There have been a handful of adaptations of Lewis Caroll’s Alice's Adventures in Wonderland but the most bizarre one remains the book itself. So we mixed and matched, mostly stuck to the books, and had a little daydream of a dessert wonderland, where each character exists as a dessert. If we had it our way we would turn each of these characters into chocolate desserts, cupcakes to be exact with frosting on top, as easily as the mean Queen of Heart goes “off with his head!”
Known for its signature grin that is always the last to disappear with it, the Cheshire Cat is like that philosophical uncle, who seldom visits, that amuses and perturbs you with their quips. As for the cat, it appears and disappears at will and sometimes induces an alacrity effect, like the time when the Queen of Hearts ordered its beheading but the cat appeared sans its body, which left everyone puzzled causing an uproar with two sides debating whether something without a body and only the head can be beheaded. For this bizarre cat, let’s pick one of the classic French desserts – La Religieuse, which means the nun and looks like a fun cream-filled dessert.
Commonly known as the Mad Hatter, a realistic reference to the actual hat-makers back in the day, who would develop jitters from mercury exposure, he’s perhaps the most entertaining character. Hatter like most of the people in Wonderland had offended the Queen of Hearts by trying to sing for her, which the Queen found to be “murdering” time and sentenced him to death. He managed to escape that, but Time got mad instead for “murdering” and made Hatter and March Hare, stuck on a loop at 6 pm, a time for having tea. Lemons are fun and lemon drizzle cake are often spotted at English high teas, making it the perfect fit for the madcap Hatter, who in the books tries to off Alice like many others.
Alice in the book, is a 7-year-old kid, who is seen falling after the White Rabbit, down a hole, who looked like it was late for something, for it kept looking at its pocket watch. After successfully losing sight of the rabbit, she keeps constantly eating after she drinks something that makes her grow tiny, and the food makes her ginormous, courtesy of her curious nature. So, for her, a bunch of cupcakes or a simply frosted cupcake is perfect, given the mess created by her consuming the drink and food in Wonderland, and coming across senseless stuff in that world, where nothing makes sense.
"Oh dear, oh dear! I shall be too late!" was the beginning of all trouble for Alice as the White Rabbit was seen darting around in a waistcoat, carrying a magician’s stick (we think) and a pocket watch. Of course, having unusual bravado for a 7-year-old, she followed the rabbit only to find herself in a strange land. Not much is said about the white rabbit, but he’s a Herald at the court of the Queen and King of Hearts. He’s one of those slick sycophants you’ll see at work or life in general, who will suck up to power, for their own gain. While we can’t think of many French desserts with such qualities, a Napoleon does feel like a good fit for this rabbit.
Each character in the dreamverse of Alice in Wonderland was a different level of bizarre but none as tyrannical as the Queen of Hearts, of course, named after a particular card. She’s quick to anger and takes offense and orders beheading anybody who offends her with, “Off with his head!” her court is filled with the rest of the pack of cards, some of whom were seen frantically painting white roses red, so they won't be offed by the Queen. But that doesn't really happen because the king secretly pardons most of the folks. For this pompous, short-tempered and haughty queen, a red velvet cupcake is perfect.
A pair of identical twins, who were named after a nursery rhyme of the same name, which is significant because Alice recites the rhyme the twin fat brothers actually enact. Usually, identical twins beg to differ just because they look the same but this pair complement each other never crossing each other's works like two rook chess pieces. Thus, a sweet mochi with a variety of fillings that complement the sweet and chewy rice shell is perfect for them – Yin and Yang in perfect harmony.
How cool is a hookah-smoking caterpillar? However, Alice doesn’t care much for him, when she meets the Blue Caterpillar when she shrinks to a tiny size. Why would she, he did say 3 inches was a “very good” height indeed. Jokes aside, Alice disliked the worm because he spoke in riddles when he finally addressed her. But he did eventually tell her how to grow or shrink, funnily enough, eating the same mushroom she was sitting on. This was after she had to narrate some nursery rhyme for him. For this funny character, a greasy donut feels a perfect fit.