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French Silk Pie

Crispy pie crust filled with a luscious, chocolatey filling and topped with the smoothest whipped cream. This French Silk Pie is what dreams are made of.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: French
Keyword: chocolate pie, french silk pie, homemade pie, pie
Servings: 8 people
Author: Sarah Crawford

Ingredients

For the Pie Crust

  • 1 batch homemade pie crust (linked above)* fully baked

For the Filling

  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 Tbsp warm heavy cream
  • 1 tsp instant coffee
  • 6 oz bittersweet chocolate broken into pieces
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt

For the Whipped Cream topping

  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 Tbsp powdered sugar
  • 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt

Instructions

For the Homemade Pie Crust

  • Make 1 batch of homemade pie dough and fully bake the crust. You can find all the instructions for doing this here.

For the Filling

  • Add cream to a large bowl. Beat on medium-low speed with a hand mixer or stand mixer until stiff peaks form, usually around 7 to 10 minutes (it's important that you take your time on this in order to have a stable whipped cream). Set the bowl in the refrigerator until it's ready to use.
  • Stir warm cream and instant coffee together in a small bowl; set aside.
  • Add chocolate pieces to a small saucepan set over low heat. Stir the chocolate occasionally just until it's fully melted. Remove from heat and set aside.
  • Whisk eggs and sugar in a large heat proof bowl 1 minute or until smooth and slightly pale in color.
  • Bring 1-inch of water to a simmer in a saucepan set over medium heat. Set the bowl with the egg mixture over the simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water (we're going to use the steam to heat the eggs).
  • Heat the eggs and sugar, whisking constantly, until the mixture reaches 160°F. Remove from heat immediately and cool at room temperature, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
  • Whisk chocolate into egg mixture, being sure to scrape all the chocolate into the bowl. Whisk in cream/instant coffee mixture, vanilla, and salt. Let cool at room temperature an additional 10 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, beat the butter on high speed in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment 3 minutes or until pale in color.
  • With the mixer running on low speed, slowly stream the chocolate and egg mixture into the butter. Increase speed to high and beat an additional 3 minutes.
  • Gently fold the chilled whipped cream into the chocolate mixture until it's fully combined.
  • Add the filling to the cooled, fully-baked pie crust, cover with plastic wrap, and chill at least 4 hours or until slightly firm to the touch.

For the Whipped Cream Topping

  • Combine cream, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl. Beat on medium-low speed with a hand mixer, stand mixer, or whisk until stiff peaks form, usually around 7 to 10 minutes (it's important that you take your time on this in order to have a stable whipped cream).
  • Dollop cream over chocolate filling. Use a vegetable peeler to shave chocolate pieces over the cream.

Notes

*I highly encourage you to make your own pie crust at home, but if you're crunched for time or just want to skip this step, you can use a store-bought crust. Just follow the instructions on the packaging for a fully-baked pie crust.