THEY are the staples of the Christmas dinner – the carrots, the parsnips, the cranberries and the sprouts.

You’d expect them to appear on your plate alongside a slice or two of turkey.

Not if you are Allison Whitmarsh.

The Huddersfield cake-maker extraordinaire has brought all those ingredients together in a special Christmas dinner cake.

And she is to serve it up on TV to a very demanding audience – the Dragons’ Den panel.

The Huddersfield businesswoman has received an early Christmas present that could change her life – a spot on BBC2’s Christmas Dragons’ Den!

Allison, from the multiple award-winning cake business ProperMaid, is to appear on the Christmas edition of the BBC2 show, broadcast on December 23 at 7.30pm.

She will be showing off her range of ‘traditional cakes with a twist’. Star of her pitch to the famously ‘bah humbug’ Dragons will be the Christmas Dinner Cake, originally commissioned by Deli-shop Weeton’s of Harrogate.

The Christmas Dinner Cake, which caught the eye of the programme’s planners, contains all the festive trimmings (minus the turkey!) including carrots, parsnips, cranberries, Christmas spices, chestnuts – and even sprouts.

ProperMaid, based in Heritage Mills, Lindley, has made a name for itself with its out-of-the-ordinary home baked cakes and loaves.

Flavours have included Courgette and Lime, Beetroot and Chocolate, Liquorice, Dandelion and Burdock (which won a Gold Star at the 2012 Great Taste Awards) and Chocolate Chilli & Fudge, made with real chillies.

Allison, a former dinner lady turned cake connoisseur, launched her business four years ago with the help of a local Business Mine initiative. Now she is delighted that her business caught the BBC’s imagination.

She said: “I can’t believe how far we’ve come as a business and how popular our ‘traditional cakes with a twist’ are becoming.

“Last year, we were unveiling our Christmas Dinner Cake to Harrogate foodies. This Christmas, the cake has got us on to a prime-time television show.

“Fingers crossed that we get a big slice of investment too!”