Chocolate Silk Pie

It’s time for us all to collectively gather around pie recipes, and this is a big favorite! Chocolate Silk Pie, while it has multiple steps, is actually super easy and insanely yummy. It’s the perfect pie for your Thanksgiving table, or just for a Saturday night.

This is a silk-style pie, so it starts with a smooth chocolate pudding base, and gets a lot of whipped cream folded into it. Let’s get started!

How to Make Chocolate Silk Pie

This recipe starts out with a perfect chocolate pudding. It’s thick, very chocolatey, and comes together just like most custard recipes- cooked over the stove. This pudding has dutch-processed cocoa powder and dark chocolate melted in, amping up the chocolate flavor! The pudding needs to chill completely before you can continue with the pie assembly, so be sure to do this step ahead of time!

Once the chocolate pudding is fully chilled, you can make a quick chocolate cookie crust, and start on the process of folding. This starts with a whole lot of whipped cream. You want to gently fold in about 2/3 of the whipped cream into the custard, and pour the mixture into your prepared crust.

Top the pie with the whipped cream, and optionally dust the top with cocoa powder or chocolate shavings as well. You’ll want to chill the pie for an additional couple of hours before serving it up and enjoying!

The chilling steps of this pie are really the hardest part, but otherwise it’s super simple. This is a really beautiful, really satisfying pie that is truly a perfect addition to any event this year. Hope you guys love it!

Tips & Tricks for a Perfect Chocolate Silk Pie

Here are all my tips and tricks for making the perfect pie!

• Be sure to make the chocolate pudding ahead of time. It needs to chill completely, which will take at least two hours. This is definitely a plan-ahead pie!
• Use dutch-processed cocoa powder for a deeper chocolate flavor.
• Can I use any chocolate for the custard? You can use any chocolate bar you like here, though I prefer using a chopped bar instead of chocolate chips, which have a coating that can affect the texture of the pudding. I like to use a 60% dark chocolate here- not too bitter, but still fairly deep.
• Don’t walk away from your pudding as you cook. Stove-top cooked puddings can thicken and burn fairly quickly, so it’s a very active cooking period. Be ready to whisk frequently as you go here.
• Use plastic wrap placed directly on top of the pudding to cover it and chill it. This prevents a skin from forming, and I promise it’s ok to put plastic wrap on the hot pudding.
• Why do I use instant pudding mix in the whipped cream? Whipped cream tends to lose stability after sitting in the fridge, and adding some gelatin to it helps provide long-term stability. I like having some instant vanilla pudding mix in a jar so I can just use a little bit in my whipped cream when needed!
• Be sure to fold in the whipped cream gently to keep the air in it, and to allow the cream to give the mixture stability. This will ensure that your pie is sliceable after the second chill in the fridge!

5 from 2 votes

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Chocolate Silk Pie

Servings 8 slices

Ingredients

For the crust:

• 18-20 oreos crushed
• 3 tbs. melted butter

For the custard base:

• 2/3 cup + 2 tbs. granulated sugar separated
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 tbs. dutch processed cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup cup whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 large egg yolks
• 3 oz chopped dark chocolate

For the whipped cream:

• 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 3 tbs. instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 tbs. cocoa powder optional

Instructions

For the crust:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Stir together the crushed oreos and melted butter until well coated. Press the crust mixture into a 9 inch pie plate evenly and firmly. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, or until it looks fairly dry and set. Let the crust cool completely.

For the custard base:

1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together 2/3 cup sugar, the cornstarch, cocoa powder, and salt until combined. Slowly whisk in the whole milk, heavy cream, and vanilla extract until combined. Heat the mixture over low-medium heat, whisking often.
2. While the milk mixture heats, in a small bowl whisk together the egg yolks and remaining 2 tbs. of sugar until they become pale. Once the milk mixture is steaming hot, ladle in about 2 cups of the milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture very slowly, whisking constantly. This is to temper the egg yolks. Then, pour the egg mixture back into the pot, and whisk everything together. Whisk constantly over low-medium heat until the mixture becomes very thick, about 5-8 minutes.
3. Once the mixture thickens, remove it from the heat and continue to whisk in the chopped chocolate for about 30 seconds-1 minute. If you see any lumps, push the custard through a fine mesh sieve at this point. Pour into a heat safe bowl, and cover with plastic wrap that is pressed directly on top of the custard. Chill the mixture for 1-2 hours, or until it is completely chilled through.

For the whipped cream and pie assembly:

1. Once the custard is fully cooled, in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the heavy cream until it has very soft peaks. Sprinkle in the instant pudding mix, and continue whipping until the cream has formed soft peaks.
2. In another large bowl, add in the cooled custard and stir it to loosen slightly. Add in about 1/3 of the whipped cream and fold it through the custard mixture until it is fully combined and no streaks of white remain. Then add in about another 1/3 of the whipped cream, and gently fold that in as well. Pour this mixture into the prepared pie crust and smooth it out. It’s ok if you have to mound the mixture up a bit depending on the size of your pie plate. Then top the chocolate filling with the remaining whipped cream. Cover the pie and chill it for at least two hours before serving. Serve with a light dusting of cocoa powder, optionally. Enjoy!

Dough-Eyed

Hello and welcome! My name is Nicole, and Dough-eyed is a food blog for people who want to bake for their family and friends in high-altitude areas. Think of me as a friendly voice there with you in the kitchen, here to give you confidence when you’re baking, and to help you with the struggles of baking at high-altitude. Come back every week for new recipes, tips, and advice on high-altitude baking!