PEACE of Cake: THE SECRET TO AN ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DIET

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The phrases “cakes and ale” (in England) and “cake and cheese” (in Scotland) have been used since the early 1600s as metaphors for the good things in life.

An early printed example is in the newspaper article Berlin is Easy for the Western Mail 12 September 1940: A comment of another kind from a young air gunner was: "Compared with some other places in Germany, going to Berlin was a piece of cake.” Something easily accomplished, as in “I had no trouble finding your house-a piece of cake”. This expression originated in the Royal Air Force in the late 1930s for an easy mission, and the precise reference is as mysterious as that of the simile easy as pie. Possibly it evokes the easy accomplishment of swallowing a slice of sweet dessert. The Oxford English Dictionary doesn’t comment on the difficulties of cake-making, but it agrees with you that the colloquial phrase “a piece of cake” refers to “something easy or pleasant.” This phrase is of American origin. At least, the earliest citation of it that I can find is from the American poet and humorist Ogden Nash's Primrose Path, 1936:a piece of cake.” The OED’s first citation comes from a collection of light verse by Ogden Nash, The Primrose Path (1935): “Her picture’s in the papers now, / And life’s a piece of cake.”

The Americanism cakewalk, used to mean "something easy," came first, in the 1860's — piece of cake wasn't used until around 1936. Both cake and pie have a long history in the United States as metaphors for things that come easily. Here’s its earliest incarnation, from John Heywood’s Proverbs and Epigrams (1562): “Wolde ye bothe eate your cake, and haue your cake?” Vocabulary.com suggests that the origin of "cakewalk" is much older and includes the following definitionAs the OED explains, cake is associated figuratively, especially by children, “as a ‘good thing,’ the dainty, delicacy, or ‘sweets’ of a repast.”