9 Tips for Freezing—and Defrosting—Your Wedding Cake for Your First Anniversary 

Photo by Emily Wren Photography

The Washington Post mused today on whether the whole freezing the top tier of your wedding cake for the purposes of sentimental consumption on your first anniversary thing is a tradition that should just die already.

So, while I think that whether or not you choose to follow this tradition is completely a matter of preference and that it’s definitely not necessary for a tradition to not exist (or die) in order for a couple to voluntarily just, you know, not follow it, what I did find interesting in the piece was a whole slew of pointers for successfully freezing and defrosting your wedding cake, if that’s an effort you’re choosing to put forth.

They basically break down like this:

• Refrigerate the tier for a few hours to solidify the icing.
• Take the decorations off.
• Wrap the whole tier in plastic wrap.
• Stick it in some sort of airtight box, so that it’s not touching the sides.
• Then, wrap the whole box in plastic wrap.
• Label it, presumably so as to avoid your confused/hungry husband or whoever else picking up and shaking the heck out of it in order to deduce its contents in the year to come, and stick it in the freezer.
• Add some baking soda to your freezer for good measure to soak up any odors that are dancing around in there.
• Chocolate cake works better than vanilla, FYI, and fruit fillings don’t always turn out so great.
• When it comes time to eat it, stick it back int he fridge for 24 hours to let it gradually thaw out, and then put it on the counter for about an hour to bring it up to eating temperature.

The writer also makes the point that some bakers will provide you with a special little cake separate from your actual wedding cake, all sealed up and ready to freeze, and that others still offer the service of delivering you a cake in your wedding flavor on your first anniversary—both of which I have heard before, so it would certainly be a good idea to check with your baker on either of those options, should you question your Saran Wrap skills or freezer space.

Read the whole thing here before coming up with your first-anniversary cake-consumption plan of attack.

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