The children gathered around the table, eagerly waiting for the cake-cutting ceremony.

cake-cutting 是由名词 cake（蛋糕）和动名词 cutting（切、割）组成的复合形容词。cutting 来自动词 cut（切）加 -ing 后缀形成动名词。cake-cutting 字面意思是"切蛋糕的"，用来修饰后面的名词 ceremony，表示"切蛋糕仪式"。