NEW YORK (REUTERS) - New York's Baccarat Hotel serves up an opulent US$1,500 (S$2,042) sundae called "Bear Extraordinaire".

"Divine," said Baccarat Hotel patron Virgilia Virjoghe, after lifting the top off the US$1,200 Baccarat "Zoo Bear" crystal and porcelain bowl and tasting the house-made Madagascar vanilla ice cream.

"It's exquisite, just like everything Baccarat ever creates. May I eat it all? It's so outstanding I'm almost scared to touch it. Artwork. Now that's a diet I would love to be on for the rest of my life."

The sundae is made up of vanilla ice cream on top of a black truffle crumble, topped by a champagne sauce, all inside a white chocolate shell hand-painted with strokes of red, green and yellow coloured cocoa butter. It is covered with gold leaf and silver flakes. Spun sugar in the shape of a nest rests on top of the white chocolate shell with fondant butterflies and edible flowers adorning the creation.

The sundae comes in a honeycomb design porcelain base and crystal top in the shape of a bear that customers can take home. Otherwise the sundae itself is US$300.

Baccarat's pastry chef Rosario Wakabayashi said it took her about a month to come up with the creation.

"We've been testing, that's why it took so long, but we were inspired by the Baccarat brand, by the colours, red, the green, the yellow. So that's why we came up with the idea of the chocolate shell with those colours and you see in the Grand Salon, we have the Baccarat butterflies, that also inspired this dessert."

"Bear Extraordinaire" debuted in mid-July and will be available through Labour Day. Baccarat staff said there have already been a few orders for the decadent dessert.