Wes Anderson Teaches You How to Make Dessert

In case you haven't yet gotten a chance to see Wes Anderson's latest endeavor, The Grand Budapest Hotel — or, if you have, and you're still hankering for more — now you can enjoy a piece of the film right in your very own home. Or rather, your kitchen, to be precise: Anderson recently released an instructional video on how to cook "Mendl's Courtesan au Chocolat," the dessert requested by the Grand Budapest's hotelier (played by Ralph Fiennes), in traditional Andersonian deadpan patter, of course.

However, this is no ordinary YouTube how-to — as one might expect from such an auteur: The three-minute lesson presents a series of his signature hyper-symmetrical set-ups, caper music plinking along in the background, as a young pastry chef's hands crack eggs and stir mixtures, subtitled by pastel pink text. The video even offers specific suggestions for assembling the baked treats into their intended tower-like shape — that is, by stacking them with connecting dollops of butter cream frosting, "preferably a pale blue." (Other decorative frosting should be "lavender," "pale green," and "pink" — those hues, apparently, are not a suggestion.)

The one Anderson touch that proves a bit of a drawback for bakers actually attempting to follow along is his rapid-fire editing: Maybe mute the clip and keep your own upbeat, jangly music looping instead, so that even when you pause at each new titlecard, you won't have to suspend your "I'm finally in a Wes Anderson movie" disbelief.

Image: Fox Searchlight