cake
Word family nouncakingcakewalkcakeadjectivecaky
Food
cake1 /keɪk/ ●●● S2 W3 noun 1 
[countableC, uncountableU]DF a soft sweet food made by baking a mixture of flour, butter, sugar, and eggs 蛋糕
[countableC, uncountableU]DF a soft sweet food made by baking a mixture of flour, butter, sugar, and eggs 蛋糕 We had cake and ice cream.
我们吃了蛋糕和冰激凌。
a chocolate cake
巧克力蛋糕
2. fish/rice/potato etc cake DFFfish, rice etc that has been formed into a flat round shape and then cooked 鱼肉饼/米饼/马铃薯饼等
Examples from the Corpus
fish/rice/potato etc cake• In celebration of a new weight control year, the Quaker Oats Co. has developed yet another rice cake flavor.• From top, Smoked salmon rolls with pesto rice, Christmas jewel basmati salad, Basmati rice cake.• Deep fry fish cakes and warm for 5 mins before serving with tomato sauce and lightly-boiled leeks and celery.• Lunch Rice cakes, low-fat cheese, tomatoes and onion, apple.• She'd claim it was quite ordinary - fish cake s, only they went wrong - that sort of thing.• My husband and the minister wives who come to the party do not care for the rice cake.• I bet he had the fish cakes.• Slide the potato cake from the pan on to a plate.
3 [countableC]PIECE a small block of something 块
cake of
a cake of soap
一块肥皂
4 be a piece of cake spokenEASY to be very easy 是很容易做到的事
‘How do you do that?’ ‘It’s a piece of cake! Watch!’
“你怎么做？”“很简单！看着！”
Examples from the Corpus
be a piece of cake• The one he was allocated, Parky, a homely, Hoomey-sized bay, was a piece of cake compared with Bones.• Creating graphs is a piece of cake on the computer.• Should be a piece of cake.• Normally, walking along tarmac is a piece of cake after the rocky excursion along a ridge.• That was a piece of cake compared to finding a square mile without an ad.• My bone marrow was harvested a couple of weeks ago and the whole thing was a piece of cake.• But there is no use pretending the Saturn-Pluto effect will be a piece of cake.• Getting tickets to the game will be a piece of cake.
5 take the cake (also take the biscuit British English) informal to be worse than anything else you can imagine 糟糕透顶
I’ve heard some pretty dumb ideas, but that takes the cake!
我听过一些相当愚蠢的主意，但这一个是最愚蠢的！
Examples from the Corpus
take the cake• You've done some pretty stupid things, but that really takes the cake!• But the collective foolishness of amending the Constitution wholesale really takes the cake.
6. have your cake and eat it British EnglishBrE, have your cake and eat it too American English spokenADVANTAGE to have all the advantages of something without its disadvantages 鱼与熊掌兼得
Examples from the Corpus
have your cake and eat it• It appears the Ministry men can have their cake and eat it ... but only if we let them.• They don't imagine they can have their cake and eat it too.• You can have your cake and eat it; the only trouble is, you get fat.• That way he could have his cake and eat it too.• You can't have your cake and eat it.• First, is it an ethical investment policy to encourage people to try to have their cake and eat it?• It seems as though the council wants to have its cake and eat it.• The benefits of standardization are coupled with the capacity to respond to change-a way to have your cake and eat it too.
7 a slice of the cake British EnglishBrEMONEY a share of the profit, help etc that is available 〔可以分得的〕好处，利益
→ sell like hot cakes at hot cake(1) Both companies expect to get a big slice of the cake.
两家公司都希望分得一大杯羹。
Examples from the Corpus
a slice of the cake• The latter tend to offer less favourable terms, in order that they may have a slice of the cake.
COLLOCATIONS
verbs
make/bake a cake 做/烘蛋糕
Let’s make a cake for his birthday.
我们为他的生日做个蛋糕吧。
decorate a cake 装饰蛋糕
We decorated the cake with strawberries and cream.
我们用草莓和奶油装饰蛋糕。
ice a cake British EnglishBrE, frost a cake American EnglishAmE (=cover a cake with fine sugar mixed with a liquid) 给蛋糕撒糖霜
phrasesnShe iced her own wedding cake.
a piece/slice of cake 一块蛋糕
Would you like a slice of cake?
你想来块蛋糕吗？
a cake recipe 蛋糕食谱
nDo you have any good cake recipes?
a cake tin British EnglishBrE, a cake pan American EnglishAmE (=that you bake a cake in) 蛋糕烤盘
nUse a 20 cm cake tin.
a cake shop 蛋糕店
nThere’s a very good cake shop in the market.
cake mix (=a mixture that you buy in a packet and use for making a cake) 蛋糕粉
types of cake 蛋糕品种nIf I’m feeling lazy, I sometimes use a cake mix.
a birthday/Christmas/wedding cake (=a special cake for a birthday etc) 生日/圣诞/婚庆蛋糕
Lucy had twelve candles on her birthday cake.
露西的生日蛋糕上插了12支蜡烛。
a home-made cake 家里自制的蛋糕
Home-made cakes are much nicer than bought ones.
家里自制的蛋糕比买来的蛋糕好吃多了。
a fruit cake (=one with dried fruit in it) 水果蛋糕
nFruit cakes keep for quite a long time.
a sponge cake (=one made from flour, butter, sugar, and eggs) 海绵蛋糕
nIt’s best to eat sponge cakes on the day you make them.
a chocolate/lemon etc cake (=a sponge cake with a chocolate etc flavour) 巧克力/柠檬等蛋糕
nShe’d baked a chocolate cake for me.
a cream cake (=one with thick cream inside it) 奶油蛋糕
nI’ll get fat if I eat any more cream cakes.
COMMON ERRORSDon’t say ‘cook a cake’. Say make a cake or bake a cake.
不要说 ‘cook a cake’. 而要说 make a cake 或 bake a cake.
Examples from the Corpus
cake• A plastic Santa was sledging across the snow-white surface of a cake.• a birthday cake• Each of us receives a slice of heavenly chocolate cake.• She would have been on the floor for those pastries, and after the chocolate cake.• Noreen, frankly, wanted her cake and to eat it as well.• Pour into greased and floured 9-by-13-inch cake pan.• Many cake recipes call for all-purpose flour, but those that suggest cake flour do so for a reason.• Do you want a piece of cake?• From top, Smoked salmon rolls with pesto rice, Christmas jewel basmati salad, Basmati rice cake.• When the cake is cool, slice it across with a large knife to make two cakes.
cake of• A thin cake of wax covered the jam to seal it.
cake2 verb
1 be caked with/in something COVERHARDto be covered with a layer of something soft or wet that becomes thick and hard when it dries 厚厚地涂上[沾上]某物
Our boots were caked with mud.
我们的靴子上沾满了泥。
Examples from the Corpus
be caked with/in something• She took the can in her gloved hand, which was caked in black mud.• My trousers were caked with blood.• The left side of her face is caked with bloodied mud.• It was caked with dirt, but he slipped it on anyway.• His shoes were caked with dirt.• Terry's elbow was caked with dried blood.• The cloth was caked with her blood.• The hand was caked in mud, the fingers hooked into a claw.
2. [intransitiveI]COVER if a substance cakes, it forms a thick hard layer when it dries 〔干后〕结成硬块
Examples from the Corpus
cake• His plimsolls were now caked in heavy clods of wet earth and his jersey was already wet from his soaked mackintosh.• The hand was caked in mud, the fingers hooked into a claw.• Their lashes would be heavily caked whereas the newcomers were fearful of the technique at first.• It was caked with dirt, but he slipped it on anyway.
(1100-1200) Old Norse kaka