Landlord Gyles Culver of Henfield's White Hart pub led a fruitless search for a thief who stole his wife Mo's freshly-made flan.
The villain struck during Friday evening when the rear garden door was open.
"I had just made two large broccoli and brie flans and put them to cool in the storeroom behind a closed screen door," said Mo.
"On checking them five minutes later, one of them had gone - I thought the staff were playing a trick, but they weren't."
Gyles searched the car park and surrounding area but there was no sign of the 12-inch diameter flan.
"We had some strangers in the garden that night and it is most likely one of them sneaked in the back door when nobody was looking," he said.
"At least they have good taste - Mo's flans are legendary."
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