The Burt Reynolds Eclair

Just when you thought the cream-filled pastry known as an éclair couldn’t get any more distracting, Lou Lou P’s Delights put a reclining Burt Reynolds on top of one. And yes, he’s in the nude. Sometimes my eyes see things that my stomach just can’t understand. This is definitely one of those things, right alongside optical illusions and signs that say “No Food or Drink.”

The Burt Reynolds éclair brings celebrity portraiture to a place it was apparently always destined to go: the dessert plate. You can appreciate the pastry, recognize the reference, and wonder how you’re supposed to approach it with a fork, all in the same moment. That is quite a lot of emotional responsibility for something normally purchased because you fancied a little treat.

The Famous Pose Behind the Pastry

The reference is Reynolds’ reclining portrait for the April 1972 issue of Cosmopolitan. Photographed on a bearskin rug, the actor became the magazine’s first male centerfold. The pose subsequently became a familiar subject for imitation and parody. In this version, the grand setting has been traded for a considerably smaller stage, with a pastry doing the supporting work.

You don’t need to know the original photograph to understand that this is an unusually confident dessert decoration. Knowing it adds another layer to the joke, though. Instead of simply sculpting a famous face, the design borrows an entire recognizable setup. It is less “here is a celebrity” and more “here is that celebrity photograph, arriving after dinner.”

Lou Lou P’s Delights Meets Hollywood

The creation appeared online in November 2013, with the original Incredible Things post crediting Lou Lou P’s Delights. Contemporary coverage at Neatorama also credited the maker and described the éclair as chocolate-glazed and cream-filled. That report linked to the creator’s Facebook photograph, giving readers a closer look at the miniature reclining figure.

The contrast is what makes it memorable. An éclair is a familiar, relatively modest shape; a celebrity recreation is an unexpected thing to find occupying it. Put the two together and the topping becomes the whole conversation. I would probably spend so long explaining the reference that somebody else would finish their dessert before I had even found a sensible opening sentence.

A Dessert With More Than Presentation Going On

Food art creates a peculiar little dilemma: the decoration gives you a reason to pause, while the fact that it is dessert gives you a reason to stop pausing. With this one, the joke also depends on scale. A larger-than-life screen personality has been reduced to something small enough to share a plate with your afternoon snack.

Does that make the éclair tastier? A photograph can’t settle that question. What it does establish is an exceptionally memorable presentation. Plenty of desserts look too pretty to eat; this one looks like it might object to being interrupted. Still, admiration only lasts so long when cream-filled pastry is involved. Sorry, Burt. The plate was never going to remain a permanent exhibition.