Why do people say something is a piece of cake when its not easy to bake a cake?

Answer 1

A piece of cake is an idiomatic expression which means a job, task or other activity that is easy or simple to do. Such phrase has many origins. Contrary to the fact that cake is not easy to make, it could possibly originated back to the ancient Greeks where a "cake" in those times was a toasted cereal bound together with honey, (thus too easy to make). It was given to the most vigilant man on night watch. Aristotle is quoted as having written in "The Knights": "if you surpass him in impudence, then we take the cake".

`A piece of cake' also relate to the "good life" of sitting around at one's leisure eating dessert - rather than a reference to the ease of making and baking.

THAT'S A PIECE OF CAKE -- "Something that can be done easily and pleasurably. The light-verse writer Ogden Nash had this line in 'Primrose Path' (1936): 'Her picture's in the papers now, and life's a piece of cake.' The thought surely derives from the fact that for most people eating a piece of cake is easy and a pleasure." " From "The Dictionary of Cliches" by James Rogers (Ballantine Books, New York, 1985).

However, the "Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins" by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1977) give America the credit for originating the phrase. Mr. and Mrs. Morris also give the origin of "easy as pie."
According to the Oxford Dictionary, it first appeared in print in a work by Ogden Nash, who wrote in 1936: 'Her picture's in the papers now, and life's a piece of cake.' But, if it first turned up in America, it was swiftly adopted by British airmen in World War II. In 1943 the author of 'Spitfires over Malta' wrote: 'The mass raids promised to be a 'piece of cake' and we expected to take a heavy toll.' Certainly 'piece of cake' was more originally more popular in Britain than in the United States."

The "Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" by Gregory Y. Titelman states that: "It's a piece of cake -It's very easy to do. First used in the mid-twentieth century. During World War II, British soldiers used the expression to describe a mission that was extremely easy to accomplish."♥

Answer 2

Well, in the old days, baking a cake was a lot easier than, say, roasting a half steer or baking bread from scratch. I can put together a cake from scratch in less than 30 minutes (and I find pie is even easier!), and then it only needs baking time.

And cake is definitely easy to eat! Maybe that's where it comes from.

Answer 3

The expression refers to someone else baking the cake. All you have to do is show up hungry. You sit down, someone else has already done the work. They hand you a plate full of cake, a fork and a glass of milk. You eat make a mess, get up and say a kind word and away you go.

Hence the phrase; PIECE OF CAKE

Answer 4

cake walk, piece of cake/takes the cake - easy task/wins (the prize) - from the tradition of giving cakes as prizes in rural competitions. Brewer (1870) tells of the tradition in USA slavery states when slaves or free descendents would walk in a procession in pairs around a cake at a social gathering or party, the most graceful pair being awarded the cake as a prize. This also gave us the expression 'cake walk' and 'a piece of cake' both meaning a job or contest that's very easy to achieve or win, and the variation 'takes the biscuit', meaning to win (often ironically, to be the worst).

Answer 5

It's meaning came from the early Egyptians where cake was a synonym for something good or easy. Mummies were often interred with a doggie bag of cakes and ale, and "cakes and ale" is still common shorthand for "the good life" in Britain.

Attributed to the ancient Greeks a "cake" in those times was made with honey. Aristotle is quoted in the "The Knights": "if you surpass him in impudence, then we take the cake".

Writer Ogden Nash, born in Rye, New York wrote the line (piece of cake) in 'Primrose Path' (1936). Nash could have borrowed it from the French - c'est du gateau. Many phrase origins arrived with immigrants.
"Cake-walk" and "Easy as pie" soon followed.

Answer 6

A piece of cake means something that is very easy to do.
(The easiness of eating cake, a soft food)

Answer 7

easy is to eat a piece of cake, not to bake it. the popular say comes from the first fact.

Answer 8

It's easy to bake a cake if you just follow the recipe.

Answer 9

But, it sure is easy to eat a piece of cake.

Answer 10

if you bake a cake from a box, then it is very easy to bake a cake.