Cabernet Chocolate Cake With Chocolate Ganache And Sea Salt

Fourth of July weekend, same as every year: Dave grills, Gayle brings the beans, I make everything else, and the kids eat themselves into a coma. The menu is unchanged because the menu does not need to change. Hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, potato salad (mustardy), coleslaw, watermelon, and the chocolate sheet cake. America is two hundred and forty-one years old and she still gets cake.

Larry came. He drove in from a run and arrived at noon with grease on his hands and a cooler in his truck that held nothing but Mountain Dew, which is Larry idea of food storage. He ate three hamburgers and a piece of cake and fell asleep in the lawn chair before the fireworks, which is the Larry cycle: arrive, eat, sleep. He is sixty-four and his body is starting to talk to him the same way mine is, except Larry does not listen. Larry has never listened. He drives and he eats and he sleeps and he does it again, and the body keeps score but Larry does not check the score.

I worry about him. I worry about him on the road, in the cab, alone at three a.m. on some highway in Kansas with nothing but coffee and his own stubborn refusal to stop. I call him from my truck and we talk in the language of truckers: where are you, what are you hauling, how is the weather, did you eat. Did you eat is the most important question, and the answer is always yes, and the yes is always a lie, and I know it is a lie, and he knows I know, and we both pretend because pretending is easier than the truth, which is that Larry does not eat well on the road and I cannot fix it from here.

The fireworks were beautiful. The kids were beautiful. Josie sat in my lap again and covered her ears at the big ones and squealed at the colors, and I thought about how many Fourth of Julys I have left with a child in my lap and the answer made my chest tight. They grow up. They stop sitting in your lap. The fireworks go on but the lap is empty and the squealing is a memory. I held her tighter. She did not ask why. She is seven. She does not know that holding tight is sometimes the only answer to a question nobody asked.

The chocolate sheet cake is non-negotiable in our house — has been for as long as I can remember — and this is the version I’ve landed on after years of tinkering. The Cabernet deepens the chocolate in a way that’s hard to explain until you taste it, and the ganache on top sets up just firm enough that you can still cut it clean for a crowd. Josie always gets the corner piece. That’s not a rule anybody made — it’s just how it goes, and some things you don’t change.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 55 min (plus cooling) | Servings: 16

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 cup Cabernet Sauvignon (or other dry red wine)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup hot strong-brewed coffee
For the Ganache:
8 oz good-quality semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Flaky sea salt, for finishing

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
Combine dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until evenly combined.
Mix wet ingredients. In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, Cabernet, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract.
Bring the batter together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Carefully pour in the hot coffee and stir gently — the batter will be thin. This is correct.
Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 32–36 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Do not overbake. Let the cake cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before ganaching.
Make the ganache. Place the chopped chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl. Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it just begins to simmer — do not boil. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, let it sit for 2 minutes, then stir slowly from the center outward until the ganache is completely smooth and glossy.
Glaze and finish. Pour the ganache over the cooled cake and use an offset spatula to spread it evenly to the edges. Let it set at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, then finish with a generous pinch of flaky sea salt. Cut into squares and serve directly from the pan.

Nutrition (per serving)

Cabernet Chocolate Cake With Chocolate Ganache And Sea Salt — The Cake That Shows Up Every Year