Ask me to make a pot of succulent coq au vin, a platter of spanikopita based upon that fragile phyllo dough or eggs Benedict with a picture-perfect Hollandaise sauce and I’ll rise to the occasion every single time. Give me a “simple” culinary task, such as using a 3-dimensional cake mold to make a cutesy Christmas bear, and I flounder over and over again. Case in point: The Williams-Sonoma Build-A-Bear cake pan. Sean bought this adorable, Nordicware pan and the accompanying fondant Santa bear outfit at Williams-Sonoma as an early holiday gift for me. The plan? That I master making this cake before our annual Christmas Eve party. We both envisioned our friends and family crowding around the dessert table on December 24th, all smiles as they ooo-ed and ah-ed over the cake. “Ah, look at the cute, little Santa bear. Isn’t he just the sweetest thing?” They’ll definitely say something about that cake but more likely it will be, “What on earth is that freak of nature supposed to be?! Someone please take a knife to it and put it out of its misery!” The first failure …