Making a Gingerbread House

A three-day project and a childhood dream come true. My very own gingerbread house, made from scratch of course.

Veruca Salt had hatched this plan way back in October--diaries had been dutifully consulted and an entire Saturday was blocked out for the task specifically. We agreed we'd bake our houses separately, glue them together and then congregate for the all-in fun of decorating.

Wednesday night was gingerbread baking at my place, the delicious scent of spices wafting its tendrils throughout every room. Baking the walls was not without its trials, and me in my enthusiasm had deliberately made a triple batch to make Christmas gingerbread. It was a relief to roll out the last bit of dough.

Thursday night was construction night and the cementing powers of egg white and icing sugar was an impressive sight indeed. Whilst a structure that vaguely resembled a house dried in the corner, I was icing and decorating gingerbread.

Saturday and the fun could finally begin. Veruca Salt had used a different recipe and house template to myself, and I was very impressed with her immaculate unadorned house. She and AN had made two. We ripped open lolly bags with glee.

Where to begin decorating was almost as stressful as constructing the house, but after a while we got into it, and realised that thought this was fun we would never make a living from cake decorating.

After several hours of glueing and icicle teasing (with a brief intermission to watch Iron Chef America) our works of art were finally complete.

Veruca's Gingerbread House

veruca's gingerbread house decorated front

AN's Gingerbread House

My Gingerbread House

Lots of fun, and yes, definitely worth the effort!

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Christmas gingerbread 2006
Christmas gingerbread 2004
A shark birthday cake for children

12 Comments:

At 12/19/2006 6:26 am, Yvo Sin said…

WOW oh holy crap WOW WOW WOW. Pardon my ignorance but do you wind up eating that in the end? I've never had nor made a Gingerbread House, think my brother did once in school but it was cardboard with food glued onto it. Yes, glue, real glue. Oh wow I am so impressed. Hehe and if YOU GUYS can't make a living decorating cakes... I am so screwed :)

PS Do you like Iron Chef America as much as the original? I really don't =T
At 12/19/2006 7:32 am, Reb said…

Awwww! So cute :) Nice door and icicle detail Helen. I wouldn't be too harsh about the income you could raise from decorating - looks pretty professional to me!
At 12/19/2006 7:50 am, Vintage Wine said…

They`re amazing!

I`ve tried (and failed) making my own Gingerbread House... Haven`t tried it for a couple of years now, but maybe I should :-) I think I`ll put it on my "to do"-list for next Christmas ;-)
At 12/19/2006 8:04 am, M-H said…

These are lovely! What a great idea. I once made one for a child's birthday cake; it was a spicey gingery slab cake, cut into a house shape. It looked great but the kids didn't like the taste! :)
At 12/19/2006 10:20 am, Kelly said…

Spectacular!
At 12/19/2006 11:14 am, Anonymous said…

these look fantastic! We made them at a friend's Xmas party a couple of years ago and it was a lot of fun (tho we all had mega sugar headaches afterwards!)
At 12/19/2006 9:30 pm, Anonymous said…

highly impressed, Helen! I made a gingerbread house too but didn't do the house from scratch like you guys.

look out for my christmas trees in the next few days though!
At 12/19/2006 10:43 pm, Anonymous said…

Yummy looking houses! I tried making a house once, when I was more a hungry child and less a gingerbread architect. Needless to say, it collapsed half way and in my impatience, I chose to eat the rubble, rather than attempt to reconstruct it again :)
At 12/20/2006 12:43 am, thekillereater said…

brilliant! make a gingerbread family to go with the house next year!
At 12/20/2006 4:22 pm, Anonymous said…

heh its so... colourful! a jolly well done!
At 12/26/2006 9:18 am, Veruca Salt said…

All that baking was so stressful for this little red hen.

The caramel jersey back wall smells so good.

I am thinking of lacquering house for next year. Nah, might just use an ice pick to remove all the lollies to enjoy.

Special thanks to Val for designing my chimney.
At 12/29/2006 2:08 pm, Valarie said…

Hey there, love your house! You can see mine at www.valariespics.shutterfly.com the password is gingie Your pictures are so clear and colorful!