Gumpaste is a sugar dough that dries hard, allowing for delicate designs. ©The Glass Knife

The tradition of freezing the top layer of your wedding cake and enjoying it a year later on your anniversary may now be a thing of the past. Ely Cortes, lead wedding cake designer at The Glass Knife, says there’s a new trend for anniversary cake celebrations: recreating that layer as a fresh, five-inch mini cake.

“We’re seeing couples who want to steer into nostalgia while doing something a bit different,” says Cortes. “They might want to create a new version (of their wedding cake) in a different color. Or perhaps something special happened, like a new addition to their family. We’re here to guide them through the process.”

Another option is to save special design elements from the original cake, such as sugar or gumpaste flowers and leaves.

If you do decide to save the top layer of your wedding cake, the way you freeze it is important. Put the tier inside a box wrapped in plastic wrap; if you have a deep freezer, that’s the best place for it—you don’t want it in a small space where it’s adjacent to meat items and subject to cross-contamination.

Also, deep freezers range from 0 to -10 degrees Fahrenheit, the optimal temperature to freeze a wedding cake, says Cortes.

©The Glass Knife

Another freezing option, says Lance A. Koenig, owner and brand manager of The Glass Knife, is to cut the cake into individual slices, wrap them in plastic wrap, then store inside a food-safe container. This allows you to indulge in a piece of wedding cake at numerous points throughout the year. It also helps to keep the flavor of the filling intact.

Now comes perhaps the most important technique: thawing your cake. Cool it in the fridge overnight before introducing the cake to room temperature. This is particularly important to preserve the decorations on the cake, and to avoid sogginess. theglassknife.com

Avocado Toast ©The Glass Knife

Having their cake and eating it too

The Glass Knife is currently building out its second space, on Park Avenue in Winter Park. Although they anticipated a late-spring opening, the acquisition of additional square footage changed Koenig’s original design, allowing the brand to optimize kitchen and storage space. It will allow The Glass Knife to not only expand their wedding cake operations but add more savory items to the menu and expand their brunch items.

“We’re moving the wedding tasting experience to Park Avenue and are looking to incorporate weddings in a different and more meaningful way,” says Koenig.

That includes a new window showcase that will allow couples to examine a sample cake’s physical design, and an area for enjoying Champagne while sampling cake flavors.

And next: More brunch options. The expanded space gives The Glass Knife the chance to bulk up its savory side.

“About half of what we do is savory items such as quiches and avocado toasts,” says Koenig. “The brunch crowd desires what we bring to the table—they asked, and we listened.”

Look for The Glass Knife’s Park Avenue location to open in late summer.