How to Store the Top of Your Wedding Cake

Quite often young couples ask how to save the top layer of their wedding cake. It is a tradition to save the top tier of the wedding cake to eat on their first year anniversary. It can be fun to revive the memories of the big day one year later. It is a romantic way for a young couple to celebrate their first year together.

So how do you save the top layer of the wedding cake so that it will last until your first anniversary? First, you are not really trying to save the top layer of the cake instead you are trying to save the top tier of the cake. A standard wedding cake with three cakes stacked one on top of the others is a three tiered cake. The layers are in each individual cake. With that clarification, there are two good answers to the question:

The first answer is, don't do it. Do not bother saving the top layer of your wedding cake. Instead order your wedding cake with enough servings to feed your guests and then plan on returning to the bakery to order a six or eight inch cake in the same flavor and filling as your wedding cake – you could even have them place some (or all) of the same decorations on your anniversary cake (you could even break out your cake topper and your special cake knife & serving set for a fun presentation of your anniversary cake) so it will look like the top tier of your wedding cake.

The advantages of this approach are multiple but we will deal with the three most significant:

• First, you will be eating fresh cake on your anniversary rather than frozen cake that has been thawed and fresh always tastes better than frozen.
• Second, this approach will save you money on your wedding cake. By not saving the top layer of your wedding cake for your first year anniversary you will not have to order as much cake and since most bakeries charge based on the number of servings that can save you a significant amount of money in a time when money is tight.
• Third, you save freezer space.

For those who would really like to save the top tier of their wedding cake this is how a pastry chef once taught me to do it so that it will maintain as much freshness and develop as little freezer burn as possible:

1. Begin by placing the cake in the freezer either alone or in the box just long enough to get the icing to harden so it will not stick when you wrap the cake – this usually takes about two to three hours depending on the freezer.
2. Once the cake has been frozen remove it from the freezer and wrap with a plastic wrap (when you take the cake out to thaw for your anniversary do not forget to remove the plastic wrap as it is a choking hazard) completely. This is not the time to be stingy with the plastic wrap. Wrap it good so there are as few air pockets as possible.
3. Next place the wrapped top tier of your wedding cake inside the bakery box and close the lid. This will help to protect your cake against being smashed by something else in your freezer, but be careful, unless it is an unusually strong box you still need to use common sense.
4. Finally, wrap the box well in plastic wrap and quickly place it in a protected corner of your freezer where it is most likely to survive until your first anniversary.

Unfortunately no method of freezing your wedding cake is going to keep your cake tasting exactly like it did on your wedding day.  A fresh cake will always taste better than a frozen cake, but that is not the point to saving the top of your wedding cake. 

The point is the symbolic connection between the two celebrations and the sweet goodness that comes from your marriage.  To reach these heights some prefer saving the actual wedding cake top while others choose to commission a fresh replica of the top of their cake. Either way, using wedding cake as a part of your celebration is a great way to help you feel the connection between the two days separated by your first year of marriage.