GCSE English Language 2.0 – Baking – Paper 2
Section A – Reading
Read Text 1 (fiction) below and then answer Questions 1–2.
This extract is adapted from a 20th century fictional story. At a tea for the minister, Anne serves her homemade layer cake.
The cake did rise and came out of the oven as light and feathery as golden foam. Anne, flushed with delight, clapped it together with layers of ruby jelly and, in imagination, saw Mrs. Allan eating it and possibly asking for another piece! She made that tea table such a thing of beauty that when the minister and his wife sat down to it they exclaimed in chorus over its loveliness.
All went merry as a marriage bell until Anne’s layer cake was passed. Mrs. Allan, having already been helped to a bewildering variety, declined it. But Marilla, seeing the disappointment on Anne’s face, said smilingly:
‘Oh, you must take a piece of this, Mrs. Allan. Anne made it on purpose for you.’
‘In that case I must sample it,’ laughed Mrs. Allan, helping herself to a plump triangle, as did also the minister and Marilla.
Mrs. Allan took a mouthful of hers and a most peculiar expression crossed her face. Marilla saw the expression and hastened to taste the cake.
‘Anne Shirley!’ she exclaimed, ‘what on earth did you put into that cake?’
“Nothing but what the recipe said, Marilla,” cried Anne with a look of anguish. “Oh, isn’t it all right?”
“It’s simply horrible. Anne, taste it yourself. What flavouring did you use?”
“Vanilla,” said Anne, her face scarlet with mortification after tasting the cake. “Only vanilla. Oh, Marilla, it must have been the baking powder.”
‘Baking powder fiddlesticks! Go and bring me the bottle of vanilla you used.’
Anne fled to the pantry and returned with a small bottle labelled “Best Vanilla.” Marilla took it, uncorked it, smelled it.
“Mercy on us, Anne, you’ve flavoured that cake with Anodyne Liniment. I broke the liniment bottle last week and poured what was left into an old empty vanilla bottle. I suppose it’s partly my fault—I should have warned you—but for pity’s sake why couldn’t you have smelled it?”
Anne dissolved into tears under this double disgrace. “I couldn’t—I had such a cold!”
Read Text 2 (non‑fiction) below and answer Questions 3–4.
This is an edited extract from The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book’s fourth chapter titled “Bread and Bread Making”: What Good Bread Needs and Why.
Bread is the most important article of food, and history tells of its use thousands of years before the Christian era. Many processes have been employed in making and baking; and as a result, from the first flat cake has come the perfect loaf. The study of bread making is of no slight importance, and deserves more attention than it receives.
Considering its great value, it seems unnecessary and wrong to find poor bread on the table; and would that our standard might be raised as high as that of our friends across the water! Who does not appreciate the loaf produced by the French baker, who has worked months to learn the art of bread making?
Bread is made from flour of wheat, or other cereals, by addition of water, salt, and a ferment. Wheat flour is best adapted for bread making, as it contains gluten in the right proportion to make the spongy loaf. But for its slight deficiency in fat, wheat bread is a perfect food; hence arose the custom of spreading it with butter. It should be remembered, in speaking of wheat bread as perfect food, that it must be made of flour rich in gluten. Next to wheat flour ranks rye in importance for bread making; but it is best used in combination with wheat, for alone it makes heavy, sticky, moist bread. Corn also needs to be used in combination with wheat for bread making, for if used alone the bread will be crumbly.
The miller, in order to produce flour which will make the white loaf (so sightly to many), in the process of grinding wheat has been forced to remove the inner bran coats, so rich in mineral matter, and much of the gluten intimately connected with them.
Yeast is a microscopic plant of fungous growth, and is the lowest form of vegetable life. It consists of spores, or germs, found floating in air, and belongs to a family of which there are many species. These spores grow by budding and division, and multiply very rapidly under favourable conditions, and produce fermentation.
The yeast plant is killed at 212° F.; life is suspended but not entirely destroyed at 32°F. The temperature best suited for its growth is from 65° to 68° F. The most favourable conditions for the growth of yeast are a warm, moist, sweet, nitrogenous soil. These must be especially considered in bread making.
SECTION A – Reading
You should spend about 1 hour 10 minutes on this section.
Read Text 1 and answer Questions 1–2.
Q1. From paragraph one, identify one way Anne is shown to be pleased with her baking. (1 Mark)
Q2. Read this extract.
All went merry as a marriage bell until Anne’s layer cake was passed. Mrs. Allan, having already been helped to a bewildering variety, declined it. But Marilla, seeing the disappointment on Anne’s face, said smilingly:
‘Oh, you must take a piece of this, Mrs. Allan. Anne made it on purpose for you.’
‘In that case I must sample it,’ laughed Mrs. Allan, helping herself to a plump triangle, as did also the minister and Marilla.
Mrs. Allan took a mouthful of hers and a most peculiar expression crossed her face. Marilla saw the expression and hastened to taste the cake.
‘Anne Shirley!’ she exclaimed, ‘what on earth did you put into that cake?’
In the extract, how does the writer use language to build suspense and humour around the baking mishap? Use examples from the extract and relevant subject terminology. (6 marks)
Read Text 2 in the Source Booklet provided and answer Questions 3–4.
Q3. Read this extract.
The yeast plant is killed at 212° F.; life is suspended but not entirely destroyed at 32°F. The temperature best suited for its growth is from 65° to 68° F. The most favourable conditions for the growth of yeast are a warm, moist, sweet, nitrogenous soil. These must be especially considered in bread making.
From the extract, identify one way that temperature affects bread making. (1 Mark)
Q4. The writer presents bread making as a practical science guided by clear principles. How does the writer try to interest and engage the reader? You should include:
- the writer’s use of language
- the writer’s use of structure
- the effect on the reader.
Use examples from the whole text and relevant subject terminology. (10 Marks)
Questions 5–6 are on both Text 1 and Text 2.
Remember to refer to both texts in your answers.
Q5. Text 1 and Text 2 both show baking requiring attention to detail. The experiences are different, but they share similarities. Write a summary giving three separate ways the experiences are similar. Support each separate similarity with evidence from both texts. (6 Marks)
Q6. Compare the writers’ ideas and perspectives on baking. You should compare:
- the main ideas
- the points of view
- the presentation of these ideas and views.
Use examples from both texts to support your comparison. (16 marks)
SECTION B – Writing
Answer ONE question in this section. You should spend about 45 minutes on this section.
EITHER
*7 Write an imaginative piece that starts with the line: ‘When the oven pinged, the whole house leaned in to listen.’
*Your response will be marked for the accurate and appropriate use of vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and grammar. (40 marks)
OR
*8 Write about a time when you, or someone you know, tried to make something under pressure. Your response could be real or imagined.
*Your response will be marked for the accurate and appropriate use of vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and grammar. (40 marks)
Sources:
Text One: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45/45-h/45-h.htm
Text Two: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/65061/65061-h/65061-h.htm