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








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