Singapore, 5 July 2011 – Forget about lunch, skip the dinner and let’s head straight for a little dessert to soothe that niggling sweet tooth. Premiering on Sony Entertainment Television this August is Top Chef: Just Desserts, the spin-off of the Emmy-winning Top Chef series which has been airing first and exclusively on the channel. The first-of-its-kind dessert competition on TV will set you on a sugar high, as 12 of America’s best pastry chefs converge in Los Angeles to out flambé, out frost and out fudge the competition!

A series judge on Top Chef, Gail Simmons (Food & Wine magazine) leaves the judging panel and takes on hosting duties for the first time. Determining the fate of the cheftestants is head judge and celebrated pastry chef in the US, Johnny Iuzzini (Executive pastry chef of three Michelin-starred restaurant Jean Georges), along with critically acclaimed Top Chef Masters finalist Hubert Keller (James Beard Award winner and owner of world renowned Fleur de Lys San Francisco and Las Vegas) and entertaining expert and DailyCandy Editor-at-Large, Dannielle Kyrillos.

Replicating the Top Chef format, each episode of Top Chef: Just Desserts consists of two challenges. The quickfire challenge is a simple test on basic abilities while the elimination challenge is designed to test their versatility and creativity. In one particularly interesting elimination challenge, the cheftestants were tasked with creating tea-sized desserts based on famous celebrity pairings. Who would have thought that Kim Kardashian would be a citrus-filled macaroon and her ex Reggie Bush would be an almond spongecake? One chef certainly rose to the challenge when he concocted this sweet ‘n’ sour combination, certainly a reflection of the tumultuous relationship the two had!

From flaming desserts, wedding cakes to outrageous edible fashion, the cheftestants definitely have more than their fair share of unique culinary trials. Upping the ante is the entourage of guest appearances from the likes of highly celebrated chefs such as “Mr. Chocolate” Jacques Torres; the “Leonardo Da Vinci of cakes” Sylvia Weinstock, Wolfgang Puck’s famed Spago pastry chef, Sherry Yard and Eric Ripert’s Le Bernardin pastry chef, Michael Laiskonis, whose palate will certainly not be easy to please!

With the winning chef walking away with US$100,000, a feature in Food & Wine magazine, a showcase at the Annual Pebble Beach Food & Wine Festival, as well as a 2011 German Engineered Sport Injected Buick Regal, a lot is at stake for the 12 aspiring top chefs. Little wonder then that the competition heats up quickly, taking a bigger toll on some. With chefs quitting and suffering anxiety attacks, the reality series offers a fascinating insight into the pressure-filled environment of pastry chefs at the highest levels.

Desserts are indeed the Achilles heel of chefs, and this is never more apparent than in Top Chef: Just Desserts. These cheftestants will prove that a little sugar and spice never tasted so nice. May the best chef get his just desserts, only on Sony Entertainment Television this August!

TOP CHEF: Just Desserts premieres 9 August 2011, Every Monday & Tuesday @ 9:50pm
First & Exclusively on Sony Entertainment Television (SET)