/ keɪk; NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun
1.
[ C , U ] a sweet food made from a mixture of flour, eggs, butter, sugar, etc. that is baked in an oven. Cakes are made in various shapes and sizes and are often decorated, for example with cream or icing :
a piece / slice of cake
to make / bake a cake
a chocolate cake
a birthday cake
( BrE )
a cake tin (= for cooking a cake in)
( NAmE )
a cake pan
—see also angel food cake , Christmas cake , fruit cake , sponge cake , wedding cake
2.
[ C ] a food mixture that is cooked in a round flat shape :
potato cakes
—see also cattle cake , fishcake
•
IDIOMS
- have your cake and eat it
- a slice / share of the cake
- take the cake
—more at hot adjective , icing , piece noun
■ verb
1.
[ vn ] [ usually passive ] cake sth (in / with sth) to cover sth with a thick layer of sth soft that becomes hard when it dries :
Her shoes were caked with mud.
2.
[ v ] if a substance cakes , it becomes hard when it dries
► caked adjective :
caked blood
••
WORD ORIGIN
Middle English (denoting a small flat bread roll): of Scandinavian origin; related to Swedish kaka and Danish kage .