This is not just any deep-fried cake, this is a deep-fried Colin the Caterpillar cake.

A chip shop in South Lanarkshire covered the birthday cake in batter and fried it as part of a special promotion.

The cake stunt at Emanuel’s in East Kilbride comes after Marks & Spencer started legal action against Aldi over the rival’s Cuthbert the Caterpillar product.

Chip shop owner Ricky Brandon told the PA news agency: “It’s a wee bit silly but hopefully they’ll just cancel it and let (Aldi) do their thing.

“One of our app partners, East Kilbride Eats, came up with the idea, wanting one of the chip shops on their app to take on the challenge of battering Colin and getting on the Save Cuthbert promotion.

“It was a wee bit easier than expected but I think I’d definitely make the batter a wee bit thicker for it next time.

“Maybe if I had cut it up into slices and battered them individually and then built the cake up that way.”

Mr Brandon will be well prepared for such a venture, as part of their Saturday night promotion through the app is offering customers a battered slice with their order.

Colin is far from the first unusual product to be deep-fried at the chippy.

Already they have battered Creme Eggs, Mars bars, Maltesers, and rolls and chips – and last week created a black pudding and haggis combo called blaggis which is new on the menu.

Mr Brandon added: “We just decided we’d go for it and have a bit of fun with it – we had it on display there with a few people coming in and getting pictures with it.

“Every week you just take it as it comes but things are definitely picking back up again and starting to get to a wee bit more normality.”