This peach and rose mascarpone tart is one of my favorite host or dinner party dessert gifts. It can be made surprisingly fast, takes little cooking and prep, and visually impressive. It's one of those non-intensive recipes that mostly entails some mixing, slicing and layer.  The importance of proper measuring and calculating that goes into the chemistry of most pastry recipes is non existant in this one. And the combination of the marzipan, the mascarpone lightly infused with rose essence, and the fresh peaches makes this a perfect summer dessert. 

Ingrédients

Pâte feuilletée/puff pastry (premade) or... homemade recipe or a more simple sweet tart crust

1 cup mascarpone

200g/7oz marzipan

2 drops rose essence

3 peaches

Pinch of salt

Glaze

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Recipe

Roll out the dough onto a greased piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Carefully fold over the edges, wet your fingers, and run along the inside fold to seal the dough. 

Cover the dough with another sheet of greased parchment paper, and add dried beans or weights to hold down the crust. Bake at 350ºF/180ºC for 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside and let the dough cool while you make the filling.

Gently heat the marzipan in a small saucepan over low flame. Add water to the marzipan, a teaspoon at a time, to soften it enough to be able to spread over the cake.

Spread the marzipan over the pastry shell. 

In a small bowl, combine the mascarpone with 1 or 2 drops of rose essence, and mix well. Spread the mascarpone over the marzipan layer.

Cut peaches into thin slices, and lay them over the mascarpone. 

To make the glaze, heat the orange juice, water, sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan on low heat and bring to a boil, stirring and then remove from the flame.

Using a paint or pastry brush, cover the peaches with the glaze.