Everybody loves cake. With such a wide variety, including angel’s food, devil’s food, sponge, carrot, coffee, pound, and cheese, there is a type of cake for everyone. There is nothing quite like the sweet sensation of that dessert touching your tongue. Your taste buds sing as you enter a sugar-induced haze and wonder what life would be like without this delicious delicacy. Fortunately, we will never have to contemplate that reality, but there is still one question that persists: 

What makes cake so easy, and what does it have to do with completing my homework? 

Dictionary.com defines the phrase “piece of cake” as easily accomplishable. One would think that the saying originates from the process of producing the sweet, but baking a cake is certainly not an easy task, especially for me. Measuring out all the ingredients, mixing them together, and throwing the pan in the oven sounds simple enough, but my kitchen is an absolute disaster by the end of the journey, even with boxed cake mixes. It is certainly easy to consume cake because of its delightful taste, but the phrase developed from more than cake’s flavor. 

Although the exact origin is unclear, it is believed that the idea of cake being “easy” was brought about during the 1800s in the southern United States. Slaves would compete in “cakewalks” by performing a dance designed to mock white slave owners, according to theidioms.com. Those who put on the best show would be awarded cake. These cakewalks were relatively easy to win, explaining the context of the phrase. The 1930s marked the time “piece of cake” was originally used, most notably by the Royal Air Force to describe an easy mission. Knowyourphrase.com credits American poet Ogden Nash with first implementing the phrase in his 1936 book Primrose Path. 

Now you have an interesting fact to share with your friends every time you use the phrase “piece of cake.” May several easy tasks come your way.