2012 AMC 10B Problem 11

A dessert chef prepares the dessert for every day of a week starting with Sunday. The dessert each day is either cake, pie, ice cream, or pudding. The same dessert may not be served two days in a row. There must be cake on Friday because of a birthday. How many different dessert menus for the week are possible?

\textbf{(A)}\ 729\qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 972\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 1024\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 2187\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 2304

Full credit goes to MAA for authoring these problems. These problems were taken on the AOPS website.