French Silk Pie

A French Silk Pie Recipe Without Raw Eggs

Have you ever had French silk pie? It’s a creamy, silky smooth pie with a light texture and a rich chocolate taste. This one’s baked on my flaky, buttery homemade pie crust (a family favorite for generations). Traditional recipes are often made with raw eggs but–thanks to your feedback–there are NO raw eggs in my recipe!

After I shared my chocolate mousse recipe (made with raw eggs), I received a lot of feedback that people were uncomfortable consuming recipes with raw eggs. I got the message, so I went to work and found a way to cook the eggs while still achieving a rich and creamy pie with the lighter traditional texture that you expect from a French silk pie.

Fair warning: there’s a bit of technique and patience involved with this showstopper, but it’s well worth it.

What you’ll love about my recipe:

• Silky results (WITHOUT using raw eggs)!
• 100% from-scratch, all the way from the crust to the homemade whipped cream topping.
• Includes instructions for blind-baking, just in case you’re new to this technique.
• Tastes great in any pie crust, including graham cracker crust and Oreo crust.
• Would make a great addition to your Thanksgiving dessert table!

What You Need

My velvety smooth French silk pie recipe needs a few key ingredients:

• Blind baked pie crust. If anyone is nervous about blind baking, don’t be! I detail the steps below, but you can also check out my how to blind bake a pie crust post for an in-depth explanation.
• Bittersweet chocolate. In a pinch you could use semisweet chocolate, but my preference is bittersweet, which has a deeper, darker flavor and keeps the filling from being too sweet. Bittersweet chocolate is typically around 70% cacao (semisweet is usually below 60%) and provides the perfect balance of flavor.
• Espresso powder. This is optional, but it complements the chocolate and adds a subtle bitter flavor that adds to the rich depth of flavor that’s absolutely essential to a good French silk pie.
• Eggs. As I’ve mentioned, no raw eggs in today’s recipe. We’ll cook these (carefully) on the stovetop, much like we do with my tiramisu recipe, to remove any risk of food poisoning.
• Vanilla. Vanilla extract is chocolate’s perfect mate. It rounds out the flavors and perfectly complements the chocolate filling.

Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!

How to Make French Silk Pie

1. Blind bake your pie crust and let it cool while you prepare your filling.
2. Microwave the chopped chocolate and butter until melted and smooth.
3. Whisk together the eggs, sugar, and salt in a double boiler until the sugar dissolves and the mixture reaches 160F.
4. Remove the bowl, dry it off, and use an electric mixer to beat the mixture until it lightens and increases in volume.

1. Stir your melted chocolate, then beat it into the egg mixture.
2. Add the vanilla and espresso powder, then beat on high speed for 30 seconds. Let this cool to room temperature.
3. In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks.
4. Fold the whipped cream into the cooled chocolate mixture until combined.

1. Pour the filling into your prepared crust, cover with plastic, and chill for at least 6 hours. Patience is a virtue 😉
2. Top with whipped cream (if desired), slice, and enjoy!