When someone brings this into your house, it takes your relationship to the next level. It proves that you are more than just acquaintances, more than just people who bump into each other on the playground after parent-teacher conferences at your school. It symbolizes that you are comfortable being yourself around each other and your relationship is ready for something more serious.

Yes, when someone walks into your house with a Deep ‘n Delicious cake you know you’re officially in the friend zone.

A couple of weeks ago we invited Lucy and Sam’s friends and their parents over for dinner. It was a Sunday afternoon and I warned them it was going to be a super casual event: veggies and fruit for appetizers and frozen pizza as the main course. They accepted the invite and offered to bring a salad and dessert.

They showed up with a delicious kale salad she had made and then she said she had to tell me something before she showed me what they brought for dessert…

“I would never normally do this… I would never normally bring something like this for dessert. Usually we would make something at home, or at least go to a bakery and pick up a cake or some cupcakes… but it was a really busy morning and we didn’t have time to do any of that, so… here!”

And with that she pulled a Deep ‘n Delicious cake out of a bag and handed it to me.

“I knew you wouldn’t judge me for not baking or not bringing something from a fancy bakery.”

I looked at her and said, “I’m serving you frozen pizza and a bag of grapes for dinner. It’s pretty obvious we’ve passed the stage in our relationship where I’m trying to impress you so I’m happy you’re not trying to impress me!”

I put the Deep ‘n Delicious cake on the counter to thaw (as per the ‘thaw, cut & serve’ directions on the package) while we feasted on grapes, a few veggies, frozen pizza and some popcorn (I found half a bag of not-quite-fully-stale white cheddar popcorn in the cupboard).

And for dessert, we ate cake.