A multi-layer cap shingle for installation along a ridge, hip, or rake of a roof includes a forward exposure area and a rear headlap area. The multi-layer cap shingle includes at least two layers of shingle material, a top layer and a bottom layer each having opposed edges. The layers are bonded together with patches of lamination adhesive adjacent their opposed edges. The bottom layer is configured with a deformation-absorbing mechanism such as a pair of slots extending from a forward edge rearwardly inboard of the lamination adhesive patches. When the multi-layer cap shingle is bent over a roof ridge, the slots of the bottom layer of shingle material narrow in width to account for the fact that the bottom layer must bend around an arc of slightly smaller radius than the top layer of shingle material. As a result, the opposed edges of the bottom and top layers of shingle material remain aligned and both edges of the top layer are laminated to the bottom layer to increase wind lift resistance of the installed multi-layer cap shingle.