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According to the Dictionary of American Slang by Robert Chapman, the term "takes the cake" was in use by 1847 and came from the prize awarded in black American dancing competitions known as cakewalks.

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Originally posted by Kalleh:

I am wondering, though, do the British say, "that takes the biscuit?"

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Originally posted by arnie:
The same way as Quinion does.

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Take the biscuit could once mean winning or excelling. ... But these days, it’s an exclamation to suggest that somebody has done something unprincipled that would win them a prize in a contest of unethicalness.

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Are computer "cookies" called "biscuits" by the British computer users ??

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I've never heard the phrase before.

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Originally posted by Kalleh:

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I've never heard the phrase before.

Tinman, I am not sure which phrase you've never heard before.

I wonder where it does come from. Quinion disputes it coming from cakewalks, but really doesn't provide any evidence (it's hard to provide evidence that a word didn't exist before a certain time; the opposite is a lot easier.) I couldn't find it in OED.

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Ancient Greece

Cakes during the 5th century were a confection of toasted cereal sweetened and bound together with honey given to soldiers as a prize for being the most vigilant on watch (no doubt it was an excellent source of energy for these fighting men), during this era Aristotle in the "The Knights" said:
"if you surpass him in impudence, then we take the cake"

So we end up with at some stage (5th or 19th century [to allow us some options]) take the cake was synonymous with winning a prize, with the development of Biscuits (14th century), if you wanted to be ironic about someone's performance you would claim they took the biscuit (being a smaller and less appetizing version of the cake). Later (around the early 20th century), the meanings of both take the biscuit and take the cake began to merge, where we are at today, where they mean the same thing.