Cuthbert's Valley is abuzz when the ladies decide to take part in a cooking competition! Suddenly everyone makes the best pastry and everyone is suspicious of the other as secret recipes try and remain hush-hush. When Arkle leaves a cube of pastry with Cuthbert to hide her secret formula, Cuthbert and Percy think they must heat it for her and pop it into the oven, with hilarious results. The upshot is tunnels of dough, two rampaging goats, the drains inspector and his team attempt a strange rescue, and the two men decide they may have licked this baking gig. Why can the men not take part, after all? They have the pastry; all they need are some exotic fillings ... like four and twenty blackbirds. Add to that a note in a wall with hieroglyphs that brings the 'men in black' and a concoction of dough that causes wrinkles to vanish, a live transmission from Cuthbert's kitchen, and a true recipe awaits, one of absolute disaster! Book #6 in the Cuthbert series