Forum: english.stackexchange.com
Tags: <grammaticality>
Title: Is it wrong to say "cook a cake"?
Question: Is it wrong to say "to cook a cake"?

Answers:
sents: text: It's better to say " make a cake " or " bake a cake ".
text: Though you can find a lot of web pages using "cook a cake".
text: Examples:
text: He knows how to bake a cake better than anyone else.
text: Making a basic sponge cake is very easy.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/3782/Manoochehr
score: 12
sents: text: Baking is done in an oven, cooking is done on a stove-top and typically implies using water.
text: You can bake pies, roasts, cookies, bread, casseroles, pizza, and cakes.
text: You can cook vegetables and noodles.
text: It is common and acceptable to say "cook a meal" or "cook dinner" rather than "bake a meal" or "bake dinner", even if the meal was all prepared in an oven.
text: It becomes more confusing when you consider certain other food types.
text: Eggs can be fried, scrambled, or boiled, but you rarely hear of anyone baking or cooking eggs.
text: The bottom line is that bakers bake things and those things they produce are " baked ", whereas cooks (or chefs) cook things and those things they produce are " cooked ."
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/3800/oosterwal
score: 12
sents: text: It's not wrong, but it's more common to see 'bake a cake', as that is almost always the cooking method used.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/None/
score: 3
sents: text: Provided that it is an oven based cake you should say " bake ".
text: If describing a cake that isn't made in the oven (eg a fish cake)
text: you could say " cook ".
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/4739/Tom Ravenscroft
score: 2
sents: text: It should be "bake a cake" and not "cook a cake".
text: Baking is when you put something in an oven-toaster-griller, and cooking is when you put something on the stove-top.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/4924/Logophile
score: 1
sents: text: I just checked dictionary.com.
text: It says that "cook" means: to prepare (food) by the use of heat, as by boiling, baking, or roasting. to subject (anything) to the application of heat.
text: So cooking includes boiling, baking and roasting.
text: Wich means its not even on the same level of precision.
text: So we can say we "cook" for everything that's been heated but we can't cook a salad or cold food.
text: I guess that something prepared on the stove-up can only be "cooked" but then something baked is also "cooked".
text: The same would be applied to roasted and boiled.
text: If you guys have other sources that say the opposite please share ;)
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/9930/Daniel
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
If the cake in question is an oven-based cake, you should say "bake". Ultimately, baking is done in an oven and cooking is done on a stove-top. The correct answer should be "bake a cake".
Baking is done in an oven, cooking is done on a stove-top and typically implies using water. The bottom line is that bakers  bake  things produce " baked " goods, whereas cooks (or chefs)  cook  things and produce are "cooked" food . Cooking can includs boiling, baking and roasting, and although something prepared on the stove-up can only be "cooked,  something baked can also be "cooked". We can say we "cook" for everything that's been heated but we can't cook a salad or cold food. It will all depend on how the cake is made, but if the cake is an oven-based cake, then it is "bake a cake". 
If the cake in question is an oven-based cake, you should say "bake". Ultimately, baking is done in an oven and cooking is done on a stove-top. The correct answer should be "bake a cake".
Baking or making a cake would be the preferred terms. While cooking can be used as a general term ('cook a meal'), cakes are almost exclusively baked and so this is the term used.
It's not wrong to say cook a cake, but it's more common to say bake or make a cake. To bake, implies baking in the oven, to cook would implies to cook on the hob.  
Whilst "cook a cake" is not technically wrong, "back a cake" would be better. Cooking is generally performed on a stove whilst baking is generally performed in an oven.