This French Silk Pie Cake is the dessert of your dreams!! Incredibly moist chocolate cake layers topped with an unbelievably silky chocolate frosting.
This French Silk Pie Cake is an homage to my very favorite cake from my childhood, and it’s still one of my favorite cakes today: the McCain Deep’n Delicious Chocolate Cake.
This cake is so good. SO. GOOD. We wouldn’t get it often when I was little, but when we did, it was the best treat. The cake itself is fine, basically good old chocolate cake. But the frosting… the frosting!! Where is the heart eyes emoji?? That stuff is like crack. I’d gladly take a bowl full of that frosting with a spoon and be happy.
I actually haven’t had this cake in decades (seriously), but over the holidays I got this inexplicable craving that just had to be satisfied. All the precious cakes lining my freezer were just not going to cut it. Ryan was all like — imagine if your followers knew what you were getting?? Blasphemy!
Little did he know I had already blasted my guilty pleasure to everyone on my Instagram stories. There were some closet Deep’n Delicious fans that came out of the woodwork, let me tell ya — this cake has a cult following. Rightfully so.
So twenty some odd years later, I am happy to report that it’s every bit as good as I’d remembered. Except it used to come with chocolate sprinkles. Where did the chocolate sprinkles go??
I am not kidding when I say I bought at least two (maybe three) of these cakes over the holidays and ate them all. Happily. Maybe it was that I needed a break from baking, or that I was tired of all my cakes, or I just wanted to relive some nostalgia. It was wonderful.
Over the course of discussing our mutual obsession with my friend Amy from Constellation Inspiration, I decided I needed to try and re-create this cake. A quick Google search led down a rabbit hole which eventually led me to French Silk Pie. Apparently the filling for this pie is what is used as the frosting on the Deep’n Delicious cake.
What is French Silk Pie?
It’s basically a mousse, but not made in the traditional way you’d make a mousse. The key difference with French Silk Pie is the way you whip the eggs. Or rather, how long you whip them for.
The recipe starts out with creaming butter and sugar together, then adding in melted chocolate. At this point you start adding cold eggs one at a time and whipping for 5 minutes after each addition. This part is critical. If you add the eggs all at once it will be a big soupy mess. If you don’t whip for long enough after each egg, the filling/frosting/mousse will be grainy. Trust me when I say not to rush this process.
When you’re finished whipping, the filling will be thick, fluffy, and silky… but a bit on the runny side. You couldn’t use it as a frosting in this state. All you need to do is pop it into the fridge for 20-30mins so that it starts to firm/set up a bit. I chilled mine for a total of 30mins, rewhipping every 10mins. It was still thinner than a normal frosting at this point, but totally worked for piping the dollops. You could chill it a bit longer if you prefer.
It’s important to note that I piped the dollops on each layer separately and chilled them again for 30mins before stacking. I wanted to make sure the frosting was firm enough so that it wouldn’t ooze out the sides. You could serve this cake stacked or as two individual layers. How you choose to serve it is up to you. Each is equally pretty in my opinion.
This French Silk Pie Cake recipe is simple, but a bit more time intensive (not THAT much more though). Decorating this cake is super easy, so the time spent on making/chilling the frosting balances out. And it’s worth it, I promise!! That frosting is pure heaven.
So, did my version of the Deep’n Delicious cake live up to my expectations?? I gotta tell ya, it’s pretty darn close. My cake layers are more dense and moist (which I like better), but the frosting is almost identical. Certainly in texture. I used unsweetened Baker’s chocolate in the frosting as that’s what most French Silk Pie recipes called for, but I think next time I’d try it with a high quality dark chocolate instead (Callebaut is my favorite). I am a chocolate snob when it comes to baking!
Does this mean I’ll stop buying the McCain cakes? Unlikely. But if you’re as big a fan of that nostalgic cake as I am, you will love this homemade version!
Tips for making this French Silk Pie Cake :
- This recipe uses raw eggs for the frosting. I recommend using pasteurized. If you’re uncomfortable eating raw eggs altogether you can try one of my other chocolate frosting recipes.
- Raw eggs should not be consumed by pregnant women, small children, or anyone with health issues.
- Do NOT skimp on the whipping time for the frosting. You really need to whip for 5 minutes after each egg so that the sugar dissolves completely and the frosting is light and fluffy.
- I used caster sugar as it’s super fine and will dissolve quicker, but good old granulated sugar will work just fine. Just make sure the sugar is completely dissolved. If not, keep whipping until it is.
- I used Baker’s chocolate in the frosting, but next time I think I would try it with a really good quality dark chocolate.
- To help ensure your cake layers bake up nice and flat, see my Flat Top Cakes post.
Looking for more Chocolate Recipes??
- Chocolate Truffle Cake
- Mocha Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Dulce de Leche Cake
- Dark Chocolate Ganache Tart
- Chocolate Cheesecake Stuffed Bundt
Raw Eggs
This recipe uses raw eggs which may be an issue for some. I recommend using pasteurized eggs. Raw eggs should not be consumed by pregnant women, small children, or anyone with health issues.
French Silk Pie Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder sifted
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup buttermilk room temperature
- 1 cup hot water
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
French Silk Frosting:
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened, but still cool
- 1 cup caster sugar superfine sugar (granulated ok, not powdered)
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 oz unsweetened Baker’s chocolate melted and cooled completely
- 3 large whole eggs (pasteurized) cold
Assembly:
- chocolate flakes or sprinkles
Instructions
Chocolate Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F, grease two 8″ round baking pans and dust with cocoa powder. Line bottoms with parchment.
- Place all dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Stir to combine.
- In a medium bowl whisk all wet ingredients (pour hot water in slowly as not to cook the eggs).
- Add wet ingredients to dry and mix on medium for 2-3 mins. Batter will be very thin.
- Pour evenly into prepared pans. I used a kitchen scale to ensure the batter is evenly distributed.
- Bake for 45 mins or until a cake tester comes out mostly clean.
- Cool 10 minutes in the pans then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
French Silk Frosting:
- Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until pale & fluffy (approx. 3 mins). Ideally use a a chilled bowl*. Scrape bowl as needed.
- Add cooled melted chocolate and vanilla, whip until combined. Scrape bowl as needed.
- Switch to whisk attachment. Add eggs one at a time, whipping for 5 mins after each addition. Scrape bowl before adding each egg.**
- Frosting will be fairly runny. Place entire bowl with whisk into the fridge to chill for 30mins (take out to whip every 10mins).
Assembly:
- Place each layer of cake on a cake board or plate. Using a French star tip, pipe dollops on top of each layer then sprinkle with chocolate flakes.***
- You can either serve them like this, as two separate cakes, or place both in the fridge to chill for 1 hour, then carefully remove one from the cake board stack on top of the other.
Notes
** Do not skimp on this! It takes a long time, but this is what helps give it the proper texture.
*** You will have a bit of frosting left over. You can use this to add more frosting to the cake if desired, or spoon into small bowls and serve as mousse. French Silk Pie filling recipe from Martha Stewart.
Donna Chillemi says
Hi there, I am making this for a sick friend so unfortunately I won’t be able to taste it but it sure looks and smells amazing! So….I followed your recipe to the T….chilled bowl, ‘fully cooled after melted’ chocolate, 5 minutes whipping after each cold egg, 10 minutes in fridge then whip, x 3. Still the mousse became runny very quickly, even after whipping again, and I don’t think it will withstand placing a layer on top of another. I placed them both in the freezer for now after adding the mousse, but they will have to be transported for about 45 minutes in the car in the morning. Luckily, they are beautiful on their own, so I may simply do 2 separate cakes, but I wondered if you had any tips. The double layer cake is SO impressive and I’d love to present it that way! Thank you, and I can’t wait to make one of these for myself! 🙂
Olivia says
Hi Donna! I’d freeze the frosted layers for transport. 45mins is a long time and the frosting really is quite soft! Frozen should help.
Betsy says
This cake is delicious, and I could eat the whole bowl of icing on its own! However I ended up with tiny shards of hard chocolate in the icing – I think the melted chocolate must have hardened on the cold bowl as I poured it in. Any tips for preventing this in future? I poured it in then turned it on, I’m wondering if I should have added the chocolate while it was running
Olivia says
Hi Betsy! Isn’t the frosting to die for?? You’re right about what caused the chocolate shards. I do tend to add mine as it is running as that helps whip it in quickly so it doesn’t have time to set.
Corinne says
This cake was absolutely incredible and earned rave reviews from all my coworkers! I was especially impressed by how simple the star piping technique was—so easy to do, yet it gave the cake a stunning, professional look. The only tweak I made was adding 2 teaspoons of instant espresso powder to the hot water, which added a subtle richness and depth to the chocolate flavor. That said, I’m sure it’s just as delicious without the espresso. Next time, I’m planning to double the mousse frosting and split each cake layer in half to add even more of that light, fluffy goodness. Also, if I’m not serving it the same day as I bake it, I’ll try wrapping the sides of the fully assembled cake in plastic wrap to keep it moist while it is refrigerated. Thanks for sharing this great recipe!
Olivia says
Hi Corrine! Thanks so much for the wonderful feedback. I’m glad you liked it! I love your idea of doubling the frosting and cutting the layers, that will be delish!
Margie says
The icing is delicious. It did become runny very quickly while I was in the process of piping it, even after I refrigerated it and used a cold bowl. If you have any tips on how to prevent this from happening, that would be great. Other than that, this recipe is great and I would use it again.
Olivia says
Hi Margie! I would try whipping it for longer and see if that helps. So glad you liked it!
Lisa says
Can this be made into cupcakes? If so any adjustments?
Olivia says
Hi Lisa! All you need to do is adjust the baking time. Start checking at 15mins or so. Remember the batter is very thin and rises a lot. Be sure not to fill more than half full.
Cindy says
If you make and stack the cake the day before, will it hold up till the next day?
Olivia says
Hi Cindy! Yes, I recommend chilling each layer separately, then stacking once the frosting is firm, and then chilling till the next day.
Jan says
After frosting do you serve it right away? Or is it like the deep and delicious and best served chilled or frozen lol? It’s the frosting that’s like crack! Addictive plus have you made the frosting with 70% instead of unsweetened yet?
Olivia says
Hi Jan! You can serve it right away, or chilled, or frozen, however you like! I prefer room temperature. I agree that the DND frosting is the best thing ever. I wish they sold it in a tub! My frosting isn’t exact, but it is pretty darn close 🙂 I have not made it with 70% yet, but I think it would be fine.