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.
Arden says
Hi there!
Is there any particular reason for the difference between vanilla base cake and this chocolate base one? I’ve notice for your cakes that have a vanilla base, you cream the butter and sugar, incorporate the eggs, then add the flour, whereas with this chocolate base there is extra hot water and you combine all the dry and wet ingredients separately before finally combining them all.
Thanks! 😊
Olivia says
Hi Arden! The vanilla and chocolate cakes just use different formulas and mixing techniques. I keep meaning to try a vanilla cake using the hot water method and replacing the cocoa with more flour, but I haven’t gotten around to it.
Kimm says
I have a question about the chocolate cake. I need to make a 3 layer 8 in cake. Will this recipe work? And if it had basic American Buttercream on it how much would you sell it for? I’m not sure you want to answer that last question but thought I would ask! 😊
Olivia says
Hi Kimm! I would 1.5x the recipe for a 3 layer 8″, unless you don’t mind thinner layers. I don’t sell my cakes, so I can’t help you there, but it also really depends on SO many factors. Here are some links to check out for pricing:
http://www.bakecalc.com/cake-pricing-calculator/
https://youtu.be/qMj4Z2e-CeE
Gunn Anita says
Hi 😊 The French silk frosting tastes great; but it seems like it has split. It also seems to be a bit grainy even though I beat 5 minutes exactly(!) between each egg. Would perhaps not beating sugar and butter enough cause this? I did use a 70% chocolate infused with coffee. So it had tiny grains of coffee powder in it. I don’t know if that would cause any such trouble.
Olivia says
Hi Gunn! Yes, the excessive whipping is to help ensure the sugar is completely dissolved. The coffee powder could have affected the texture as well. What do you mean that it seems like it has split?
ASM says
Hi, Can buttermilk be replaced with any other ingredient?
Olivia says
Ideally not as the acid in it is required for the leaveners. If you don’t have access to buttermilk you can easily make your own — 1 cup milk + 1 Tbsp lemon juice!
Tari Williams says
Making 2 9 inch cakes instead of 8, what would you suggest to increase the recipe to?
Olivia says
Hi Tari! Ideally you would increase it by 1/3 but that would give some weird amounts. I would suggest 1.5x the recipe and make cupcakes with any extra batter. The layers rise a lot so be sure to not fill the pans more than half full. I hope that helps!
Rita says
Hi Liv,
If I bake it in the 2 9″ tins and increase the recipe, do I bake it for the same amount of time at the same temperature?
Thanks!
Olivia says
Hi Rita! Converting pan sizes is always tricky. Here’s a site I use as a guideline: http://www.joyofbaking.com/PanSizes.html The temperature should stay the same but the timing could differ.
Maria says
Looks great! Can I freeze this cake and for how long? Can I freeze the frosting while in the cake? I plan on making the cake and putting frosting between layers then when ready taking out of freezer, frost it and then decorate.
Olivia says
Hi Maria! I would freeze the cake layers themselves and then make the frosting the day you plan to serve it for best results.
Georgia says
Apaixonate, estou aqui agora traduzindo a receita para tentar reproduzi-lo.
Parabéns e obrigada querida por receitas e bolos maravilhosos.
Olivia says
Thank you Georgia!! I hope you like it 🙂
Stephanie says
Hi Olivia,
I made your delicious cake last night. My mousse didn’t set up as firmly as yours, no matter how long I let is rest in the fridge. I ended up smoothing out the mousse to make a thick layer on top instead of the pretty stars you have. I was wondering:
-did you refrigerate the mousse covered (would it “drying out” in the fridge work better?) before piping?
– how long do you whip when you rewhip every 10 minutes of fridge time (is it 5 minutes each time)?
– I had small chunks of chocolate that had solidified from the cooled melted chocolate. Would that have deflated the mousse and made it difficult to form stiffer peaks?
The overall flavor of both the mousse and the chocolate is excellent. I’d really like to be able to pipe nice stars though for my next cake.
Olivia says
Hi Stephanie! Sorry to hear that your mousse didn’t set up — perhaps something was off with the measurements? Mine got pretty stiff once refrigerated for a few hours :\
Before I frosted the cake, I only refrigerated the mousse for a total of 30mins (rewhipping for less than 1 min, every 10mins). It might take a bit longer depending on how warm your kitchen was, etc. but it should eventually get quite stiff. I did not cover the mousse at any point.
For the chocolate chunks, at what point did that happen? I made sure to scrape the bowl often so I didn’t have any stray pieces of chocolate anywhere.
Amarantina says
Hi! The chocolate pieces could have come from the difference in temperature when oh mixed in the cold ingredients into the chocolate mixture. If a lot of the chocolate got cold and formed into pieces there was less chocolate mixed into the mousse and that could explain why it didn’t properly set.
Stephanie says
Hi There! I’m in the process of whipping the filling/frosting after every 10 minutes of refrigeration. How long should I whip it for each time. 5 minutes again? I’ve been doing 3 and then putting it back in the fridge. My cakes are still warm so I think the mousse should have plenty of time to chill and set up before piping. I was planning on doing the every-ten-minute-whip for the first half hour and then letting it just sit until the cakes are completely cool. Before piping I thought I could give it one final whip. Does that sound about right? Thanks!
Olivia says
Hi Stephanie! I just whipped it very briefly to incorporate between the chilling times (less than 1min). Sounds like you have a good plan there! Let me know how it turns out 🙂
Amit says
Found you via Pinterest and I must say I’m already in love with your baking without even trying a single recipe. I’m sure all recipes must be “no fail” by the way you write about it. I’m going to try this Cake for sure. Just want to know wether I can ‘simply do half of each ingredient’ to make only one pan of cake? Will you suggest this method or any other?
Thank you and keep baking 🙂
You can see my baking on Instagram: amit_chippa
Cheers 🙂
Olivia says
Thanks so much Amit! That’s such a sweet comment. You can totally halve the recipe to make one layer, but it might be tricky for the frosting since it uses 3 eggs. Do you have a scale? If so, I would just lightly whisk one of the eggs and weigh out 25g to get half. I hope you like it!
Amit says
Thank you very much. I will do as you said and post my results.
Cheers 🙂
Fauziyya Ahmad Said says
Is this a butter cake or chiffon cake? *thanx liv
Olivia says
Hi there! It’s neither actually. It’s too dense to be a chiffon and contains oil instead of butter. It’s more of a rich, brownie-like, mud cake.
Amarantina says
Hi Olivia! Just wandering, what is the difference between this cake recipe and the one in you chocolate chip cookie dough cake recipe? Thank you in advance!
Olivia says
Hi Amarantina! Not much, just some of the proportions are different so it would work better in the 8″ pans.
Barbara says
Why does the total time say 1 day, 8 hours, 35 minutes?
Olivia says
Hi Barbara! It was an error in the time calculation.
Anne says
Beautiful cake!!! Does cake need to stay refrigerated ? If this cake sets out to room temperature will the frosting lose it’s shape and become runny? I usually let my cakes get to room temp before serving(I thinks they’re moister this way). Thanks.
Olivia says
Hi Anne! You should refrigerate it to set the frosting, but after that it should be ok out for a couple hours. I would not leave it out for extended periods of time though.
Nichole says
Is the cake recipe part the same as in your Black Forest cake? I’m planning to make a Black Forest cake next week for my birthday, and while I have a chocolate cake recipe that I usually use, I’m on the lookout for a better one. Is this your go-to chocolate cake?
Olivia says
Hi Nichole! Yes, its my favourite chocolate cake recipe! 🙂
Widya (Jakarta) says
I really.. really LOVE your blog !
Olivia says
Thanks so much Widya!
Jenna says
Is it best to keep the cake cold until you are ready to serve? Will the frosting turn runny if it sits at room temperature?
Olivia says
Hi Jenna! I would definitely refrigerate it to “set” the frosting, but after that it’s totally fine out for a few hours. It will not turn runny — or at least it didn’t for me!
Tilly says
I’m amazed at the frosting still holding its shape in the middle! It’s a sad day when you realise a cake is actually more attractive than you.
Olivia says
Lol! Thanks Tilly 🙂 The frosting actually sets up quite well! It help up through the entire shoot 🙂
Samantha Dawn says
Mouthwatering!! I can’t wait to try this cake! I’ve always loved the grocery store version … especially slightly frozen. SO good!
Olivia says
Me too!! It’s seriously SO good. I think my version does it justice! xo
khadija salman says
one more question?
for the frosting you have written 3 eggs ,,can it be white eggs only or it should be whole egg?
Olivia says
It needs to be whole eggs.
khadija salman says
look amazing definatly giving it a try…what size of pans did you use for the cake?
thanks
Olivia says
Thank you! I used two 8″ pans.