TOKYO - A Japanese department store has found a way to have your cake and eat it too by offering a Christmas cake decorated with diamonds.

The 35 cm (14 inch) high cake with a square chocolate base is iced with some 100 diamonds totalling about 50 carats.

It comes with an equally spectacular price tag: 100 million yen (432,000 pounds) before tax. A spokeswoman for the Takashimaya department store in the western city of Osaka, where the cake is on display, said the value of the diamonds is actually higher.

"I believe it's most likely to be purchased by somebody who wants to display it, though it would be ideal if a man were to buy it as a present for his wife," said spokeswoman Kiyome Nagai.

The cake will remain on display until December 25 even if it is sold. Given that cakes, unlike diamonds, do not last forever, the buyer can either have the cake remade or just strip off the gems.

"The patissier who made it said he felt that chocolate and diamonds are what a woman most wants to receive," said Nagai.

"Frankly, I imagine the people who would buy this won't really be interested in eating the cake."