Having gone into the match on the back of four successive Championship wins, Wrexham had plenty of cause for optimism against a Forest side that showed eight changes from their morale-boosting 2-1 victory at West Ham United three days earlier.
After a low key start, Forest thought they had gone ahead on 18 minutes as Douglas Luiz drilled beyond Okonkwo from close range, only for the goal to eventually be chalked off due to handball by the Brazilian midfielder.
The contest had been sparked into life as Rathbone had a shot blocked shortly before Okonkwo parried Luiz’s drilled free-kick to safety at the other end.
But shortly after Sam Smith dragged a shot wide, Wrexham took the lead in superb fashion.
George Dobson robbed Hutchinson of possession and Cacace – on his first start in more than two months – rifled beyond Matz Sels from 20 yards in the 37th minute to register his first goal for the club in style.
They were in dreamland just three minutes later as Nathan Broadhead picked out Rathbone who was the beneficiary of a fortunate ricochet off the legs of Morata, and he coolly slotted beyond Sels with his fourth goal in eight outings since returning from injury.