This enabled Allison to buy all of the equipment and utensils needed. And she started baking at her kitchen table in Marsh.

Her company has a rising reputation for creating traditional home-made cakes with a modern twist. She and her staff now bake 300 cakes a week.

Some of her best selling cakes are cappuccino and walnut, courgette and lime, moist carrot, chocolate chilli and fudge and Victoria vanilla sponge with raspberry and rose jam. The newly-launched chocolate orange cake is proving popular too.

For Huddersfield residents with a sweet tooth, Allison and her team have created the unique dandelion and burdock cake. This won the best bakery product in the deliciouslyorkshire awards.

She recruited most of her staff while chatting to other mums at Reinwood School. She has also recently taken on apprentice Sadie McDee, 16, who was at Salendine Nook High School with her son Callum.

Allison is now searching for larger premises in the Marsh and Lindley area, so that all her staff can walk to work.

Here's Allison's recipe for Lemon and Poppy Seed cake

For the sandwich:

150 grams of vegetable margarine or butter

150 grams of caster sugar

150 grams of self-raising flour

1/2 teaspoonful of baking powder

3 large eggs.

24 grams of poppy seed

zest of one lemon

Cream the flour, sugar, margarine and baking powder together until pale and fluffy, then add the eggs slowly and finally the poppy seeds and lemon zest.

Place in two 7” greased and lined cake tins and bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.

For the filling:

80 grams of icing sugar

20 grams of lemon curd

20 grams of margarine or butter

Cream together and spread on bottom sandwich when cool. Spread a further 75 grams of lemon curd on top of the filling.

Sandwich the cake together.

Take another 50 grams of icing sugar and mix with boiling water to create a dropping consistency. Spread this on top of the cake.

Finally, sprinkle with caster sugar and lemon zest as required.