Zoe Peckich has always had a sweet tooth.
Growing up in Canonsburg, the town where Sarris Candies was founded, was a huge inspiration for her love of dessert.
Things have gotten even sweeter for the pastry chef at Ritual House in Downtown Pittsburgh since claiming the title of Food Network’s “Summer Baking Championship” in June.
“I feel like winning the baking championship definitely broadened my horizons,” Peckich said. “It has me feeling like anything is possible.”
The most challenging part was having to decide on a dessert with limited time to prepare.
“Baking is a science,” she said. “It takes time.”
She made a spicy chocolate cake with mango and chocolate buttercream icing.
“I wanted to use my favorite chocolate cake recipe but I knew I had to come up with a recipe that provided a ‘Wow’ moment,” she said.
Providing that “Wow’ moment is what she strives for every day at Ritual House, she said. The restaurant offers daily desserts. Two of the most popular are the seven-layer cake and the “Not Your Gram’s” strawberry pretzel salad. Peckich uses a mold to shape the dessert to look like two huge strawberries.
Peckich has the freedom to add seasonal choices, such as pumpkin cookies and apple pie thumbprints. She said if a diner comes back to the restaurant for dessert, then she has done her job.
“This is my dream job and Pittsburgh is the City of Champions, so I was happy to win the baking championship,” she said.
She had to keep her win a secret for months, as the show was filmed in February. The restaurant was packed when the episode aired in June.
Ritual House co-owner Herky Pollock said Peckich epitomizes the essence of providing a total dining experience.
“She works not only to delight our guests with impeccably tasting desserts but also to excite their every sense,” Pollock said. “She is a rock star.”
Peckich said the victory has earned her more followers on social media, and more and more people are asking her for baking tips. She said it is important to constantly learn.
One of her goals is to do more to promote women in this field.
“There are so many wonderful female chefs,” she said.
She credits her mother, Kristen Peckich, who owns La Pomponnée Beauty Artisans in Mt. Lebanon and McMurray, with being her No. 1 supporter.
Zoe Peckich’s stepfather Deron Donalson and her older brother Max have also always believed in her culinary dreams, she said. Her brother is one of the reasons she wanted to serve as a celebrity judge to choose the best cookie and milkshake at Mid-Atlantic Mothers’ Milk Bank Milkshake & Cookies event on Nov. 9 at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh on the North Side.
Max Peckich spent nine months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital in Oakland.
“This event definitely hits home for me,” Peckich said.
Proceeds from the event support the milk bank’s efforts in distributing safe and ethically sourced milk to more than 50 hospitals and many outpatients, including all of the high-level neonatal intensive care units in the region.
Peckich said participating in events such as Milkshake & Cookies and winning the baking championship have helped her transition back to the city and create a name for herself. She had lived in Charlotte, N.C., for seven years, where she attended Johnson & Wales University.
She earned degrees in food and beverage as well as bakery and pastries, all fostered by her childhood and those visits to Sarris at least once a week. As a child she often wanted candy over toys, she said. She and her brother love the Sarris ice cream covered in chocolate hard cap, a liquid topping that can be heated in a microwave and put over ice cream where it hardens into a rich chocolate shell. It is her favorite thing in the world, she said.
“Life is short,” Peckich said. “Eat dessert first. Savor the moment.”
While she’s continuing to savor the moment of her Food Network championship, she is also looking to celebrate other dessert makers in the city. She said as a way to continue her career, she plans to reach out to bakeries around the city and collaborate with them via social media as a way to give them some exposure.
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“I want to showcase what underlying talent there is at these bakeries,” she said. “I would love to interview some of the owners so we can bring their products and stories to the forefront.”
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact JoAnne by email at jharrop@triblive.com or via Twitter .