Chocolate-Caramel Cream Pie
I am not going to lie to you. This is an involved chocolate custard pie. Sure, you could make a good old fashioned version (pie crust, chocolate pudding mix, and whipped cream) and it would still be delicious. If you want to really take it up a notch (or 10), however, then make this version. You start with your pie dough, you blind bake it, then you make chocolate custard from scratch, and don’t forget about the caramel whipped cream over top. Finally, you finish with a sprinkling of crushed caramel. It is worth every step.
What I really love about this recipe are the baking lessons it offers. Here are a few things you get to practice when making chocolate-caramel cream pie:
- You learn how to make caramel in a cream form and as a candy. Caramel is cooked sugar that has reached about 325 degrees F. It you have never made caramel before I would recommend using a candy thermometer. Oh, and always have a bowl of ice water near by. Caramel is very hot, and caramel burns aren’t pretty.
- You learn how to temper egg yolks. Tempering means to add a bit of hot liquid to eggs or other foods to slowly raise their temperature and prevent curdling.
- You get to witness the miraculous transformation of when a chocolate cream becomes a chocolate custard. Okay, it may not be that exciting to you, but my heart skipped a beat when the pudding thickened suddenly.
Hey, scroll on down and enjoy the process through photos.
Bring 1/2 cup of sugar and a tablespoon of water to a boil.
Keep cooking it until it reaches a lovely amber color (about 325 degrees F).
Slowly whisk in your heavy cream and dunk the sauce pan in a ice bath to cool down mixture. Set aside.
This caramel cream will be whipped into the whipped cream right before serving. I also would advise using caramel cream in coffee,if you’re so inclined. Now let us make the chocolate custard filling.
Coarsely chop 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate.
Heat the milk and chocolate in a saucepan until chocolate has melted.
Voila!
Whisk in a cup of the chocolate milk into the sugar, cornstarch and salt until the dry ingredients have dissolved. Then pour mixture back into saucepan. Dissolving the cornstarch in some liquid before adding to the rest of the mixture helps the custard gelatinize properly.
Temper the egg yolks with a cup of the hot chocolate mixture. Then pour egg mixture into the saucepan.
Whisk mixture over medium heat until it thickens. I found that it thickened rather suddenly.
Pour pudding into blind-baked pie shell.
Cover with plastic wrap so that the wrap is touching the pudding. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
Okay, now we are going to make the whipped cream. Are you still with me?
Pour in the chilled caramel cream into the whipped cream. Whip up until you get stiff peaks.
Smooth the caramel whipped cream on top of the chilled custard.
Like this!
Okay, the next thing I did was make a hard caramel, crushed it up with a wooden spoon, and sprinkled it on top of the whipped cream. YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THIS. Chocolate shavings would work just as well. But if you want to go for the gold…
Again, bring 1/2 cup of sugar, a pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon of water to a boil. Cook until it becomes a nice amber color (325 degrees F).
Pour the bubbling, golden goodness over parchment paper and set aside. Do not touch!
Once cooled it will harden.
Now smash it into a thousand tiny little pieces.
We are on the home stretch here. I bet you never thought that a chocolate cream pie would be this much work.
Sprinkle the broken caramel over the whipped cream. I used the second tiniest human who lives in my home for the job.
Now cut a slice for yourself and savor every bite.
