Reading this gorgeous book while trying to knock off a few pounds before bathing-suit season or after a resolution to give up chocolate for Lent is ill advised. Nobody has that much will power.     Torres is the pastry chef at Le Cirque 2000 in New York and dean of the pastry arts program at the French Culinary Institute. He also is host of the public television series that bears the same name as the book.     Torres, Wright and Kruid, aided by outstanding photographs from John Uher, have produced a virtual textbook on dessert. It begins with long lists of equipment, ingredients and terms ("seizing," for instance, is what happens to warm chocolate when it meets cold liquid), and you start to realize how thorough this book is going to be when you come upon a two-page discourse on flour that says, "First, let's take a look at the wheat berry." Throughout the volume there are tidbits, highlighted in orange type, of practical information that every cook, even those terrified by soufflés and mousses, can use. How do you make sure your dough is rolled out to the proper one-eighth thickness? Put a yardstick of that thickness on either side of the dough blob and roll until it's flush. What do you do with a used vanilla bean? Grind it up and mix it with sugar--terrific for sprinkling on a pineapple before roasting.     The writing is both vivid and exact, with helpful touches such as ingredient lists that offer measurements in traditional American terms as well as ounces and grams for those who take Torres's advice and use an electronic scale to weigh everything. And the recipes are adventurous, as befits such a distinguished chef. The chapter "I Love Chocolate" is delightful, with concoctions such as chocolate soup, chocolate sculpture and peanut butter cups that you'll never find in the candy aisle.     Torres began his career as an apprentice pastry chef in his native Provence when he was 15--he had to stand on a chair to get the leverage needed to stir concoctions in large pots. As aProvençalhe has a special appreciation for fresh fruit and for the absolute necessity of using fresh butter (and lots of it), premium Belgian chocolate and the perfect grade of flour for any purpose. When it comes to biscotti (for which the book has an excellent recipe), hold the coffee; Torres dips his in pastis, a specialty of his home region. And if you're looking for nutritional information, forget it. Dessert is a celebration, not a guilt fest.     Wright, who went on from Colby to train as a cook and baker, helped create and produce the Dessert Circus television series. She worked for several years in Le Cirque's pastry kitchen and assisted in the design of the French Culinary Institute's pastry arts program.