This Sweet, Sweet Couple Has Been Eating a Bite of Their Wedding Cake for 49 Years

When Anne and David Cowburn celebrated their first anniversary, they followed the wedding tradition of pulling a slice of their wedding cake out of the freezer to feed to each other. But instead of just doing it that once, they kept up the tradition for the entirety of their marriage: this year, they marked the occasion of their 49^th anniversary by once again pulling out the cake and giving their spouse a bite.

The pair of teachers in West Grove, Pennsylvania froze a five-inch slice of the cake on their wedding day, July 18, 1970, reports Today. Each year since, they’ve taken a bite, and next year — their 50^th anniversary — they plan to finish it. Which seems like a good idea, since it can’t possibly be good for you to eat 50-year-old cake, right?

Well, neither of them has ever gotten sick from it, say the Cowburns, but that doesn’t mean it’s delicious. “For maybe 10 years it tasted like a cake — maybe a cake that was freezer burned. But now it doesn’t really taste like anything, just kind of chemical-ly,” said Anne. But even wrapped tightly in Saran Wrap and then double-bagged hasn’t kept it from continue to deteriorate. It’s like “something between cardboard or lighter fluid, I guess. It doesn’t taste anything like cake at this point,” David said, laughing. “I don’t remember when it tasted good.”

But the bad taste hasn’t made the ritual any less meaningful: the couple has eaten cake throughout the years of having three children and four grandchildren. They even once got their friends in on the celebration, offering tastes at their 22^nd anniversary party. 

So how does one follow up fifty years of cake? Hopefully, say the Cowburns, with another: they plan to go back to the Delaware hotel where they were married and have them make another cake for them. And to bake the last few crumbs of this one right into it.