CRUMBS! Or should that be "Ay, carumba!"A Blackburn bakery company has bought a piece of The Simpsons!

In a big-money takeover that would leave hard-up Homer Simpson declaring "Doh!", Inter Link Foods has bought the Salisbury-based Nicholas & Harris cake manufacturer for £3.75million.

Not only does Inter Link get the Simpson cakes, it also snaps up the manufacture of edible versions of Barbie and Winnie the Pooh and TV favourites such as Pokmon, Bob the Builder and Bagpuss.

Last year Nicholas & Harris, a specialist in 3-D moulding, made profits of £700,000 producing the special celebration cakes under licence.

Inter Link, which includes Crossfield Foods of Blackburn, already produces mini rolls, swiss rolls, cherry bakewells and fruit pies for large supermarket chains across the country.

Managing director Alwin Thompson said buying up Nicholas and Harris meant they would now be selling to almost every chain of retailers in the British food business.

He said: "Almost everyone would be a customer of this business -- and it's Blackburn based."

Mr Thompson said starting with Crossfield Foods in 1994, Inter Link had grown to almost 50 times its size over the last seven years and this latest addition to the company meant it had world class brands.

He said: "This is the premier league of celebration cakes and the decoration on these cakes is world class. These products are probably the finest in Britain."

Jeremy Hamer, chairman of Inter Link Foods, said the company's emphasis on licensed characters made Nicholas & Harris an "excellent acquisition enable us to offer a broader range of products."