French silk pie is a silky smooth chocolate pie with a light, creamy texture. You will enjoy a flaky pie crust filled with smooth chocolate filling and topped with homemade whipped cream. Much like my Chocolate Mouse, this pie is made with eggs cooked to a safe temperature.
Some people enjoy eating chocolate, while others find it a life-altering experience. For a true chocolate lover, this pie will be an experience where you want to savor every moment and every bite.
Making French Silk pie is a similar process to my Chocolate Mousse and similar in taste. So if you’ve made my chocolate mousse recipe before, you shouldn’t be familiar with the process.
This is truly a perfect pie any time of the year but especially perfect for the holidays.
What is French Silk Pie?
This dessert is a French version of an American chocolate cream pie recipe. The latter has a pudding-like consistency, while a silk pie is firmer, with a soft, smooth, and airy texture.
An authentic recipe calls for a lot of butter and heavy cream, which is how the pie gets its silkiness. It isn’t dense like cheesecake, it’s much lighter than that.
It fits perfectly into the category of rich, indulgent desserts like flourless chocolate cake and chocolate mousse. This dessert is absolutely perfect for holidays and special occasions!
Recipe Notes
INGREDIENT NOTES
- Crust – To save time, I buy ready-to-use refrigerated pie dough. If you have a favorite pie crust recipe, you can make your own. Even a pre-baked shell will work.
- Butter – It’s important to use unsalted butter, especially when you bake. This is because the amount of salt in butter can vary a lot from brand to brand. While a little salt helps to enhance the chocolate flavor, too much can easily ruin your dessert.
- Chocolate – Use semi-sweet baking chocolate and of good quality. Chocolate is prominent in this pie, so you will want to use one that will taste the best.
- Heavy whipping cream – Sorry, there is no substituting the heavy whipping cream in this recipe. Because of the delicate nature of this dish, it has to be correct ingredients.
Not Using Raw Eggs
Many people get worried about the use of raw eggs in their food. There are quite a few recipes that call for raw eggs like Tiramisu, Caesar dressing, eggnog, Hollandaise sauce, and so many more.
There is small risk in using raw eggs and that is why it is safer to cook the eggs (or bring them to safe temperature) in desserts like custard, chocolate mousse, and tiramisu.
It is recommended to bring the eggs to a recommended safe temperature of 160°F.
To get the eggs to a safe temperature, slowly heat them up in a small sauce pot or a double boiler. (If you don’t have a double boiler, set a glass mixing bowl over a pot filled about half way with water. Water should not be touching the bowl on top.)
Use a thermometer to track the temperature while cooking the eggs. Cook them low and slow and remember to stir constantly so you don’t end up with scrambled eggs.
Kitchen Tools and Equipment
- 9-inch pie baking dish
- Parchment paper or aluminum foil
- Dried beans or pie weights
- Electric mixer with paddle and whisk attachments
- Silicone spatulas
- Vegetable peeler or box grater
- Double boiler or tall saucepan
How to make French Silk Pie
Making this recipe does take some time, but when you taste that first bite, it will all be worth it!
How To Prebake Pie Crust
- Prepare the baking dish.
Preheat your oven to 350° F and be sure to grease the bottom and up the sides of your pie dish. This prevents the crust from sticking to the pan.
- Roll out the dough.
If you’re using homemade crust, follow the instructions for your recipe. For refrigerated dough, you’ll want to roll the crust to about 12 inches in diameter. This ensures that there is enough crust to fold over the top and crimp the edges.
- Line and weigh down the crust.
Fit a sheet of aluminum foil or parchment paper into the baking dish, and gently press it all over the bottom and sides of the crust. Then, spread an even layer of pie weights or dried beans across the inside surface.
Parchment paper is a good option because it is gently on the pie crust. Aluminum foil can be folded over the edges of the pie crust to prevent it from darkening too much but it can rip the pie crust.
- Remove weights and foil, and finish baking.
Bake for about 25 minutes. Then, remove the paper or foil liner with the weights inside.
Use a fork to poke a few holes over the bottom and sides of the crust, then bake for another 10-15 minutes.
After you remove the pie crust from the oven, be sure to cool it completely before adding the filling.
Make sure the pie crust is cooled completely before adding pie filling!
Make Chocolate Filling:
- Chop chocolate into small pieces and set it aside.
- Combine and cook eggs and sugar.
Heat the eggs stirring slowly but constantly, until the mixture reaches 160° (F).
IMPORTANT: To prevent the eggs from cooking, it’s important to do this over low or medium-low heat. Also, be sure to slowly stir the mixture the entire time and keep cooking thermometer handy
- Remove pan from heat and add chocolate.
Add chocolate chunks into the hot egg mixture and slowly whisk and stir until chocolate is melted and incorporated. Set aside to cool completely while you work on the other parts of the chocolate custard filling.
Easy way to cool it fast is to place the sauce pot into a larger bowl filled with ice and stir often.
Cool chocolate mixture completely before combining it with butter mixture!
- Make and refrigerate whipped cream.
You can use a whisk attachment on a hand-held electric mixer or a stand mixer for this. Whichever method you use, place the whisk into a freezer for about 10 minutes first. This helps to create stiff peaks
- Beat butter and remaining sugar.
For this step, you will need to switch over to a paddle attachment. Use medium-high speed and beat until the mixture is really pale yellow, light and fluffy.
- Incorporate the chocolate/egg mixture.
IMPORTANT: Before you add the chocolate/egg mixture to the butter/sugar, be sure that the eggs and chocolate are no warmer than room temperature. Beat for 3-5 minutes, until smooth and silky.
- Fold in whipped cream and fill the crust.
Carefully, fold in the whipped cream until all evenly incorporated. Transfer the French silk pie filling into a cooled pie shell.
Finishing Touches for French Silk Pie
- Cover, wrap and chill the pie for 6 hours.
- Make the whipped cream topping.
Just like the earlier step, chill your whisk attachment (and even the bowl, if you are able to) before you whip the heavy cream.
- Finish and garnish the dessert.
Spread whipped cream over the top of the cooled pie. Use a vegetable peeler to create chocolate curls, or a cheese grater for chocolate shavings.
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French Silk Pie
Equipment
- Pie baking dish
- Parchment paper or aluminum foil
- Dried beans or pie weights
- Electric mixer with paddle and whisk attachments
- Silicone spatulas
- Double boiler or sauce pot*
Ingredients
- 1 pie crust
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 1 cup sugar separates in 2
- 4 oz baking chocolate
- 12 tbs butter room temperature
- 1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream cold
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream cold
- 2 tbsp powdered sugar
Decorating option:
- 2 oz chocolate bar
Instructions
Prebaking pie shell:
- Preheat the oven to 350° and rub a pie dish with butter all over the bottom and up the sides.
- Gently roll out the pie shell to about 12 inches and fit it over the pie dish. Carefully fit it into the bottom and sides of the pie dish and try not to break it. Fold and pinch the edges of the pie shell all along the perimeter of the dish.
- Fit a sheet of aluminum foil or parchment paper into the pie dish and gently press it all over the bottom and sides of the pie crust. (Note: aluminum foil will be better because you can fold it lightly over the edges of the pie crust to keep it from getting too dark.)
- Fill the inside with pie weights or dried beans and make sure it's spread evenly all over the crust.
- Bake for about 25 minutes. Take the pie dish out of the oven and carefully remove the foil or parchment paper with the weights inside.
- Poke a few holes over the bottom of the pie crust and a few on the sides and bake another 10-15 minutes. Take it out of the oven and make sure to cool completely before adding the filling.
Chocolate Pie Filling:
- Chop the baking chocolate bar into small pieces and set aside.
- EGGS: In a small, heavy-bottom sauce pot, over medium-low (to low) heat, whisk eggs and 1/2 cup of sugar together. Heat the eggs stirring slowly but constantly, until the mixture reaches 160° (F). This could take up to 10 minutes but don't walk away and don't stop slowly stirring or you will cook your eggs. Take off heat.
- Add chocolate chunks into the hot egg mixture and slowly whisk and stir until chocolate is melted and incorporated. Set aside to cool completely.
- WHIPPED CREAM: Using a cold whisk attachment, beat cold heavy cream in the cold bowl of an electric mixer, until stiff peaks appear. Place the whipped cream into the refrigerator until ready to use.
- In an electric mixer, using a paddle attachment, beat butter and remaining 1/2 cup of sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
- Slowly pour in cooled chocolate egg mixture (make sure that eggs and chocolate are no warmer than room temperature). Beat for 3-5 minutes, until smooth and silky.
- Carefully, fold in the whipped cream until all evenly incorporated.
- Transfer the pie filling into a cooled pie shell. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 6 hours before serving.
Topping:
- Using a cold whisk attachment, beat cold heavy cream and 2 tbsp. of powdered sugar in the cold bowl of an electric mixer, until stiff peaks appear.
- Spread whipped cream over the top of the cooled pie.
- Shave a chocolate bar using a vegetable peeler over the top of the pie to get chocolate curls. If you want fine chocolate shavings, you can use a cheese grater to grate chocolate bar over the top.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles on November 17, 2013. Updated October 14, 2020.
Rachel Taylor says
Thanks for that recipe, I had never heard of it.
Karen says
This is the PERFECT light and fluffy French silk pie! I did a lot of searching for a recipe without raw eggs that wasn’t heavy or overly rich. This is it! Almost all of the reviews comment on how it looks. I wanted to post a review to tell you how it tastes! It is absolutely delicious! Just exactly what I was hoping for. I used a double-boiler for the egg mixture, a Ghirardelli semi-sweet baking bar, and a Mrs. Smith’s deep dish pie crust. (Mrs. Smith’s has rated highest for pre-made crusts that taste most like homemade.) I made it for Thanksgiving to rave reviews and I’m making it again tomorrow for my daughter’s birthday. It’s that good!
LyubaB says
Karen, that’s wonderful! I am so glad you liked it!