A sentence has been given with a blank to be filled with an appropriate option. Choose the correct alternative.

I ____ the cake before my mother arrived.

had baked 

The correct option to fill in the blank is had baked.

• Bake is the simple present tense of the verb to bake. It means to cook something in an oven.
• Had baked is the past perfect tense of the verb to bake. It means that something had already been cooked in an oven before a certain time.
• Baked is the past participle of the verb to bake. It means that something has been cooked in an oven.
• Have baked is the present perfect tense of the verb to bake. It means that something has been cooked in an oven up to the present time.