Someone's come up with a somewhat interestingnew idea for cakes.

Do you believe a birthday cake without the candles can create the same atmosphere? Biotechnology researchers in Taiwan think the luminescent cake they have developed can do so and believe that such a cake has market potential.

At a biotechnology development and planning forum held yesterday at Fu Jen Catholic University in Hsinchuang, Taipei County, a biotech company put several such birthday and wedding cakes on display, attracting overwhelming media attention and publicity.

The cakes - the first of their kind in Taiwan - have a beautiful luminescence because of their cream coating which contains a special protein acquired with the latest biotechnology from Taiwan's endemic red algae.

I dunno about you, but I find this slightly disturbing. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable eating a glowing cake. I mean, if I eat this will I glow too? (seen first over on boing boing).