attain vs take the cake

attain

verb
  • To gain (an object or desired result). 

  • To reach or come to, by progression or motion; to arrive at (a place, time, state, etc.). 

  • To come or arrive, by motion, growth, bodily exertion, or efforts toward a place, object, state, etc. 

take the cake

verb
  • To be especially good or outstanding. 

  • To be particularly bad, objectionable, or egregious. 

How often have the words attain and take the cake occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )