French Silk Pie with Oreo Crust

French Silk Pie is the most luxurious, chocolatey, wonderful dessert that exists - in my opinion. Silky smooth chocolate filling in an Oreo crust, topped with whipped cream. Perfection.

This decadent pie is one of my all-time favorite pies. Scratch that. It IS my favorite pie. As a chocolate lover, I am very critical when it comes to my chocolate desserts, and this French silk pie recipe ticks ALL the boxes.

Not only is it indulgent and chocolatey, but the texture is absolutely divine! It's silky smooth and somehow thick and light at the same time. Kind of like a chocolate mousse but smoother and without the air bubbles.

I have many delicious chocolate desserts on the blog, including my Chocolate Mousse Pie and French Chocolate Flan, but nothing quite hits the spot like this Chocolate French Silk Pie with Oreo crust. Plus it's no-bake and very easy to make. Though it's a simple, no-bake recipe, this pie will impress whoever you feed it to, making it the perfect dessert for dinner parties or special occasions like Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Jump to:

• Ingredients for French Silk Pie
• What is French Silk Pie?
• How To Make French Silk Pie
• How to Decorate French Silk Pie
• Does French Silk Pie Contain Raw Eggs?
• Chocolate Silk Pie Variations
• How To Store French Silk Pie
• FAQs
• More Chocolate Desserts:
• Recipe

What is French Silk Pie?

French Silk Pie is a classic American dessert made with a rich chocolate filling that is whipped until it has a silky-smooth texture. It is traditionally inside a buttery pie crust, but my version has an Oreo pie crust, so it is completely no-bake. It is typically served with lots of whipped cream. and chocolate shavings.

Despite the name, it doesn't come from France - it gets its name from the luxuriously smooth, mousse-like texture.

How To Make French Silk Pie

There are three elements to this French silk pie recipe - the Oreo crust, the smooth chocolate filling, and the homemade whipped cream.

Make the Oreo Crust

Classic French Silk Pie has a flaky pie crust. But I like to make it with an Oreo cookie crust for extra chocolate flavor. I think the Oreos really complement the chocolate pie filling - and it's much easier to make than pie dough!

• Start by crushing up your Oreos. I use the whole oreo, but if you want to you can remove the white oreo filling. You can throw them in the food processor and blitz them for a few seconds. If you don't have a food processor, just put them in a ziplock bag, think of your ex and bash the hell out of them with a rolling pin.

• Put the salt into the crushed oreo crumbs and mix it in.

• Melt your butter in the microwave then pour half of it into the oreo crumbs. Mix it in with a fork or your hands.

• Add a little butter at a time until the crumbs start to clump together. Once you can squeeze the mixture in your hands and it holds its shape, it's ready. You may not need all of the butter.

• Tip the Oreo mixture into your pie dish and use your hands to squish it out into an even layer along the base and up the sides of the pie dish. You can use a glass or cup measure (or anything with a flat bottom) to pack it in tightly.

• This is completely optional, but sometimes I like to go the extra step of baking the Oreo pie crust for 10 minutes at 350°F / 180°C. This step is, completely optional, but it just helps make sure it's really going to hold together when you slice it.

Top Tip: I like to put a parchment paper circle in the bottom of my pie pan before putting the crumbs in. This helps to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the dish and you will be able to remove your pie easily.

French Silk Pie Filling

A lot of French Silk Pie recipes are made by incorporating whipped cream into the chocolate filling, but my recipe doesn't do that. I find it makes for a thicker, silkier pie with a more intense chocolatey flavor - and that's what we want!

1. Start by melting your dark chocolate in the microwave in 30-second increments, or in a double boiler, until it is totally melted.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in your stand mixer with the whisk attachment at medium speed. I highly recommend using a stand mixer for this recipe. You could technically use an electric hand mixer, but we will be whipping the mixture for a very long time, so a stand mixer is best if you want to keep your arms intact!
3. Once the butter and sugar mixture is light and fluffy, melted chocolate and whisk until combined.
4. Add the vanilla and cocoa powder and whip until totally incorporated.
5. Now comes the magical part! Add one egg to the chocolate mixture and then turn the mixer up to high speed and whip for 5 full minutes.
6. Repeat with all of the eggs, whipping for a full five minutes in between each egg. Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each five-minute period before adding the next egg.
7. You'll notice the consistency change with each egg addition. Once the last egg is whipped in, the sugar should have dissolved completely into the mixture and you should have a beautifully silky chocolate filling.
8. Pour the pie filling into the oreo crust and smooth out the top with a palette knife or something similar. Make sure you use a rubber spatula or bowl scraper to get every last bit of that rich chocolate filling.
9. Place the chocolate silk pie into the fridge to chill for at least four hours before attempting to slice. You can cover the pie dish with plastic wrap to avoid fridge odors sinking into the pie, but don't let it touch the surface of the chocolate filling. I recommend decorating right before serving.

How to Decorate French Silk Pie

The fun thing about cream pies is that you don't need ANY decorating skills whatsoever in order to make a really beautiful and impressive dessert, Just like my Banoffee Pie / Banana Cream Pie. The typical way to decorate is with a big old pile of fresh whipped cream and some chocolate curls, which does not need to be neat and tidy to look good.

• Start by whipping your heavy whipping cream in your stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or in a large bowl with an electric mixer on a medium-high speed. The cream will whip up better if it is cold so take it out of the fridge right before starting.

• Once the cream starts to thicken a little, add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Continue to whip until stiff peaks form.

• Once the cream is whipped, you can just spoon it on top of the pie and use a palette knife or even just a spoon to spread it out and make it look however you like.

• Finish off with some chocolate shavings. These look impressive but are really easy to do! Just take a chocolate bar and firmly run a potato peeler over it. The little chocolate curls will fall right off looking all rolled up and pretty. It's best to do this directly over your pie so they fall straight into place as they can be very delicate and difficult to move. Alternatively, you could drizzle the top of your pie with chocolate ganache.

Does French Silk Pie Contain Raw Eggs?

It is very important to note that this recipe does contain raw eggs. In the UK, where I am based, most supermarket eggs are perfectly safe to eat raw. However, in the US or elsewhere, you may need to check your egg carton to see if the eggs have been pasteurized (there will be a big P on the packaging). If you can't find pasteurized eggs, you could also substitute carton eggs. Any egg products sold out of their shell in the US have to be pasteurized by law, and so will be perfectly safe to eat.

If you are not sure if your eggs are pasteurized or not, you can heat them gently in a double boiler, whisking slowly the whole time until they reach a temperature of 160°F / 71°C. This will kill any bacteria and make them safe to consume.

You can also make this pie with raw eggs, even if unpasteurized, but it's important to know the risks. Raw, unpasteurized eggs may contain E. coli or Salmonella, which can make you sick. These days, the chances of getting sick from eggs are fairly slim, especially if you are using fresh eggs that have been stored correctly. However, there is always a risk, so I don't advise you to serve this pie to anyone who is elderly, under 3, pregnant, or immunocompromised.

Chocolate Silk Pie Variations

There are a few different ways you can make this recipe to suit your personal preference.

Traditional Homemade Pie Crust - If you prefer the classic recipe, you can of course, make a traditional pie crust instead of the cookie pie crust. You could also make a graham cracker crust.

Lighter pie - As I mentioned above, many French silk pie recipes will incorporate whipped cream into the filling as well as on top of the pie. I leave it out to create a thicker, more intense chocolate pie, but for a lighter, fluffier version, you can whip up 1.5 cups of heavy whipping cream in a separate bowl and fold it into the chocolate mixture before pouring it into your pie dish.

Cool Whip - If you don't want to whip cream, you could use a pre-made whipped cream topping such as cool whip to decorate the pie.

How To Store French Silk Pie

Store your homemade French silk pie in the refrigerator in an airtight container, or with plastic wrap over top to protect it from fridge odors. It will be good in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Recipe