Continuing on with the theme of gangsters, spies, undercover work, we had a wonderful idea for the cake; which I'm pleased to say no one guessed, not even Nathanael (who was holding it). Thankfully, we did practice this during the afternoon (as the timing was critical).

Whilst I was revealing the true story Briony surreptitiously left the room and Matt got the piano ready (which killed the webcam if you're wondering where these images went to). When I'd finished and everyone was busy either commiserating or congratulating themselves, I got the theme from Mission Impossible going. Briony made a dramatic entrance wearing a trench coat and hat and carrying an attache case. She, very energetically, made a circuitous route over to Keren and sat next to him.

Keren donned sunglasses and a hat, picked up the attache case and in similar fashion, made a round-about route to Nathanael and sat next to him. After a short pause, he got up and left, leaving the case behind.

At that point I ran another MP3, a voice over I recorded earlier in the week:

Your mission Nat, should you decide to accept it, is to feed your guests birthday cake.
This mission is of the utmost importance and should be enacted immediately. The case holds everything you might need.
If any team member be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. Please dispose of this message and the contents of the case in the usual manner.
Good luck, Nat.

Nathanael opened the case and saw that it was filled with a cake that was iced in "bundles of money". Sandi rushed up and took the candles from inside the case and started putting them into the cake. I think Nat was a little confused, I'm pretty sure everyone else was too. But then the candles were lit and Nathanael carried it around to show the unbelieving guests. He attempted to extinguish the candles by spinning around but had to complete the job in the usual manner.

The cake was a white chocolate mud cake purchased from Schwarz's Conditorei Patisserie which Sandi iced. It was brilliant: tasted great and didn't move an inch in the case!

Thank you Meredith for these photos of the cake.