The Pie Contest… Vegan French Silk with Coconut Whipped Cream

Vegan French Silk Pie topped with Coconut Whipped Cream

Toby

A few weeks ago, Craig was looking through our copy of the Santa Clarita Magazine.  The magazine in which Toby, our good-looking pup, got his picture chosen for staff pick in the cutest pet photo contest.  Just had to plug our little guy. 

Craig noticed that #CircleofHope, a cancer survivor’s organization, was having a pie contest.  Pie??? Now, I’m not much of a baker, but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to show the community that great tasting vegan pie does exist.   I decided to enter.

Choices, choices, choices…which pie to enter?  I wanted to choose a pie that you wouldn’t necessarily think of as vegan.  Got it! 

Vegan French Silk Pie 

I remember as a child, my family would stop at Baker’s Square and pick up a pie.  One of my all-time favorites was their French Silk Pie.  Chocolatey, smooth, creamy goodness topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

I’ve never made a French silk pie, so I had to find out what ingredients are in it.  Here’s what I learned, traditional French silk pie is made with raw eggs… yuck!  Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman,  uses ingredients like baking chocolate, sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and the raw eggs. 

So, how am I supposed to get the texture minus the non-vegan ingredients?  Answer, Chocolate Covered Katie to the rescue!  She uses ingredients like silken tofu, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, vanilla extract … ingredients that are similar to The Grit’s Chocolate Vegan Death Cake’s Frosting.  I made the cake for Nick’s birthday ( the singer of Nightmare) the other week, so I knew the chocolate chips would probably give it a firm consistency. 

Nightmare -Nick & Cynthia

I was right, Katie pretty much nailed it.  So, what could I change to make it my own?   It was time to experiment in the kitchen.  I grabbed my friend and my sous chef, Stacey.  Strong-brewed coffee, soy cream, canned coconut milk, almond extract, and Teeccino (the herbal, coffee alternative) seemed like good choices.   I chose a version and made a graham cracker crust (made with home-made graham crackers). 

Taste of Vegan French Silk Pie

Now, I remember the Baker’s Square version was topped with whipped cream.  It was time to try my hand at coconut whipped cream.  Stacey and I watched a youtube video by Fablunch, and gave it a shot. 

I found out it was pretty easy to make.  But here’s the caveat.  You have to put the canned coconut milk in the fridge so the fat solidifies.  I had a few cans of Trader Joe’s cream coconut in the fridge.  I found that it has the most fat, which in turn makes more whipped cream. 

I topped the pie and made some chocolate, sea salt shavings.
Decadent, rich… a very adult dessert. 

Trader Joe's Coconut Cream

Pies, pies, pies... I was getting sick of French silk pies.  I made my last few for the contest and put them in the fridge overnight.  I thought I could just top them with the coconut whipped cream in the morning.  Wrong!

The day of the contest, I grabbed my coconut cream (the main ingredient in the whipped cream) and forgot to refrigerate the bowl.  It was totally hot and humid (not typical LA weather).  My whipped cream turned to soup.  Oh No! 

Chaokoh Coconut Milk

Thankfully, I had more cans in the fridge and tried again with a cold metal bowl.  Yes, it worked.  Beautifully whipped peaks.  I topped one pie.  Now I needed more whipped cream for the other pies.  I grabbed another can of the Trader Joe’s coconut cream from the fridge and found it was liquid.  No solid white fat on the top.  The cans were identical on the outside, but the ingredients were not.  I salvaged the first, soupy batch, by putting it in the freezer and re-whipping.  I didn’t have much time left.  No chocolate, sea salt shavings.

Lesson of the day: all coconut milks are not the same.  The Trader Joe's coconut cream and the Chaokoh brand both list the first ingredient as coconut extract or extracted coconut.  Other brands that I bought list water or another ingredient.  In fact, one time the Trader Joe's coconut cream was great, the other time it didn't solidify.  What's goin' on???  I'll have to call the company.

Stacey and I grabbed the pies, hoping they weren’t going to melt in the heat for the car ride over.  (I put some ice packs in the containers to keep them cool and cranked up the a/c.)  Success.  No melted pies. 

The verdict.  I didn’t expect to win the contest.  I was merely looking to expose the public to a decadent vegan pie and do a little promo.  I did win, but not the contest. I had fun, got great feedback and made some new friends and connections.  Saw my friend and mentor Darmon McGruder from the Signal. Also, Cynthia and her group from Our Place Barbecue.  Overall a pretty great day!  I learned a lot and had a kick'n time... a winner.

So, if you want to try your hand at #VeganFrenchSilkPie , I'd start with Chocolate Covered Katie's recipe for your base and go from there.  The coconut whipped cream has only 3 ingredients and if you can get the goods to solidify, you've got it made.  Take a peek at the Fablunch video for a how to.

Thanks to Stacey for the pics and the help... and thanks to everyone who sampled my pie. 

#VeganFrenchSilkPie