to take the cake
Preserved but no longer current.
To carry off the prize. The reference is to the negro cake walk, the prize for which was a cake. It consists of walking round the prize cake in pairs, while umpires decide which pair walk the most gracefully. From this a dance developed which was popular in the early part of the 20th century before the serious introduction of Jazz.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to take the cake” mean?
To carry off the prize. The reference is to the negro cake walk, the prize for which was a cake. It consists of walking round the prize cake in pairs, while umpires decide which pair walk the most gracefully. From this a dance developed which was popular in the early part of the 20th century before the serious introduction of Jazz.
Is “to take the cake” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.