Cakes and ale are synonymous with the good life, like beer and skittles.

The word cake is often used as as a metaphor for 'a good thing' - as in 'take the cake' for example. The first use of cakes and ale with that allusion is Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, 1601:

SIR TOBY BELCH:

Out o' tune, sir: ye lie. Art any more than a steward? Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?