc collapsed over them like a hot furry rug, and Amy stared worriedly at the wood grain on the underside of the table. Lara’s friends were coming in about four hours. There was a bouncy castle, food – and a weird green caterpillar cake. Amy wasn’t sure that even Kate could pull off ignoring that Lara was hiding under the kitchen table when it was Lara’s own birthday party. She was going to have to do something.

 
    â€œWhat are you doing?” Lara asked uncertainly as Amy pulled out one of the stools that sat round the table and carried it over to the kitchen counter.
    â€œLooking for Mum’s cake book. The party one. She always uses the same recipe; it’s the one with all the sugar and stuff stuck to it.”
    Lara stuck her head out under the cloth, and Choc followed her – one blonde head and one furry chocolate one. “ You’re going to make me a cake?”
    Amy shrugged. “I can try. There’s butter and eggs in the fridge. Mum had all the ingredients ready.”
    â€œBut you don’t know how!”
    â€œThat’s what recipes are for, Lara! Don’t you want a mermaid cake?”
    Lara didn’t say anything. She ducked back under the table – she obviously didn’t trust Amy to make the cake. For a minute, Amy wondered if she was being stupid. But she really didn’t want Lara’s party to be a disaster. Lara would remember it always as the time the new baby spoiled her birthday. It would be horrible. And it would upset Mum too.
    If a mermaid cake would get Lara out from under the table in time for her friends to arrive, it was worth the effort.
    She found the cake book and sat down at the table to read the recipe, tucking her feet back under the stool. The recipe didn’t look all that difficult, and she’d helped Mum make cakes lots of times. She could do this.
    â€œYou aren’t allowed to touch the oven!” Lara sang out, in a tell-tale sort of voice as Amy got up and stood next to it, eyeing the dials.
    â€œAnd you’re not allowed to skulk under the table because you’re sulking,” Amy trilled back. “I’m being careful.” She turned the dials to the right temperature, and heard the oven begin to hum hopefully.
    When she’d made cakes with Mum, it had seemed a bit easier than this. There were a lot of lumps. Perhaps it all melted together properly when you put it in the oven, Amy decided, staring down at the bowl worriedly.
    â€œAre you making it?” Lara’s voice came from round her knees.
    â€œYes. I’m about to put the eggs in,” Amy said firmly.
    Lara didn’t answer, but the silence from under the table was a bit more hopeful now.
    Amy broke the eggs into the bowl, one at a time, with some flour. Exactly as the recipe suggested. Only the recipe didn’t mention what to do if half the shell ended up in the bowl.
    Amy hissed through her teeth, and tried to pick the bits out with a spoon, but they swam away from her. She would leave them, she thought. There weren’t all that many. She looked nervously at the next egg.
    â€œWhat’s the matter?” Lara demanded anxiously, grabbing her leg. “Is it going all wrong?”
    â€œNo! It’s fine. Don’t whinge— Ow, Lara, don’t do that, you made me spill the rest of that egg!”
    â€œIt got on me!” Lara wailed. “It’s slimy! It’s in my hair!”
    Choc gave a little whine of excitement and started trying to lick Lara.
    Lara howled.
    â€œAmy, what are you doing?”
    She jumped – Kate sounded completely