Wycombe lost their unbeaten home record to Cardiff, midfielder Graham Kavanagh firing home the only goal of the game after 67 minutes.
The Chairboys came closest to an opener on 21 minutes, when a vicious Darren Currie free-kick thumped against an upright.
The Bluebirds had eight corners in the first 45 minutes but they failed to capitalise and could have gone behind on 43 minutes to another rare Wycombe raid.
But keeper Neil Alexander just managing to block Sean Devine's crashing drive.
The constant City pressure finally bore fruit on 67 minutes thanks to Kavanagh's excellent shooting.
Substitute Jason Bowen delivered a pinpoint cross that fell perfectly into the path of the Kavanagh, whose awesome 25-yard drive beat the diving Martin Taylor.
