As any 'Top Chef' fans knows, dessert challenges have always proven to be anything but easy as pie for the show's cheftestants. So anticipation for the latest 'Top Chef' spin-off series on Bravo, the just-announced 'Just Desserts,' promises to be high.

Bravo begins casting this week for contestants for the series, which will launch in 2010. No judges or hosts have been set yet for the show, which will capitalize not only on a recent plethora of pastry-themed series ('Ace of Cakes' and frequent cake-themed 'Challenge' specials on Food Network, TLC's 'Cake Boss' and 'Ultimate Cake Off,' as well as WE TV's addictive 'Amazing Wedding Cakes'), but also on the certain drama that has followed almost any dessert-themed scenes on 'Top Chef.'As any 'Top Chef' fans knows, dessert challenges have always proven to be anything but easy as pie for the show's cheftestants. So anticipation for the latest 'Top Chef' spin-off series on Bravo, the just-announced 'Just Desserts,' promises to be high.

Bravo begins casting this week for contestants for the series, which will launch in 2010. No judges or hosts have been set yet for the show, which will capitalize not only on a recent plethora of pastry-themed series ('Ace of Cakes' and frequent cake-themed 'Challenge' specials on Food Network, TLC's 'Cake Boss' and 'Ultimate Cake Off,' as well as WE TV's addictive 'Amazing Wedding Cakes'), but also on the certain drama that has followed almost any dessert-themed scenes on 'Top Chef.'

"Their Achilles heel is usually the desserts," Bravo exec Francis Berwick says of 'Top Chef' contestants. "As this has gone on, we've been thinking that it would be fun to do a 'Top Chef' with experienced pastry chefs. We've had a few pastry chefs on 'Top Chef,' but they haven't gone too far. It's just a different skill."

Bad banana s'mores, crappy crème brulees, desserts without sugar, Camille's pineapple upside down cake, Tre's disastrous bread pudding and Carla's "hot mess" froyo ... as the Los Angeles Times pointed out last year, desserts are often tougher than entrees, because desserts require baking, chilling and specific and lengthy prep times.

"The thing about thoughtful desserts -- those that require more skill and composition than, say, an ice cream sundae -- is that they usually take more planning and organization than a savory meal," wrote a Times scribe. "Things need to be kneaded, or left to rest or set up. Exact measurements are often required. Desserts usually can't be saved at the last minute by adding a little of this or that. More often than not, restaurant chefs do one or the other, the main meal or the dessert, because they truly require different skill sets."

The 'Just Desserts' pick-up comes right after the network's announcement that it will produce a sophomore season of 'Top Chef: Masters,' the spin-off that pits established chefs against each other with prize money going to charity.