This pink peach dessert came about because I was gifted with some white peaches from my mom, and whenever I have white peaches, making a pink peach dessert is a priority! I grew up with a white peach tree in my backyard, and I always equate those to pleasant summer memories, eating white peaches with my mom, and trying not to melt in the Southern California summer sun. Whenever Pinktober rolls around, I make it a point to dedicate several desserts to my mom, since she is a two-time breast cancer survivor, and I am all about supporting that. To make your white peaches pink, you start by taking the peach peels and making a simple syrup with that. You then cook down the actual white peaches in that syrup, and then the flesh of the peach will be tinted a gorgeous pink color. I have done this before, but I was told by a lot of people that my pink peach wedges looked like raw chicken breast. So I decided instead to go with thin peach slices, which will take on a brighter pink hue, as well as be easier to fold or curl into a prettier, less chicken breast-looking shape. I love doing rose-shaped fruit tarts, and that made it a no-brainer to do that, but with these gorgeous pink peach slices on top! In terms of what I wanted to pair it with, that was where I was a bit on the fence. When I think of white peach, that is a summer fruit. It has a mild, almost melon-like flavor to it, so going with anything too strong, like coffee or dark chocolate, or even another fruit like orange or strawberry, could overpower it easily. Even though I made this cake for part of Pinktober, which is fall, I’m going to pull a “fall in Southern California, aka Summer Part 2” card here, and still go with summer flavors. So I went with Calpico. Calpico, also called Calpis, is a tangy, yogurt-like drink that is super popular in Japan. I personally LOVE drinking Calpico while eating raw white peaches, so it was a complete no-brainer to put the two together. All of the flavors in Calpico are mild and pleasant as well, so they pair off of the peaches in a delicate way!

For the components, we have three: the pink peaches, a cheesecake filling, and a buttery pastry. All three of these components are finnicky in their own way, but I would still rate this dessert a 6 to 7 out of 10 in terms of actual difficulty – the only truly difficult parts are assembling the peach slices on top, which takes steady hands, and the fact that the entire dessert requires a lot of patience. You really cannot rush this recipe whatsoever, since there is a lot of waiting time involved. The pastry is my pate sucre/shortbread recipe, which is the only baked component here. The dough does need to rest before you can roll it out, and I prefer to freeze my crust solid before you bake it, just to minimize the amount of shrinkage. Mostly because the more the crust shrinks, the less cheesecake filling you can pour into there. As for the cheesecake filling, it is really easy to make actually. Cream cheese is whipped until soft, then mixed with a gelatin-infused simple syrup, and finished/loosened with a little bit of Calpico, just to add in that pleasant tang. You don’t want to cook down or heat up the Calpico, because the cultures will then take on a really foul taste. I just add it in at the end, but you can also use Calpico concentrate if you want an even more prominent Calpico flavor! And then the pink peaches. First off, after I peel and pit my peaches, I keep them in lightly salted water, just so that they don’t go brown. For cutting the peaches, I use a mandolin to thinly slice mine. Don’t try to be a hero and slice down any of the nubby ends. We’ll simply cook those down with the pink peach syrup separately, just to prevent them from oxidizing and turning brown, and layer them into the bottom of the cooked crust before pouring in the cheesecake so as to not waste them. I used a little lemon juice in that pink peach syrup, which tints the syrup an even darker pink color, since we are lowering the PH level of the syrup by introducing acidity to it! That and the lemon juice actually helps the peach slices firm up as well. Speaking of peach firmness, go for less ripe white peaches when doing this recipe, since super ripe peaches will just fall apart when you try to mandolin them!

Makes 1 6-inch cheesecake:
For the pastry:
1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour

In a bowl, whip together the butter, sugar, and salt until the butter is pale white in color, doubled in volume, and easily spreadable in consistency. Fold into that the egg yolk and vanilla first, then fold in the flour to form your dough. Refrigerate the dough for 10-20 minutes first. If you refrigerate the dough for longer, you will need it to rest at room temperature for at least 10 minutes just to let the dough come up to temperature so that it is malleable. Then on a floured surface, roll out the dough to about 1/8-inch thickness, and transfer it into a 6-inch ring mold placed on a lined baking sheet, pressing the dough against the sides of the ring mold. Freeze the dough for 1 hour, then prick the bottom of the dough with a fork. Place a sheet of parchment on top of the dough, and fill up the parchment with either dried beans, dried rice, or pie weights. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes, then remove the top layer of parchment and the baking weights, and return to the oven for another 30 minutes, just until the crust is golden-brown. Allow the crust to fully cool before attempting to remove it from the ring mold.

For the pink peaches:
3 white peaches
1/2 cup water, plus more for storing the raw white peaches
a pinch of salt, plus more for storing the raw white peaches
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp lemon juice

Peel the white peaches first, reserving the peels, and then pit the peaches as well. Cut the peaches into quarter-sized wedges first. Using a mandolin on the second thinnest setting, slice the peaches into thinner pieces, reserving the nub ends as well. Cut the nub ends into a medium dice. Store the peeled/pitted peaches in lightly salted water – I stored the slices in one container, and the nub ends in another.

For the simple syrup, start by cooking down your peach peels with sugar, water, salt, and lemon juice until the liquid is cooked down by half. Pour out the salted water in your peaches, and then gently simmer the peach slices in the pink syrup for 10 seconds, storing the slices in an airtight container and allow them to cool down. Cook down the medium dice nub ends in the syrup for 2 minutes. Store the diced peaches in an airtight container as well. Distribute any residual pink peach syrup between the two containers.

For the cheesecake filling:
4oz cream cheese
1oz water
1 tsp gelatin powder + 1 tbsp cold water
2 tbsp granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
2oz heavy cream
2oz Calpico water

In a bowl, whip the cream cheese until soft. In a pot, heat up water, gelatin, sugar, and salt until the solids have fully dissolved into the liquids. Pour the reduction into the cream cheese and whip until combined. Whip the heavy cream separately to stiff peaks. Fold the heavy cream and Calpico through the cream cheese mixture.

For assembly:
Edible star glitter

Start by layering your medium dice peaches into the bottom of the cooled down crust. Pour the cheesecake mixture into the crust, leveling it off as necessary. Freeze the cheesecake for 2 hours. Then, once the filling is solidified, arrange the pink peach slices on top of the cheesecake, and finish with the star glitter.