40-year-old wedding cake goes to auction
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Jess and Rick Link of Washington cut into the bottom layer of a three-tiered cake on their wedding day Aug. 10, 2018. The couple saved the top tier – white cake with raspberry filling – to enjoy on their one-year wedding anniversary.
Associated Press
This 40-year-old slice of royal wedding cake is expected to sell for between $300 and $500 when it goes to auction Tuesday.
A slice of Princess Diana’s royal wedding cake goes to auction today and the 40-year-old dessert is expected to sell for between roughly $300 and $500, according to Dominic Winter Auctioneers, who listed the cake.
The sweet treat – a 28-ounce slice from one of 23 official royal wedding cakes baked for the event – is decorated in white icing and adorned with the royal coat of arms, a leaf spray and silver horseshoe.
“This slice of 40-year-old cake … appears to be in exactly the same good condition as when originally sold,” reads the listing, “but we advise against eating it.”
While 40-year-old cake isn’t something most indulge in, old cake is common: Traditionally, married couples celebrate their one-year anniversary with a slice of year-old wedding cake.
“It still honestly shocks me,” said Amanda Busalacchi, a wedding consultant at Bethel Bakery in North Strabane Township, who said most couples ask how to preserve their top tier for a whole year. “It is such an ancient tradition but it’s still carrying on, which I think is pretty cool.”
According to The Knot wedding website, saving the top tier of one’s wedding cake began in the early 19th century, when couples saved the dessert for their first child’s christening celebration.
Busalacchi said Bethel Bakery provides couples with a top tier box, which includes material and instructions for preserving the cake. Couples who opt to eat that top tier on their wedding night can order a small one-year anniversary cake at their own expense for a fresh anniversary dessert.
Washington couple Jess and Rick Link went the preservation route and dug into year-old wedding cake on their first anniversary.
“I put it in a round, taller, Ziploc container. Then to keep it safe from sweet attacks, I wrapped it in Saran wrap all around at every angle,” said Link, whose wedding cake was made by Masterpieces of North Wheeling. “We had a whole day planned for our anniversary, but we said, we are having our cake for breakfast to start the day off right! It was delicious. It tasted exactly like the day of the wedding.”
Melanie Blassingame, a Uniontown High School graduate who celebrated her one-year wedding anniversary Aug. 1, said she and her husband, Drarelle, haven’t had the chance to dig into their top tier because the Ohio-based couple’s wedding cake is in Blassingame’s mother’s freezer in Uniontown.
“I’m looking forward to eating it,” said Blassingame. “We immediately went south after our wedding so my mom took care of it. It’s wrapped in plastic wrap, and in a good quality Tupperware container. I’m going to be so sad if it’s freezer burnt or doesn’t taste good.”
Blassingame said she and her husband will indulge in their Prantl’s almond torte cake Wednesday evening, long after Princess Diana’s wedding cake has been auctioned to the highest bidder.
“I’m so weirded out by Princess Di’s cake being auctioned off. I have more questions than I do answers,” said Blassingame. “Why now? Will her sons be given any? Who thought it was a good idea?”
Mara Rayburg, a Peters Township graduate who started following the royal family after watching The Crown on Netflix, has a different take on the old cake.
“I think it’s kind of cool,” said Rayburg. “I’m surprised remnants of the cake still exist.”
Whether or not decades-old cake is your thing, most can agree the tradition of preserving wedding cake is aging well.