Abstract: This study addresses the limitations of traditional fish cake, including its short shelf life, stringent transportation conditions, and limited eating methods. By optimizing the formulation and applying vacuum freeze-drying technology, a novel fish cake product was developed. This innovation aims to extend shelf life, enhance nutritional balance, and facilitate ready-to-eat and multi-scenario applications. It also provides a technological reference for the industrial processing of aquatic products. Using silver carp as the primary raw material, we constructed a comprehensive scoring model based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) combined with the entropy weight method (EWM). Single-factor experiments were conducted to determine optimal addition levels of pork fat, chicken, corn starch, and egg white. These results informed the subsequent optimization of the freeze-dried fish cake formulation using a genetic algorithm in conjunction with the Box-Behnken response surface methodology. Microstructural analysis was performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and physicochemical properties—including protein, fat, moisture, and ash content were measured. Shelf life was estimated using the Arrhenius equation. The optimal formulation (relative to minced fish) consisted of 10% pork fat, 20% chicken, 11% corn starch, and 8% egg white (by mass), achieving a comprehensive score of 0.87±0.34. SEM imaging revealed a uniform pore distribution, and there were no significant changes in the key physicochemical indices following the vacuum freeze-drying treatment. The Arrhenius equation-based shelf-life model predicted a storage life of 77 days at 25 ℃, an 11-fold increase over the 4~7 day shelf life of fresh-cut fish cake. This study successfully produced freeze-dried fish cake with uniform color, crispy texture, a long shelf life and balanced nutrition, offering a reference for the ambient storage, transportation and ready-to-eat application of fish cake products.