For the past 60 years, this Florida couple have been celebrating their anniversary by eating a piece out of their wedding cake – not a replica, the original one!
Ann and Ken Fredericks were married on 19 August, 1955 and Ann’s grandmother had baked a three-layer fruitcake for the occasion. The top layer of that cake, baked six decades ago, still exists in a metal Maxwell Coffee House can. “Every year, we unwrap it, pour brandy over it – because you need to moisten it – and we break off a piece,” Ann said.
“Everybody just looks at us with amazed looks when they hear about it,” she added. “Our children are appalled that we would be eating something that’s 60 years old. But believe me, it’s quite tasty, as long as it’s got enough brandy on it. And it’s never made us sick.”
Photo: Florida Today
Back in the ’50s, it was rather fashionable to have a fruitcake as a wedding cake. Ann’s grandmother used the fruit that Ann’s grandfather brought home from the docks in New York to bake a three-layer dark fruitcake for the wedding. It was baked a couple of months in advance, so it would have enough time to age and settle. A local bakery even covered it with a hard shell, to stop the fruit from bleeding through. A layer of buttercream frosting was added on the day of the wedding.
“When you looked at it, it looked like a three-layer white wedding cake,” Ann recalled. After the wedding, the couple saved whatever was left of the cake, and have savoured it every year since.
Photo: Florida Today
Ann and Ken met as students at Syracuse University, and they lived in New York during the first few years of their marriage. But in 1968, they decided to follow Ken’s parents to Florida. “Even though we were both from the Northeast, neither one of us liked the cold,” Ann said. “So after those two visits to the in-laws, we said we were going to move to Florida. And we never regretted it.”
Ken, now 85, worked as a music teacher before he retired, while Ann, 81, was a nurse for 27 years. They’ve lived in their Satellite Beach home since 1971. Because their diamond anniversary happened to be on a weekday, they celebrated it with family and friends over the weekend. They were joined by their daughter Jean, and sons Ken Jr. and David. Nine of their grandchildren and two of Ann’s bridesmaids attended the celebrations as well.
Photo: Florida Today
The couple like teasing their children about it. Over the years, their kids and grandkids have always refused to take a bite of the ageing cake. “They won’t taste it,” Ken said.
“And we tell them, it tastes fine,” said Ann. “They always say, ‘Oh, there’s not that much. You two keep it for yourself.’ I don’t know, we may have to be buried with it.”
The cake is now just a 4×3 inch block. After the annual bite, it is always carefully wrapped in clingfilm and placed in the coffee can again. Along with it is a yellowed piece of paper that reads: “Top tier, Ann’s wedding cake.” According to Ann, dark fruitcake, if treated properly, will keep forever. “We’re hoping to do it again next year,” Ken said.
“It has lasted us 60 years and so has the marriage,” Ann added. “That is much more important than the wedding cake.”
Source: Florida Today
