French Silk Pie is a super silky chocolate pie, made with an Oreo Crust (with an option for a classic pie crust), a creamy rich chocolate filling, and topped with fresh whipped cream. This is the perfect make-ahead dessert, and contains no raw eggs, unlike other French Silk Pie recipes!
Hi hi! I am just popping in to share this French Silk Pie recipe with you! This recipe is a slightly updated version of the Nutella French Silk Pie that has been on my site for years - I have added another crust option for you with this super easy homemade oreo crust, and tweaked it to be a classic French Silk Pie. There are options in the post to make the Nutella version too.
This French Silk Pie is everything that I want in a chocolate dessert. The crust is perfectly crumbly while still holding its shape, and the filling is silky smooth and just the right balance of rich while also having a really delicious chocolate mousse texture. The whole thing is topped off with loads of freshly whipped cream just to really bring it all home.
This French Silk Pie recipe is slightly more involved than other pie recipes as it takes a few steps to make the crust and filling, but I promise you that it is so, so worth it. I made this a few times during testing and the reviews from friends and family were amazing. I love it so much, and I hope that you do too!
What is French Silk Pie?
French Silk Pie is a classic chocolate pie. It has three main components:
- Crust. I used my homemade Oreo pie crust recipe for this French Silk Pie but I have also made it with a blind baked pie crust and it turned out amazing. I prefer it with the cookie crust, but if you wanted to do a regular pie crust, follow the tips in my blind baked pie crust recipe. It would also work with a Graham cracker crust if that is more your style.
- Filling. French Silk Pie filling is super smooth and creamy, while also being light and fluffy. To me, it is the perfect chocolate pie filling. It is made in a similar way that a chocolate mousse is made - by whipping egg yolks and sugar, adding melted chocolate, then folding in whipped cream.
- Whipped Cream. A classic pie topping. The whipped cream helps to cut through the richness of the French Silk Pie filling. I like to finish mine off with chocolate curls, but you could also add chopped nuts or just a dusting of cocoa powder.
What is the best pie pan to use for French Silk Pie?
This recipe is made in a 10-inch ceramic pie pan, which is a little larger than what I make most of my crusted pies in. A deep dish style 9-inch pan will also work great too. Because this has a crumb crust and then a set filling, if you have a little leftover filling you can always set it in a separate container for a sneaky snack later on.
How to make French Silk Pie filling
This French Silk Pie has a fairly typical filling - however instead of creaming butter and sugar and then incorporating the rest of the ingredients, we start with a mixture more similar to a sabayon, which involves cooking egg yolks and sugar over a double boiler and whisking until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has thickened slightly.
The first step in making the French Silk Pie filling is to melt some chocolate. I like to use a dark chocolate - the one I have is 72% cocoa solids. Set it aside to cool while you make the rest of the filling.
Two measures of cream in the filling?
There are two measures of cream in the filling - the first larger measure gets whipped to stiff peaks and is used as the base of the filling. The second measure is there to help smooth out the filling mixture. I found that when I was testing it that the mixture would often sieze when the chocolate went into the egg mixture, and incorporating some liquid cream helped a lot with this.
You will notice that there is water in the egg yolk and sugar mixture - that is there for a reason. When I was testing this recipe I found that it was quite hard to dissolve the sugar fully without cooking the egg yolks too much. A little bit of water fixed this issue - just enough to dissolve the sugar. I know it seems weird but it does work - trust me.
Once the egg yolk mixture has been made, you remove it from the heat and whip until it has cooled and thickened significantly. Then the melted chocolate gets added along with the liquid measure of cream. The chocolate mixture is added to the whipped cream and incorporated.
Do not worry if the filling looks like it is runny. This pie needs at least four hours to fully chill in the fridge, ideally more if possible. It will set up in the fridge!
Can French Silk Pie be made ahead of time?
Yes - in fact, you want to make this pie ahead of time. It needs at least four hours to fully set up in the fridge. I like to do it overnight if I can, but you want to give the pie filling a good chance to fully set. Make sure to leave off adding the whipped cream until close to serving so that it does not get weepy and weird.
How do you store French Silk Pie?
After you have added the chocolate filling to the pie, you can chill it uncovered in the fridge until you are ready to serve. Once the cream has been added I like to store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. They will keep for up to 3 days.
How do you slice pie cleanly?
This can be a bit of a mission, especially when the topping is thick whipped cream. There are a few things that I do to get a nice slice of pie:
- Make sure the pie is super cold. A nice chilled pie will give you a nice clean slice.
- Use a sharp knife. This is one of the benefits of making this pie in a ceramic pan - you don't have to worry about scratching it with the knife like you would a non stick pan. Use a nice sharp knife and cut right down to the pan when slicing the pie. If you like, you can heat the knife under boiling water and dry off before slicing.
- Wipe the knife between slices. Cutting with a clean knife gives you a much better chance of having nice cuts.
- Use a spatula. I like to use a small offset spatula to remove my slices of pie from the pan - it has a flexible metal blade so is easy to pop down between the crust and the pan to help lift the slice out.
Flavour variations - Nutella French Silk Pie
The original version of this pie was a Nutella French Silk Pie. This version is super similar, I just reduced the amount of cream in the recipe due to not using the Nutella. The recipe remains the same, the cream quantity is just slightly different and you add in 200g Nutella. The original recipe also used a blind baked pie crust - to make this, follow the instructions for a blind baked pie crust on my pie crust post.
If you would like to make the Nutella version, make the following changes:
- Increase the first measure of cream that you whip to 360g
- Increase the second measure of cream that you stream in as liquid to 120g
- Once the measure of liquid cream has been incorporated, add in 200g Nutella and beat until incorporated.
- Proceed with the recipe as written, adding the chocolate nutella mixture into the whipped cream.
Whipped Cream Topping for French Silk Pie
I top my French Silk Pie with loads of freshly whipped cream. You can either blob it on and just smooth it out with a spatula or a spoon, or if you would like to pipe it, I used an ateco #825 tip and piped on swirls.
When you are making whipped cream for piping you want to make sure that you do not over whip it - you want it to just hold stiff peaks. I prefer to do it by hand to make sure that I do not over whip it, but an electric hand mixer on low works well too. Just go slow.
Frequently Asked Questions
What tools and equipment do you use?
You can find a full list of the tools and equipment I use on my products page
Which pan did you use?
I use a 9" deep dish pie pan to make this French Silk Pie. You want to use something ceramic or glass so the crust does not slide out (I found that this happened when I used a nonstick pan).
Can I make this without a thermometer?
I haven't tested it, but the first step in making the filling is where you cook the egg yolks and sugar with a little water over a double boiler. You want to bring them to a food safe temperature, while also dissolving the sugar. It is possible to do this without the thermometer however you cannot guarantee your eggs are properly cooked, but if you are fine with this (I just use super fresh eggs), you can test if the sugar is dissolved by rubbing some of the mixture between a thumb and finger. If you cannot feel any sugar grains, you know it has dissolved.
For more homemade pie recipes, check out:
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Answers to your baking questions
Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:
- baking in grams
- adjusting oven temperatures
- what kind of salt to use
- and many more!
I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!
Foolproof French Silk Pie (No Raw Eggs!)
- Author: Erin Clarkson
-
Prep Time: 1 hour -
Cook Time: 10 minutes
-
Total Time: 6 hours
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Yield: 8 servings -
Category: Pie -
Method: Baking -
Cuisine: American
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
French Silk Pie is a super silky chocolate pie, made with an Oreo Crust (with an option for a classic pie crust), a creamy rich chocolate filling, and topped with fresh whipped cream. This is the perfect make-ahead dessert, and contains no raw eggs, unlike other French Silk Pie recipes!
Ingredients
Pie Crust
- One Homemade Oreo Crust, baked and cooled
French Silk Pie Filling
- 320g heavy whipping cream (for whipping for the filling)
- ½ tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
- ½ tsp salt (I use kosher salt, if you are using table salt, use less)
- 200g dark chocolate, broken into chunks (I used 72%)
- 80g egg yolks, cold from the fridge is fine
- 130g caster sugar or granulated sugar
- 20g water
- 90g heavy whipping cream, cold (for streaming into the filling)
Whipped Cream Topping
- 360g heavy whipping cream, cold
- ½ tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- Chocolate shavings or cocoa powder to finish (optional)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the 320g cream, vanilla, and salt until stiff peaks form. Transfer to another bowl and store in the fridge until ready to use. Wash and dry your stand mixer bowl. Alternatively this can be done with a hand mixer in multiple bowls so you don't have to transfer.
- Set up a double boiler situation - place a small pot filled with an inch or two over water and bring to a boil. Break the chocolate into a glass or metal bowl that fits over the pot, and place on top, letting the heat melt the chocolate. Stir frequently. Once all of the chocolate is melted, remove from the double boiler and set aside to cool.
- In another metal or glass bowl, or in the bowl of your stand mixer (I used the metal bowl of my kitchen aid), combine the egg yolks, sugar and water, whisking well to combine. Place over your pot of simmering water, ensuring that the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl, and, whisking constantly, heat until the mixture registers 160˚f / 70˚c on a candy thermometer. Remove the bowl from the heat, and then whip the egg yolk mixture for 4-5 minutes, until it has increased significantly in volume, and cooled to room temperature. With the mixer on low, slowly add the melted dark chocolate, mixing until incorporated and scraping down the sides as needed. The mix may look like it has seized here but don't worry, the liquid cream will sort this out.
- Slowly stream in the 90g heavy whipping cream, mixing until well combined.
- Remove the whipped cream from the fridge, and add the chocolate mixture to the cream. Gently fold it in, taking care not to deflate the cream too much, until well combined and homogenous in colour.
- Scrape the filling into the pie crust, and smooth down with an offset spatula. Transfer to the fridge and chill for at least 4 hours, or up to overnight.
- To finish the pie, whip 360g heavy whipping cream with the vanilla until stiff peaks, then transfer to a piping bag fitted with a star tip (I used ateco #825). Pipe swirls of whipped cream on top of the pie. Alternatively, you can dollop the cream on and spread with an offset spatula. Finish with curls of chocolate made with a vegetable peeler, and chopped hazelnuts.
Notes
Heavy whipping cream is the kind of liquid cream that you use to make homemade whipped cream. In New Zealand it is the only kind you can get but I know other countries have different kinds, which is why I have specified!
80g of egg yolks is about 6 eggs worth, however eggs vary from country to country so the most accurate way is to measure them with a scale.
The previous version of this recipe had Nutella - there are notes in the body of the post on how to include Nutella.
The post Foolproof French Silk Pie (No Raw Eggs!) appeared first on Cloudy Kitchen.
