diff --git a/lib/cake.js b/lib/cake.js
index 058f0081..8e5e98f9 100755
--- a/lib/cake.js
+++ b/lib/cake.js
@@ -20,9 +20,15 @@
   oparse = null;
   // Mixin the top-level Cake functions for Cakefiles to use directly.
   helpers.extend(global, {
-    // Define a Cake task with a short name, a sentence description,
+    // Define a Cake task with a short name, an optional sentence description,
     // and the function to run as the action itself.
     task: function task(name, description, action) {
+      var _a;
+      if (!((typeof action !== "undefined" && action !== null))) {
+        _a = [description, action];
+        action = _a[0];
+        description = _a[1];
+      }
       tasks[name] = {
         name: name,
         description: description,
@@ -72,7 +78,7 @@
   };
   // Display the list of Cake tasks in a format similar to `rake -T`
   print_tasks = function print_tasks() {
-    var _a, _b, _c, _d, _e, _f, i, name, spaces, task;
+    var _a, _b, _c, _d, _e, _f, _g, i, name, spaces, task;
     puts('');
     _a = tasks;
     for (name in _a) { if (__hasProp.call(_a, name)) {
@@ -85,7 +91,11 @@
         }
         return _b;
       }).call(this).join('') : '';
-      puts("cake " + name + spaces + " # " + (task.description));
+      print("cake " + name + spaces);
+      if ((typeof (_g = task.description) !== "undefined" && _g !== null)) {
+        print(" # " + (task.description));
+      }
+      puts('');
     }}
     if (switches.length) {
       return puts(oparse.help());
diff --git a/src/cake.coffee b/src/cake.coffee
index 53c4d226..2b65507d 100644
--- a/src/cake.coffee
+++ b/src/cake.coffee
@@ -22,9 +22,10 @@ oparse: null
 # Mixin the top-level Cake functions for Cakefiles to use directly.
 helpers.extend global, {
 
-  # Define a Cake task with a short name, a sentence description,
+  # Define a Cake task with a short name, an optional sentence description,
   # and the function to run as the action itself.
   task: (name, description, action) ->
+    [action, description]: [description, action] unless action?
     tasks[name]: {name: name, description: description, action: action}
 
   # Define an option that the Cakefile accepts. The parsed options hash,
@@ -59,7 +60,9 @@ print_tasks: ->
   for name, task of tasks
     spaces: 20 - name.length
     spaces: if spaces > 0 then (' ' for i in [0..spaces]).join('') else ''
-    puts "cake $name$spaces # ${task.description}"
+    print "cake $name$spaces"
+    print " # ${task.description}" if task.description?
+    puts ''
   puts oparse.help() if switches.length
 
 # Print an error and exit when attempting to all an undefined task.