A piece of cake
By Never teh Bride
I remember digging through my dad’s freezer for a push pop long, long ago and finding a suspicious aluminum-wrapped lump. As it turned out, it was the top tier of his and his wife’s wedding cake, saved to be enjoyed on their first anniversary. A friend of mine who was curious about various wedding traditions recently asked me about this and I’ve been searching for answers ever since.
Apparently, it’s quite common for a newly married couple to freeze either the top of their wedding cake or a slice to be eaten on their first anniversary (or at their first baby’s christening). However, other than “it’s tradition and very lucky” I can find no explanation of the meaning behind it. Thoughts of freezer burn aside, there is nothing wrong with frozen cake…but nothing particularly wonderful about it, either. As Forever Wed points out:
Another wedding cake tradition is to have the top layer of the cake made out of fruit cake. This layer is saved and frozen for the bride and groom to eat on their first anniversary. Many couples do this, but it really doesn’t taste very good a year later. Oh well - it’s tradition!
Sweet Celebrations will sell you a pretty little box to save that cake in for $12. But you can easily do it yourself with freezer bags and foil, provided you have a responsible someone to take the cake home for you. First, place the layer in the freezer to harden the icing. Then loosely wrap it in plastic wrap, with an outer layer of foil for extra protection. Place the whole works in a freezer bag, let the air out, and seal. Putting a rubber band or two around it may help preserve the cake inside. Sure, it sounds extreme, but that cake is going to be biding its time for a year.
So, does anyone have any insight into the origins of this bizarre practice?
February 6th, 2006 at 4:13 pm
When the tradition began, wedding cakes were typically dense fruitcakes that had so much booze in them, it acted as a preservative. My father made fruitcake that way, and if any was leftover after Christmas, it was just the same several months later as it was the day it was served up for the Christmas party.
I don’t know why the tradition started, but I do know that most of the couples I’ve known have either forgone that particular one or really regretted following it. My brother and his wife had my father make the family fruitcake which my mother then covered in marzipan and royal icing. They saved a chunk for the one-year anniversary. The results were about as good as you’re going to get with year-old cake, and they seemed happy with it.
The tradition concerning cakes I always found sort of amusing is the old one where unmarried female guests would take home a piece of cake in a small box and place the box under their pillows when they went to bed. The idea was that they would then dream of who they would marry. When I first heard of it, nobody mentioned the box, so I had this vision of all these poor girls waking up the next morning with a hairdo full of meringue!
I didn’t have a cake. My diabetic husband doesn’t even like them, so we had fruit tarts instead. My father made them in half a dozen flavors, including one he didn’t add sugar to, so my beloved could partake. We made no attempt to save one for the first anniversary.
February 6th, 2006 at 4:51 pm
Mmm, fruit tarts. I can get behind that.
You know, Twistie, I have also heard the “dream about your mate with cake” tradition but I also never considered that they might have it in a box. I always pictured a squishy, cakey mess come morning.
February 6th, 2006 at 5:38 pm
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=cDLkutg_8y4C&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&sig=xVwTE73vFU90i2CZdv9ws-TX33c&dq=wedding+cake+tradition&prev=http://scholar.google.com/scholar%3Fq%3Dwedding%2Bcake%2Btradition%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG
This link is from a historian/anthropologist who wrote a book on the history of the Wedding cake in the UK. He seems to believe that the top layer was saved for the christening of the first child.
February 6th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/gfc.2005.5.2.69
This link provides a pdf of an article on the history of Wedding cakes from Gastronomica. It’s a great little article and worth downloading- it even has an 1888 picture of almost 30 Bride, Christening and Other cakes.
February 6th, 2006 at 5:58 pm
Thanks for those links, Jane Canuck! I believe the christening aspect changes from nation to nation. And, of course, the practice doesn’t exist in some counties at all.
February 6th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
I wouldn’t dream of saving a piece of cake for a whole year. On our anniversary, we get very simple one layer cake (6″ round, the smallest size they make) from the same baker for dessert. Our original cake was champagne and red velvet. We had red velvet with cherry filling (his favorite) last year, so this year we get champagne cake with raspberry filling (my favorite). The plan is to keep alternating.
February 6th, 2006 at 6:58 pm
Oooh, champagne cake sounds divine!
February 7th, 2006 at 12:48 am
Most wedding cakes just don’t taste good enough in the first place to save and re-eat, in my opinion. And the last story I heard regarding said tradition involved a poorly-wrapped cake top and a trip to the emergency room for food poisoning!
February 7th, 2006 at 12:49 am
(cont’d)
…I’m loving those pipe-cleaner toppers, though! They’re so awful they’re fabulous!
February 7th, 2006 at 5:31 pm
Growing up in a society that practiced the fruit cake tradition for wedding cakes, that stuff doesn’t even taste good on the day of the wedding, nevermind a year later.
Blech.
February 10th, 2006 at 12:10 pm
I don’t think the original tradition involved eating the cake — just saving it to have on the day, for good luck. Like saving flowers gathered on one holiday to have at the next one.
February 17th, 2006 at 1:01 am
My parents have been married for 27 years and they still have the top layer of their cake in a box at the top of their pantry with gaffa tape thinkly sealing the box. I’m not sure what they were waiting for (we’re not religious so we were never going to be christened….or is that what they want?Hmmm….?) but I think they got to the stage where the cake was so old they were afraid what they would find when they did open it!
April 11th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
where did you get the pipe cleaner bride and groom cake topper