Featuring an Oreo crust, smooth chocolate mousse, and fresh whipped cream, each bite of chocolate mousse pie is irresistible! You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how simple this towering beauty is to prepare. Be sure to check out my recipe notes for make-ahead instructions—this is a wonderful recipe to prepare 1–2 days in advance.
While it may look like a skyscraper of complicated steps, this sky high chocolate mousse pie only requires a few. Everything is made completely from scratch, but you’ll be happy to know none of that work is fussy. It just takes a little patience and I encourage you to read through the recipe before starting. I include lots of step photos and a video tutorial for recipe success. Let’s get started!
There Are 3 Parts to Chocolate Mousse Pie
- Oreo Cookie Crust
- Chocolate Mousse (chocolate + meringue + whipped cream)
- Whipped Cream Topping
Oreo Cookie Crust
An Oreo cookie crust is the perfect chocolatey base for our chocolate mousse pie. It’s the same exact crust we use for cookies & cream pie, mocha chocolate pudding pie, and caramel turtle brownie pie. Made from Oreos crushed into crumbs and melted butter, this crust comes together easily. Make sure to use the whole Oreo when crushing them—both the chocolate cookies and the cream center. The cream center adds a delicious sweetness and also helps keep the crust together.
Bake the crust so it stays sturdy and intact. Let it cool completely before topping with chocolate mousse. To save time, make the crust the night before. Or stick the crust in the freezer to cool down in a flash!
Chocolate Mousse
There are 3 parts to chocolate mousse: chocolate (of course!), a marshmallow meringue, and whipped cream. Let’s review each component.
- Chocolate: When I tested this recipe for the first time, I used semi-sweet chocolate and found the mousse to be overly sweet. Reducing the sugar isn’t an option as it’s needed for the meringue, so unsweetened chocolate is the easy answer. Test recipe #2 with unsweetened chocolate was much better! Melt the chocolate with some butter and set aside. (I have an entire blog post dedicated to baking with chocolate if you’re interested.)
- Marshmallow Meringue: We combine a sweet whipped meringue that’s also known as homemade marshmallow creme with the melted chocolate.
- Whipped Cream: To add volume and a delightful texture, fold in whipped cream.
These 3 items make the chocolate mousse. If you skip the pie and just eat the mousse, I totally will not judge. It’s light-as-air and remarkable with nothing more than a spoon.
This is the meringue. ↑
This is folding the meringue into the melted chocolate. ↓
This is adding the whipped cream to make chocolate mousse. ↓
Dome that chocolate mousse so that it’s sky high in the center of the pie. This is easy and requires zero skill or special tools—you just need a rubber spatula to spread it around and shape into a mound. Don’t forget to layer in some extra Oreo crumbs!
Whipped Cream
You’ll make two batches of whipped cream. One batch to fold into the mousse—simply whipped heavy cream—and one sweetened batch that we use as the third and final layer of today’s chocolate mousse pie. I use my favorite whipped cream recipe for the topping—made with a little sugar and vanilla for extra flavor. I like to keep the whipped cream topping on the softer side. Spread it all over the top!
Check out this towering beauty! It’s mega creamy with a satisfying Oreo crunch. Add some chocolate curls, chocolate sprinkles, more Oreo crumbs, or even fresh raspberries or raspberry sauce to really jazz things up. Place the pie in the refrigerator for a few hours to chill before digging in.
My #1 success tip? Read through the recipe in full before beginning.
See Your Sky High Chocolate Mousse Pies!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂
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Sky High Chocolate Mousse Pie
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 18 minutes
- Total Time: 5 hours, 40 minutes
- Yield: serves 8-10
- Category: Pie
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Learn how to make sky high chocolate mousse pie with this easy tutorial and delicious recipe!
Ingredients
Oreo Crust
- 22 regular Oreo cookies (not Double-Stuf)
- 5 Tablespoons (71g) unsalted butter, melted
Chocolate Mousse Layer
- two 4-ounce (113g) bars unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped (8 ounces/226g total)
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter
- 4 large egg whites* (120g)
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar*
- 2 cups (480ml/g) heavy cream/heavy whipping cream
- 6 whole Oreos, crushed into crumbs (66g)
Whipped Cream
- 1 cup (240ml/g) heavy cream/heavy whipping cream
- 1 Tablespoon (13g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- optional: chocolate curls or shavings for topping*
Instructions
- Make the crust: Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). In a food processor or blender, pulse 22 Oreos (including the cream filling) into a fine crumb. You should have about 2 cups (packed) crumbs, or 250g. Pour crumbs into a large bowl. Add the melted butter and stir to combine. The mixture will be thick and quite wet. Try to smash/break up any large chunks. Pour the mixture into an ungreased 9-inch pie dish. With medium pressure using your hand, pat the crumbs down into the bottom and up the sides to make a compact, thick crust. Bake for 10 minutes, and then cool completely.
- Make the chocolate mousse layer: Microwave the chopped chocolate and butter together in a large heat-proof bowl, stopping and stirring every 20 seconds until completely melted. Set aside.
- Make the meringue for the mousse layer: Place egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in a heatproof bowl. Set bowl over a saucepan filled with 2 inches of simmering water. Do not let the bowl touch the water. (You can use a double boiler if you have one.) Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved, about 4 minutes. Whisking constantly, cook the egg mixture until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture reaches 160°F (71°C) on an instant-read thermometer. Transfer the mixture to the mixing bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat on high speed for 5–6 minutes until soft, glossy peaks form. See photo above for a visual. Gently fold mixture into the chocolate. Wash the mixer bowl and whisk attachment clean.
- Make the whipped cream for the mousse layer: Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the 2 cups of heavy cream on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 4-5 minutes. Gently fold whipped cream into the chocolate/egg white mixture. Do not overmix; it will deflate the mousse. (No need to wash or wipe the bowl/whisk attachment clean—you’ll make sweetened whipped cream in step 6.)
- Spread 1/2 of the mousse into cooled pie crust. Top with Oreo crumbs. (The 6 whole Oreos crushed into crumbs!) Top with remaining chocolate mousse, mounding in the center to create a dome shape. Place in the refrigerator for 5 minutes as you prepare the whipped cream topping.
- Make the whipped cream topping: Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the 1 cup of heavy cream, granulated sugar, and vanilla on high speed until slightly stiff peaks form, about 4 minutes. You want the peaks to be somewhat soft so the whipped cream spreads nicely on the mousse. Remove pie from the refrigerator and spread whipped cream on top—once again keeping that dome shape in the center.
- Top with chocolate shavings, if using. Refrigerate pie uncovered for at least 4–5 hours or overnight. Slice and serve. Usually the 1st slice isn’t as beautiful as the 2nd! It’s easier to cut after you have 1 slice out.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Since this pie needs to chill for several hours or overnight, it’s perfect for making 1-2 days ahead of time. Gently cover if refrigerating longer for 1 day. You can freeze the pie for up to 3 months, but it won’t be quite as beautiful. Freezing leftovers is a great idea—simply allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator before enjoying. Or enjoy frozen!
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Saucepan | 9-inch Glass Pie Dish | Food Processor (for Oreo crust)
- Pie Crust: Feeling ambitious? Try a traditional pie crust instead and follow the instructions in this How to Blind Bake Pie Crust post. Baked pie crust/shell must cool completely before adding the chocolate mousse filling.
- Egg Whites: The egg whites are gently cooked in step 3 to 160°F (71°C). Which is considered safe to eat. You can use a candy thermometer to determine their temperature. You can use pasteurized egg whites, though keep in mind they may never reach the volume of unpasteurized egg whites.
- Cream of Tartar: Key for stabilizing those egg whites.
- Chocolate Curls: Here’s how to make chocolate curls, or you can run a vegetable peeler down the long side of a Hershey’s milk chocolate bar. Carefully place curls on top of whipped cream, if desired. So easy. Chocolate sprinkles, fresh raspberries, or more Oreo crumbs work just as well!
- Adapted from Bon Appetit.
This is simply incredible. I love your recipes and your clear, concise directions. I occasionally go “rogue” on some recipes (of all kinds) adding what I want, usually with good results (but that’s on me!). I am an experienced baker, too, and whenever I use one of your recipes, they ALWAYS come out perfectly. I can always count on you and Ina Garten to bring me perfect results.
This made the best birthday pie but with a bit of a story. My husband made this, with me talking him through – my birthday. He followed your directions very closely, beautiful melted chocolate butter mix, perfect cooked meringue (almost marshmallow but bcs we used Demerara sugar, only used 3/4 cup). Then we got to the whipped cream…err, butter. I was folding the choc/meringue mixture and his whipped cream went to butter in less than 30 seconds. I’ve never had that happen. So we got some homemade butter and a delicious pie out of the deal – we used a tub of whipped topping I had since no more whipping cream and we didn’t want to go to the store in pouring rain/thunderstorm. Think this luscious pie is going to be my new birthday “cake”. Only other sub was we used a Diamond nut pecan graham crust. I love pecans and was tasty. We used unsweetened chocolate (5+ oz) but had to add in a bar of Alter Eco 70% cacao Sea Salt dark choc bar – our favorite eating chocolate.
Could I use unsweetened cocoa powder in this recipe?
Hi Anna, we use pure baking chocolate here and we haven’t tested a version with cocoa powder. If you wish to use cocoa powder, it would be best to find a recipe specifically formulated to do so. Let us know if you give this one a try!