Why We Love Chocolate Mousse Pie
This is the most requested and loved dessert in the Well Seasoned household, and here’s why:
- Store bought pie shell means no fidgeting with pie dough!
- No bake (an obvious win!)
- Creamy, rice, smooth chocolate mousse filling
- Light as air homemade whipped cream
- A slight crunch from the chocolate shavings on top
We have made and gifted this to friends and family and guys, it is always a winner!
Ingredients For Chocolate Mousse Pie
Ingredients for homemade chocolate mousse
- 1 prepared walnut pie crust or a graham cracker crust
- Semi-sweet chocolate, either chips or chopped
- Unsalted butter
- Water
- Egg yolks, room temperature
- Granulated sugar
- Pure vanilla extract
- Instant espresso powder
Ingredients for homemade whipped cream
- Heavy cream
- Confectioner’s sugar
How To Make Chocolate Mousse Filling
- Dissolve instant espresso powder in a small bowl with vanilla extract (or water).
- To make chocolate mousse, combine chocolate, butter, and water in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in 30 second increments, stirring after each addition, until smooth.
- Combine egg yolks, sugar, and instant espresso/vanilla in a small sauce pan over medium-low heat. Whisk until thickened, about 3 minutes.
- Add the egg mixture to the chocolate, then stir until well combined. Place in fridge.
- Whip half of your heavy cream with confectioner’s sugar until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into the cooled chocolate mixture until no streaks of cream remain.
Assembling Chocolate Mousse Pie
Once you’ve made your homemade chocolate mousse, simply pour into the pie crust, smooth the top, then refrigerate until set, about 2-3 hours.
When ready to serve, top with homemade whipped cream and chocolate shavings.
Is Chocolate Mousse Pie Gluten-Free?
The Nut Pie Crusts from Diamond of California are not gluten free. They’ve replaced 3 ounces of flour and sugar with 3 ounces of nutritious Diamond nuts. A small amount of wheat flour is included in the ingredient list to help keep the crust together without having to rely on processed stabilizers and guar gum.
The remaining ingredients in this chocolate mousse pie are gluten-free.
How Long Will No Bake Chocolate Mousse Pie Keep?
This pie can be made up to 2 days in advance. Cover and refrigerate until needed, then whip the cream day-of and top the pie right before serving.
Trust us, you want that cream whipped fresh and dolloped on top just before you enjoy!
Can You Freeze Mousse Pie?
Yes! Fill the prepared crust with chocolate mousse, then cover with plastic wrap and aluminum foil.
The pie can be frozen for up to 3 months.
To serve: thaw completely in a refrigerator overnight, then top with fresh homemade whipped cream and chocolate shavings just before serving.
Can I Switch Out The Filling?
Yes! This would be SO delicious with either peanut butter mousse, strawberry mouse, or even pumpkin mousse for Thanksgiving!
All we know is that having a no-bake pie in the lineup for your busiest holidays — shoutout to Thanksgiving and Christmas! — will make executing your vision SO much simpler.
Seriously, this pie is epic. And you better believe we licked the pan clean!
If you make this No-Bake Chocolate Mousse Pie, please let me know by leaving a review below!
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For more chocolate desserts, check out the following:
- Chocolate raspberry rugelach
- Chocolate cupcakes with espresso buttercream
- Flourless chocolate cake
- Chocolate-dipped pecan biscotti
- Chocolate bourbon pecan pie
- Matzo crack
No-Bake Chocolate Mousse Pie
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp pure vanilla extract can substitute water
- 1 tsp instant espresso
- 1 Diamond of California walnut pie crust
- 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chopped or chocolate chips
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 Tbsp water
- 2 egg yolks room temperature
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream divided
- 2 Tbsp confectioner’s sugar
- ¼ cup chocolate shavings for serving
Instructions
- Dissolve the espresso powder. In a small bowl, dissolve instant 1 tsp espresso powder in 2 Tbsp pure vanilla extract with a whisk or fork.
- Melt the chocolate. In a microwave safe bowl, combine 6 oz chocolate chips or chocolate shavings, 2 Tbsp butter, and 1 Tbsp water. Heat in a microwave in 30 second increments, stirring after each addition, until melted and smooth. Place in refrigerator to cool slightly.
- Cook the eggs. Add 2 egg yolks, 2 tsp sugar, and the espresso-vanilla mixture to a small sauce pan over medium-low heat. Whisk constantly until thickened, about 3 minutes, being careful not to overcook the eggs (or they'll scramble).
- Stir in the eggs. Pour the cooked egg mixture into chocolate, then stir until very smooth. Return to the fridge.
- Whip heavy cream. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk ¾ cup heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Carefully fold the heavy cream into the slightly cooled chocolate mixture until no streaks of cream remain.
- Assemble the pie. Gently pour the chocolate mousse into the pie crust, smoothing out the top with a spatula. Place in a fridge to set, about 2-3 hours.
- Top with whipped cream and serve. When ready, whip remaining ¾ cup heavy cream in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment on medium-high speed. When soft peaks form, add 2 Tbsp confectioner's sugar. Continue whipping until stiff peaks form. Spoon the whipped cream on top of chocolate mousse pie, then sprinkle ¼ cup chocolate shavings on top. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Pie can be made up to 2 days in advance and refrigerated until needed, then topped with fresh whipped cream and chocolate shavings when ready to serve.
- NOTE that if you double or triple the recipe, the INSTRUCTIONS will not reflect the updated quantities for heavy cream! You’ll need to double or triple those quantities (as updated in the recipe) when you get to that part of the instructions.
This pie is incredibly simple but oh-so-luxurious. The rich espresso, chocolate, and vanilla flavors in the mousse are mellowed by the whipped cream. And the crust… I was tempted to skip out on finding the walnut crust in favor of my tried and true graham cracker one, but I’m so glad I didn’t! The crust is what makes this recipe. The flavors and textures together are almost reminiscent of a Ferrero Rocher, only better. This is a keeper!
YESSSS!!! So glad you love this as much as we do! You definitely could use a graham cracker crust, but DAMN I just love this filling with the walnut crust from Diamond! It’s salty, but I mean that in a good way. The Ferrero Rocher reference is spot on! YUM. xo, Ari
I chose 3 stars because I have not made this yet but had questions on the nutrition facts.
This looks really yummy and I plan to make it but when I put the exact ingredients into MyFitnessPal the nutrition numbers are waaay off (almost double)from what is listed in the recipe…especially in the calories! Used the same number of servings: 8.
Instead of your 1 slice | Calories: 265kcal | Carbohydrates: 18.3g | Protein: 2.9g | Fat: 19.5g | Saturated Fat: 12.1g | Cholesterol: 96mg | Sodium: 54mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 15.1g
MyFitnessPal says 1 slice | Calories: 469kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Cholesterol: 114mg | Sodium: 97mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 18g
Used the same brand of walnut crust – Diamond – and double checked the ingredient quantities several times. I used Bakers Semi Sweet Premium baking bar (1.5 bars = 6 oz).
I can’t figure out why there is such a huge difference….any ideas?
Hi Fran,
It’s actually really hurtful to a blogger to rate their recipe with a low number of stars when you haven’t even tried the recipe. As far as the nutrition facts go, I use a nutrition calculator that is attached to my recipe card (the same plug-in that most large food bloggers use to calculate nutrition). I enter the specific ingredients and then enter the serving size, then press calculate. There is no fidgeting with the numbers on my end, I would literally never do that. I respect my audience and hope that they trust me to not lead them astray. Having said that, I am certainly not a nutritionist or dietician, nor have I claimed that. If it’s helpful, I will add a note to my blog posts moving forward that nutrition facts are our best approximation given specific and careful listing of ingredient names. Ari
No slight intended…I started my inquiry by saying why the # of stars…that’s why I chose the middle # of stars. I thought I would be required to choose some rating but could not rate it having not made it.
Can you tell me what nutrition tool you use? I was attracted to the recipe because of the relatively low # of calories. But since I use Myfitnesspal to log my meals I had to run it through that one and thus I discovered the difference. Never implied that you adjusted anything…I’m just trying to figure out why the big difference.
Of course. The plugin is called Word Press Recipe Maker. I pay for an upgraded subscription for the ease of using the nutrition calculator that is attached to it.
Thanks for sharing that info about the app. Perhaps the app couldn’t match up all the ingredients or something went wrong when it calculated the nutrition…
If you add up the calories from the package labels for the crust (960), the butter(200), the heavy cream (1200) and the chocolate chips (~900) it comes to 3260 calories. For 8 slices, that is 407 per slice without including the other ingredients, like egg and sugar. I have no doubt that your intent was to post the actual nutrition facts but I think the WordPress app let you down on this one.
This still looks like a fabulous recipe…just might have to cut it into 16 slices instead!
Thanks for having the conversation with me!
Hi Beth, I’m sorry to hear that this didn’t work for you. I’ve fixed the typo in the recipe instructions about vanilla extract and espresso powder (thank you!), but stand behind the process of using a double boiler. It’s definitely about heat control. This is my go-to recipe to bring to new neighbors or family/friends visiting and have had no issues with scrambling the eggs. For any recipe you follow that requires a double boiler, if you see the texture of the eggs beginning to change, I would remove the bowl immediately as that means the temperature is too high. Return it to the heat and continue cooking slowly. This is not a technique that I came up with — using a double boiler is a standard method in baking. Best, Ari