Home Economics Support Service
Practical Food Studies Assignment
Area of Practice: D - 2006
Assignment No 6 with exemplar answer
Assignment
Sugar has a wide variety of culinary uses attributable to its properties.
Research (i) the properties and (ii) the related culinary uses of sugar.
Select two dishes which have sugar as a key ingredient.
(Each dish selected should illustrate a different property of sugar).
Explain how the scientific principles are applied in making the dishes.
Prepare, make and serve the selected dishes.
Evaluate the assignment in terms of (a) implementation and (b) success in applying the selected
properties in the preparation / cooking of the dishes.
The mark weighting for the assignment is as follows:
% Mark Weighting
Investigation: Analysis and Research
24%
Practical Application 1 - Planning and Preparation
Implementation
Evaluation
6%
20%
12%
Practical Application 2 - Planning and Preparation
Implementation
Evaluation
6%
20%
12%
Investigation: Analysis/Research
Properties of Sugar
Sugar is capable of the following: Maillard Reaction , Inversion, Sweetening foods,
enhancing flavour, caramelisation., stabilizing proteins and crystallization. These are
its properties.
Culinary Uses
Sugar has many uses in cooking - it can be used for the following:

colouring e.g. it can carmelise giving a caramel colour e.g. caramel squares

it can be used to colour and flavour foods (maillard reaction) in baking cakes

Sweetening – used in tea / coffee ,cereal, making ice cream and baking buns etc

to entrap air in cake making and makes them lighter e.g. Victoria Sandwich

it is used in making icing e.g. royal icing on Christmas cake

making glazes to improve appearance e.g. apricot glaze on French apple tart

making syrup to prevent discolouration e.g. sugar syrup in fresh fruit salad
prevents discolouration of the surface of the cut fruit.

It can be used as a preservative e.g. jam, marmalade, jellies and curds.

It is the food to start the fermentation process – yeast feeds on sugar and this
principle is used in bread baking industry.
Research on the properties:
Maillard reaction is a property. This is the effect of dry heat on carbohydrate. This
occurs when carbohydrates are heated in the presence of amino acids and bring about a
colour change.. It occurs during baking in dry heat. When baking cakes
sugar(carbohydrate)is often mixed with flour and eggs(amino acid).
The maillard reaction occurs in the oven. The cake rises and a crust forms on the
outside as it is exposed to the dry heat. The cake changes to a brown colour, it has a
nice flavour and pleasant smell. The maillard reaction has taken place.
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OFFICIAL USE
ONLY
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Inversion / Hydrolysis – sugars have the ability to react with water and break down into
Simpler substances (hydrolysis). Sucrose and water converts to its monosaccharides
glucose And fructose (invert sugar). Invert sugar contains fructose and it is sweeter
than sucrose. Invert sugar is sweeter than table sugar (sucrose) and this prevents
mould growth and crystallization.. This property is used in jam making and making
sweets and confectionery.
Flavour enhancer – there are many different types of sugar . They are all crystalline
compounds and capable of dissolving in water. Brown sugar / demerara is adds a
lovely flavour to baked products e,g rich fruit cakes.
Caramelisation. – when sugar is heated alone or in the form of a concentrated syrup,
the sugar melts and then caramelizes. The melting point of sugar is 160° C and it
caramelizes at 170 C. It produces a darker colour, a pleasant smell and a slightly
bitter taste. It eventually carbonizes.
Sugar as a sweetner – all sugars are sweet to taste. The degree of sweetness depend on
the type of sugar. The following are sugars and their relative sweetness
– fructose 170 – sucrose100 - glucose 75 – maltose 30 and lactose 15.
Crystallisation – when a liquid has dissolved as much as it possibly can, it is said to
be saturated. If too much sugar is added to a liquid, crystals may form. In some
cases it may be desirable to super saturate a solution, the result of which is coarse
grain crystals e.g. used in fondant making and for making fudge.
Property 1 - Maillard Reaction – Dishes - Lemon Scented Cake or Plum and Date
Upside Cake. I decided to make Lemon Scented Cake. I like to try new recipes and
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I have not made this one before. It should be easy to see if the maillard reaction has
been successful as the mixture should change colour and flavour when cooked.
Property 2 – Sweetening – Lemon Meringue Pie or Chocolate Cake
I choose this Pie because it is a good example of how sugar is needed to sweeten
foods. Sugar will be used to sweeten the egg whites and also used in the lemon filling
to counteract the bitter taste of the lemons.
Sources of Information www.baking911.c0m/how baking works
Principles of Cookery. Deirdre Madden. Published by Gill & Macmillan
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Practical Application - Preparation and Planning
Name of dish: Lemon scented cake with raspberries
Source of recipe: Sunday Tribune Magazine – Rachel Allen 16th July 06
Date of practical: date given
Ingredients
Cost
Ingredients
Cost
FOR
OFFICIAL
USE ONLY
110g soft margarine
0.40
Small punnet
3.49
1
2
fresh raspberries
175g self raising flour
0.30
Icing sugar for dusting
0.05
1 level tsp baking powder
0.10
100g castor sugar
0.30
175g castor sugar
0.55
2 large eggs
0.60
1 lemon
0.40
4 tbsp milk
0.08
3/3
Total
6.27
Key Equipment weighing scales, circular 8” cake tin, food mixer, spatula, juicer,
Cutlery, sieve, serving plate
Work Plan
1
Prepare myself and my work unit
Preheat oven
Line the tin
Beat the fat, flour, baking powder, sugar & eggs well together.
Zest the lemon and add this and milk to the mixture. Put it into the tin.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes
Wash raspberries. Juice the lemon and dissolve the sugar(100g) in the juice.
Wash up, tidy unit.
Pour liquid on top of cake, while in the tin.
Finish cake – decorate with raspberries and icing sugar. Serve.
Evaluate my work
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2
Implementation
(to include procedure followed,
key factors considered,
safety and hygiene factors)
OFFICIAL
USE ONLY
First of all I washed my hands, put on my apron and set up my unit.
Then the oven was preheated to 180c. The tin was lined with a circle of greaseproof
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paper(KF) .Then the margarine, sieved flour, baking powder, castor sugar
and eggs were beaten together in the electric mixer for 2-3 minutes.
The lemon was washed, the rind grated and it was then added to the
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mixture with the milk and beaten for a minute until all ingredients were mixed well
together. The mixture was spread out in the tin and baked for 35 to 40 minutes
until golden on top and then removed from the oven.
A skewer was inserted in to the center of the cake to check for doneness.
This was important because the cake may look done
on the outside but could be raw in the centre (KF)
The lemon juice was mixed with 100g castor sugar and this was poured in to
the cake while it was still in the tin.. The cake was allowed to cool in the tin.
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The raspberries were washed, dried and arranged on top of the cake. Sieved icing
sugar was sprinkled on top. It was served on a decorative plate .
Then I evaluated my work.
Safety & Hygiene
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I took care and time when grating the lemon rind on the small side of the grater
so as not to cut my knuckles.
I washed the raspberries carefully in running water and in a sieve to ensure they
were thoroughly clean for consumption thereby preventing food poisoning.
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Evaluation
(to include evaluation of implementation and specific requirements of the assignment)
OFFICIAL
Implementation
USE ONLY
I was pleased with the end result. The cake had a light, dry texture and had a
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Lemon zesty flavour which was not too strong. The raspberries had a good red
Colour which was attractive. If I was doing this dish again I would make some
raspberry coulis to go with the cake to add a bit of moisture as I thought it was a bit
dry.I worked well and got everything done on time. I followed my work plan.
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There were no difficulties.
Success in applying the related property
The maillard reaction happened here. This is when sugar is heated in the presence of
amino acids (eggs) affecting (1) the colour and (2) the flavour of the food.
(1) I could se it was successful because when I removed the cake from the oven the top
had changed colour from cream to golden brown..
When I cut the cake the inside was still a creamy white colour because it was not
exposed to the dry heat. The maillard reaction had only taken place on the outside.
(2) The cake had developed a lovely flavour after cooking – much nicer than the
uncooked mixture which I tasted. The maillard reaction greatly improves flavour.
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Practical Application - Preparation and Planning
Name of dish: Lemon Meringue Pie
Source of recipe: Delia Smith’s Illustrated Cookery Course – BBC Books - 1992
Date of practical: date given
Ingredients
Cost
Ingredients
Cost
FOR
OFFICIAL
USE ONLY
110g plain flour
o.20
2 large lemons
0.80
25g butter & 25g lard
0.40
275mls water
25g icing sugar
0.15
3 level tbsp cornflour
0.15
Pinch salt
-
50g granulated sugar
0.20
Cold water to mix
-
2 large egg yolks
0.60
40g butter
0.35
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2 large egg whites
110g castor sugar
0.40
Total
3.25
Key Equipment saucepan, 8” pie dish, rolling pin, weighing scale, grater, bowl,
cutlery, sieve , palette knife
Work Plan
1

Set up work station, Prepare myself – apron, hands, Make pastry, line tin

Bake pastry blind

Make lemon Filling – separate eggs, grate rind and juice lemons, mix
cornflour and sugar, mix with water to smooth paste, boil water and lemon
rind, pour onto cornflour paste, boil and simmer for one minute

Off the heat add in egg yolks, lemon juice and butter

Pour into pastry case

Make meringue and spread on top

Bake for 40 minutes

Wash up

Serve and evaluate
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3/3
2
Implementation
(to include procedure followed,
key factors considered,
safety and hygiene factors)
OFFICIAL
USE ONLY
Hands were washed, apron put on and got my ingredients and equipment set up.
1
Preheated oven to 190c. Made the pastry. Greased the 8” pie dish.. Line the dish
with the pastry and flute the edges using a knife. Bake blind for 20 minutes.
For the filling: the cornflour and sugar were mixed to a paste with a little water.
It was important to blend the cornflour well with water otherwise it would cause the
mixture to go lumpy (KF). The lemon rind was washed and grated.
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The water and lemon rind were brought to the boil and then added to the cornflour
paste and mixed well. This mixture was then put back into the saucepan, brought to
the boil and simmered for a few minutes to allow it to thicken.. It was important to
stir all the time to prevent it from catching and the bottom burning (KF).
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Then the yolks, lemon juice and butter were added (off the heat so that the eggs
would not curdle the mixture).
Meanwhile the egg whites were whisked and the sugar added gradually to make
the meringue. The lemon filling was poured into the pastry case.
the meringue was spread on top of this using a palette knife.
It was baked at 150c for 35 minutes. It was served warm with whipped cream on the
side.
Finally I evaluated my dish and my work.
Safety: used oven gloves when taking the pie out of the oven, so as not to get burned.
Hygiene: checked that eggs were in date to avoid contamination of the dish
and possible food poisoning.
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4/4
2
Evaluation
(to include evaluation of implementation and specific requirements of the assignment)
OFFICIAL
USE ONLY
I was delighted with the lemon meringue pie. It was nicely sweet, really light –
almost melt in the mouth. The filling was really lemony – neither too stiff nor too
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oozy. The meringue was wafery crisp on the outside, soft and marshmallow within.
The easiest part of making the dish was whisking the egg whites. This was helped by
having a spotlessly clean bowl. The hardest part of the dish was spreading the egg
whites onto the lemon filling. It would have been easier if I had more time to allow
the lemon filling to cool and be more firm.
Sugar was successfully used as a sweetner in this dish. Different sugars were used to
sweeten different parts of the dish.
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The pastry case was sweetened with icing sugar giving it an acceptable level of
sweetness. The meringue was sweetened by 55g castor sugar per egg white – which was
just right.
The lemon filling was sweetened with granulated sugar to just a tangy sweetness .
This counteracted the bitter / sour flavour from the lemons.
All in all successful sweetening.
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