Depart without permission with fresh cake he left raven (4,6,5)

I believe the answer is:

take french leave

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'depart' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'fresh cake he left raven' is the wordplay.
'fresh' is an anagram indicator (a fresh re-ordering of the letters).
'cake'+'he'+'left'+'raven'='cakeheleftraven'
'cakeheleftraven' is an anagram of 'TAKE FRENCH LEAVE'.

'without permission with' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for take french leave that I've seen before include "Disappear without permission" , "depart unannounced" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.

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