![The front page of The Canberra Times on June 5, 1971. The front page of The Canberra Times on June 5, 1971.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/35sFyBanpD896MKnAH5FRtj/e2ec2f40-6278-49db-a82c-a3882c0dcbeb.jpg/r0_0_3602_5312_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Harry Caruk's four-line classified advertisement took him and his wife, Joan, to the front page of The Canberra Times on this day 48 years ago.
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"My wife bakes the best chocolate cake in Australia, and probably the whole world. Signed Harry Caruk," the ad the day before said.
The young couple were on a working honeymoon that took them through Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Fiji and Hawaii. The news of Joan's baking abilities even made it back to Canada.
Harry and Joan have both passed away, but their daughter, Laurel, told The Canberra Times the cake was actually a packet mix.
When the company found out, they gave Joan a year-long supply of cake mixes when she returned to Canada, which she donated to an orphanage.
But in 1971, Joan thought the ad was a joke. Harry said it wasn't a bet, a settlement of a domestic dispute, nor a commercial for a new cake kitchen.
"It was just inspiration," Mr Caruk said in 1971. Joan didn't find out about the ad until one of her students at St Peter and Paul's Primary School in Garran mentioned it in a morning class.