(one's) cake is dough

(one's) cake is dough

One's actions have failed or not led to the desired outcome—much like a cake that is still dough after baking. The phrase appears in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. I know you worked really hard on this project, but it looks like your cake is dough, and you won't be winning the contest.
See also: cake, dough
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • dough
  • woe is me
  • Woe is me!
  • a plague on both your houses
  • rose by any other name, a
  • the gorge rises at it
  • there(in) lies the rub
  • therein
  • that's the rub
  • here's the rub