The World's Oldest Preserved Cake Dates Back Nearly 4,000 Years

Somewhere hiding in the back of your basement freezer, behind boxes of pizza, bags of vegetables, and cartons of ice cream, is a plastic Tupperware container preserving a section of your wedding cake from 1993. But why are you saving it? Does it still taste good after all these years? Do you plan on putting it in a museum? That's exactly what the Alimentarium — a food museum in Vevey, Switzerland — did with the world's oldest preserved cake, which is around 4,000 years old. 

This appetizing ancient dessert comes from Egypt during the reign of pharaoh Pepi II from 2251 to 2157 B.C. and was found in the tomb of Pepi'Onkh, a member of the royal family, in 1913. Bread was an integral part of Egyptian funeral rituals at the time, as it represented renewed life and was used as an offering to feed the dead on their journey to the afterlife. Seemingly, they anticipated a lengthy trip because they packaged their travel snack to last millennia! 

The reason this cake has been able to keep all these years is because it has been conserved in a vacuum (an age-old practice, apparently). Made of two pieces of wheat flatbread with honey and milk in between, this offering was cooked in two pre-heated copper molds, which fit together perfectly, creating a seal as air bubbles escaped the cooling cake. Vacuum-sealing keeps air and moisture from getting in, which prevents bacteria growth and helps food maintain its taste and texture. 

So, you want to be able to store your cake — whether it's a sentimental section from your wedding day or a decadent red velvet cake you whipped up on a whim — as well as the ancient Egyptians did. And following a few simple rules ensures that you'll get that perfect bite when you take it out of the freezer months, or years, from now. While every home cook should own a vacuum sealer, this is not the best trick to preserving cake correctly (despite what the ancient Egyptians say). While it's possible to vacuum-seal baked goods, you run the risk of squishing the cake and frosting and having a major mess inside the bag when you unseal it down the road. 

The correct way to freeze cake to preserve its freshness is to first wrap it in a layer of plastic wrap (which will keep the cake moist), then in a layer of aluminum foil (which stops condensation from getting in and creating freezer burn). After that, put it in an airtight, freezer-safe container. There are many differing suggestions for how long you can preserve your cake in the freezer, but according to Kimberly Bailey, owner of The Butter End Cakery, on Martha Stewart's website, as long as it's wrapped properly, you can enjoy it for years to come.