Werner: "your" cake...

bluehat: I stand corrected

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Fifth Ed.

He wants a regular income but doesn't want to work. He can't have his cake and eat it!

Werner's version with "too" is American English.

I would argue that the context makes a difference. I wouldn't talk about eating my cake in relation to a person:

Ex 1. You can't have your cake and eat it, too OR you can't have everything
Ex 2. You can't have everything but NOT the bit about the cake. That sounds like you've lusting after Oskar but he unfortunately did not show up.
Ex 3. Either one is ok.

Ich kenne auch "You can't have it all" (AE), aber das ist vermutlich deutlich schlechteres Englisch. Correct?

Hi Jannek, I think it's totally fine as a synonym to "you can't have everything."

Fellows, can you enlighten me about what's behind the cake metaphor. It would seem to me that eating a cake that you have been given is the normal way to proceed. How come that the proverb makes it look presumptious?

Fabian: 'to have' hier im Sinne von 'behalten', 'and' mit dem Nebensinn 'zugleich'.

HTH

Du kannst nicht etwas besitzen, was Du gegessen hast. Dann isses nämlich weg!

Are you suggesting that the meaning is "You can't keep your cake and eat it at the same time"?

Did'nt know that "have" can mean "keep". Is this standard English (BE, AE)?

to have more in the sense of to own

I found the above article which states that the saying started out the other way round which actually makes more sense.

Dass es keine Verwechslung gibt. Ich bin Pia und wer (Pia) bist du?. Wenn du schon lange im Forum bist, ändere ich natürlich meinen Namen.

In 1611 the saying 'A man cannot eat his cake and haue it still' appeared in Scourge of Folly by J. Davies.

Thanks, Paul, for the link!

1562: John Heywood: A Dialogue Conteynyng Prouerbes and Epigrammes:
Wolde ye bothe eate your cake, and haue your cake?