What does cake mean?
A cake is a sweet baked food, most commonly made from a batter of flour, sugar, eggs, and butter or oil, often leavened with baking powder and finished with icing, frosting, or filling. Cakes range from humble home-baked sponges and loaf cakes to elaborate multi-tiered wedding cakes, and they carry strong cultural associations with celebration, birthdays, weddings, and hospitality. Beyond its culinary meaning, 'cake' also denotes any flat, compacted block of a soft material, such as a cake of soap, and in informal speech the phrase 'a piece of cake' describes something easily accomplished. As a verb, 'cake' means to form a hard, dry layer, as when mud cakes on boots. The word's warmth and ubiquity make it one of the most familiar terms in English, bridging everyday cooking and ritual occasions alike.
A sweet baked food made from flour, sugar, eggs and fat, typically decorated and served on celebratory occasions; also, a flat compressed block of a soft substance.
"She baked a lemon drizzle cake for the fête."
Countable when referring to an individual cake; uncountable when referring to cake as a foodstuff in general.
To form into a hardened, dry mass or layer; to cover or become covered with such a layer.
"Dried mud caked the soles of his boots after the hike."
Often used in the past participle: 'mud-caked boots'.
Standard regular plural.
"The bakery sold out of its carrot cakes by noon."
The phrase 'a piece of cake' for something easy is so old that it appears in American slang from the 1870s — and 'icing on the cake' may go back even further.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cake
'Cake' entered Middle English in the thirteenth century, borrowed from Old Norse 'kaka', meaning a small flat loaf, which itself reflects a common Germanic root shared with related words across northern Europe. The Old Norse term replaced or coexisted with the native Old English word 'hlæf', from which 'loaf' descends, giving English two parallel words for baked goods of different shapes. Its Germanic cognates include Swedish 'kaka' and Danish 'kage'.
Related word forms
How cake is actually used
In British English, a simple everyday cake is often called a 'sponge' when light and airy; 'gateau' implies a richer, more elaborate cake. The verb 'cake' means to form into a hardened mass, usually of dried mud or blood.
Easily confused with cake
A cheesecake is technically a custard-based dessert with a crumb crust rather than a true flour-based cake.