cake

American  

[keyk] / keɪk /

noun

• cakes
  plural

1. a sweet, baked, breadlike food, made with or without shortening, and usually containing flour, sugar, baking powder or soda, eggs, and liquid flavoring.

2. a flat, thin mass of bread, especially unleavened bread.

3. pancake; griddlecake.

4. a shaped or molded mass of other food.

   a fish cake.

5. a shaped or compressed mass.

   a cake of soap; a cake of ice.

6. Animal Husbandry. a compacted block of soybeans, cottonseeds, or linseeds from which the oil has been pressed, usually used as a feed or feed supplement for cattle.

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verb (used with object)

• cakes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• caked,
  past participle,  past
• caking
  present participle

1. to form into a crust or compact mass.

verb (used without object)

• cakes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• caked,
  past participle,  past
• caking
  present participle

1. to become formed into a crust or compact mass.

   Synonyms:

   congeal, dry, solidify, harden

idioms

1. take the cake,

   1. to surpass all others, especially in some undesirable quality; be extraordinary or unusual.

      His arrogance takes the cake.

   2. to win first prize.

2. a piece of cake, something easily done.

   She thought her first solo flight was a piece of cake.

cake British  

/ keɪk /

noun

1. a baked food, usually in loaf or layer form, typically made from a mixture of flour, sugar, and eggs

2. a flat thin mass of bread, esp unleavened bread

3. a shaped mass of dough or other food of similar consistency

   a fish cake

4. a mass, slab, or crust of a solidified or compressed substance, as of soap or ice

5. to enjoy both of two desirable but incompatible alternatives

6. informal to be sold very quickly or in large quantities

7. informal something that is easily achieved or obtained

8. informal to surpass all others, esp in stupidity, folly, etc

9. informal the whole or total of something that is to be shared or divided

   the miners are demanding a larger slice of the cake

   that is a fair method of sharing the cake

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verb

1. (tr) to cover with a hard layer; encrust

   the hull was caked with salt

2. to form or be formed into a hardened mass

cake More Idioms  

1. see eat one's cake and have it, too; flat as a pancake; icing on the cake; nutty as a fruitcake; piece of cake; sell like hot cakes; slice of the pie (cake); take the cake.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• uncake
  verb (used with object)
• cakey
  adjective
• caky
  adjective
• noncaking
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cakes
  plural

Participles

• caking
  present
• caked
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• cake
  simple
• cakes
  simple
• have caked
  perfect
• has caked
  perfect
• am caking
  progressive
• are caking
  progressive
• is caking
  progressive
• have been caking
  perfect progressive
• has been caking
  perfect progressive

Past

• caked
  simple
• had caked
  perfect
• was caking
  progressive
• were caking
  progressive
• had been caking
  perfect progressive

Future

• will cake
  simple
• will have caked
  perfect
• will be caking
  progressive
• will have been caking
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of cake

1200–50; Middle English < Old Norse kaka; akin to Middle English kechel little cake, German Kuchen; see cookie

Explanation

A cake is a baked dessert that's often topped with frosting or decorations. For many people, it's not a proper birthday without a birthday cake. Most cakes are made with flour, fat, a sweetener, and something to make the cake rise — like eggs or baking powder. You might prefer denser, richer cheesecakes or tiny, delicate cupcakes, or even a savory version made of potatoes and vegetables. If someone says, "Well, that takes the cake," they're expressing their surprise at something, and if you say, "That exam was a piece of cake," it as easy as eating a piece of cake.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cake cakes caked caking

After the dozens of well-heeled guests in attendance tucked into New York strip steaks and carrot cake, Kielpinski called on them to open their wallets and donate.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

Rather than explain how a leaner fish or one packed in oil might change the cake, the recipe simply expands to encompass nearly anything.

From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026

At first, when their boat of some 60 passengers landed in April after 15 hours on the water, they were taken to a reception centre and given cake and orange juice.

From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026

Another photo showed a birthday cake for Suu Kyi, who turned 81 in June, and a fourth image showed Suu Kyi with the cake.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

“Nope,” Elliot said, stabbing another forkful of cake.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

Besides water, much needed for the hours spent sweating in the swelter, his firetruck is chock-a-chocolate block with gifts of cakes, fruit compotes and other kind offerings.

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026

Around her are patio tables displaying the kind of food the shop carried: pies and cakes, what appear to be stuffed tomatoes, baguettes, sophisticated deli salads, gorgeous hunks of cheese.

From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026

Selling like hot cakes — Taylor Swift’s wedding trash.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026

Williams said his staff were baking about 400 Welsh cakes a day to keep up with diners' appetites.

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026

He found me in the kitchen, watching the progress of certain cakes for tea, then baking.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

Footage of the five men shot on Wednesday showed them miserable and caked in mud, telling rescuers they were suffering chest pains and starving hungry.

From BBC ● May 29, 2026

Gardner previously said that more than 100 firefighters used hoses to put a “wet line” around the Balcom fire perimeter, while bulldozers cut away vegetation in its path and aircraft caked the ground with retardant.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 2026

A frame outside the auditorium door displays five photos of the Mayer’s dilapidated conditions in the ’90s, with the theater caked in rust and mold, a shell of the version I’m standing in now.

From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2025

When discovered by a police officer with a metal detector on a cold November morning last year, the iPad was found caked in mud having been underwater for more than five years.

From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2025

His body was caked in mud, wet and dirty.

From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya

The rain and fish goo caking my shoes has already begun to harden.

From National Geographic ● Jul. 17, 2023

The rain had stopped on Sunday and rescue teams and local volunteers were trying to pump out buildings and sweep away mud caking the streets before it could set hard under the sun.

From Reuters ● May 21, 2023

It’s figurative, embedded in the characters and the storyline, but also literal, with dirt and rot caking everything.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 23, 2023

The small green creatures, less than an inch long, are caking patio furniture with silk and even getting inside people’s homes.

From Washington Times ● Oct. 8, 2022

Mud flats near the banks, caking to dry clay, smelled of death.

From "Pax" by Sara Pennypacker

Related Words

• loaf