Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. cake.

1930		(con. 1914–18) Brophy & Partridge Songs and Sl. of the British Soldier.
1938		F.D. Sharpe Sharpe of the Flying Squad 229: I’ve done nothing wrong since I pinched that load of Joe Blake.
1960		J. Franklyn Dict. of Rhy. Sl.
1981		P. Wright Cockney Dialect and Sl. 103: Joe Blake ‘cake’.

2. (Aus.) a snake.

1905		Duke Tritton’s Letter n.p.: I saw a lot of Joe Blakes, but I don’t know if they were dinkum or just the after effects of the grog.
1925		Morn. Bulletin (Rockhamton, Qld) 7 Apr. 8/6: The reptile was dead [but] if he had hopped into the trunk and discovered Joe Blake [...] he would have left the train in a desp[erate hurry.
1936		Gippsland Times (Vic.) 9 Apr. 9/5: Have you ever had a big ‘Joe Blake’ / All tangled round your leg?
1942		Argus (Melbourne) 18 Apr. 33/5: Joe Blake is a snake.
1951		E. Hill Territory 446: A snake is always ‘Joe Blake’.
1968		S. Gore Holy Smoke 77: Sand, flies, wait-a-bit thorn, Joe Blakes – the lot.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 32: Joe Blake [...] snake.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 89: Other examples of this process include: [...] joe blake snake and joe blakes shakes, usually those induced by excess consumption of alcohol and its after-effects.
2002		D. Shaw ‘Dead Beard’ at www.asstr.org 🌐 Her brigham young is slurping all around my cock like she’s got a little joe blake inside her north and south.
2021		Betoota-isms 246: ‘[S]hat my dacks when I came across a big brown Joe Blake’.

3. a (rump) steak.

1928		Bath Chron. 4 Aug. 25/6: The proprietor of a small City restaurant rattled off the following [...] ‘Joe Blake,’ rump steak [...] ‘Zeppelin in a cloud,’ sausage and mash.
1932		‘P.P.’ Rhy. Sl. 13: Get me a ‘Joe Blake’ for Tom Tucker’.
1946		St. Vincent Troubridge ‘Some Notes on Rhyming Argot’ in AS XXI:1 Feb. 46: lean and lake. A steak. (Origin doubtful, probably English.) Very rare if English. Joe Blake was quite invariable for this.
1960		J. Franklyn Dict. of Rhy. Sl.
1972		Dodson & Saczek Dict. of Cockney Rhy. Sl.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 32: Joe Blake Steak.
2002		B. Kirkpatrick Wicked Cockney Rhy. Sl.

4. (Aus.) a stake, a bet.

1983

R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 32: Joe Blake [...] stake.