It’s become a tradition of mine to make a gingerbread house every Christmas season. As usual, I turned to Teresa Layman’s books Gingerbread for All Seasons and Gingerbread: Things to Make and Bake for templates and inspiration. This is what I ended up with:
Below is the back:
The fondant snowman is all edible except for the toothpick as his nose.
To make the icicles, use a #2 piping tip and use flood icing. For the recipe see here.
Begin at the roofline and pipe a enough of a bead of icing so that it adheres, then squeeze and pull. Let go of the pressure when you’re happy with the length of the icicle and gently pull down.
I made the back and interior of the the house a bit more whimsical with royal icing ‘run-outs’ or ‘flood-work’. {Basically royal icing piped on parchment paper or acetate paper. If you’d like to use acetate paper, make sure you lightly coat it with shortening/lard}.
As usual, I couldn’t resist using disco dust
The inside was pretty basic with a Christmas tree, candy gifts and some sticker-inspired flood work.
I seem to get a lot of questions regarding the trees every year. They’re so simple to make!
Begin with ice cream cones of any size. Various sizes look nice as well. You can gently break your cones or stack them to make the ‘trees’ larger or smaller.
You’ll need to use a thick or stiff icing for the trees. I used Teresa Layman’s
Holding the cone by the tip, pipe stiff green ‘stars’ using a #18 tip. Any star or leaf tip works really and you can pipe small, tight stars or larger, longer ones. Whatever your preference. Begin at the base, piping one row at a time, and work your way upwards until you almost reach the top.
Since you need a place to grip the cone, stop piping near the tip and let the icing dry. Once it is firm, you can gently hold on to the bottom of the tree and finish the rest. Voila!
This tree has a little bit of icing sugar dusted over it as well.
I did end up entering the house into my first competition.
Every year our local museum holds a Gingerbread House Competition to raise money for Christmas Cheer - a charity for local families in need.
I ended up with silver in the professional category, representing the school where I teach and Sweetopia.
First prize went to Cakes by Design with their adorable house and figurines.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend the award ceremony as I was in class with Peggy Porschen, but I was able to get a few shots of the other houses when I delivered my house. I loved Whoville and so many of the unique ideas!
Happy gingerbreading if you decide to make one this year!
xo,
Marian
Your gingerbread house is amazing! It looks absolutely perfect!
this website has great ideas!!!!! my daughter used some of these ideas for her gingerbread contest at school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hers turned out great.and also won the cutest thanks to all of you.
Aw I’m so glad to hear it matcass!!
I’d LOVE to see a pic if you have time to email it to me at sweetopia@inbox.com
It amazing how much time and effort can go into some of these projects. It really takes some skill and patience. The Ritz-Carlton here in Sarasota has put together more than just a gingerbread house. It’s a real gingerbread mansion. It has to be seen to be believed.
wow, I don`t have words, beautiful, amazing….wow:)
We’re making gingerbread houses today and got good inspiration from you. Thanks for sharing!
Flavourful!
. Thanks for the share
LOVE the trees <3….where do you teach sweetopia?
Thanks everyone! Jacqueline, I teach in the Greater Toronto, Canada area.
p.s. Thank you Larry for the link and for all of your comments everyone!
Hi Marian,
I was wondering if there is a pattern or blue prints of this house, as to how to make it? Like the demensions and what not of the house and roof ect. I’m going to attempt to make it this christmas with my mom! Thanks in advance!!
Hi Chantal,
has the exact template.
Yes, I used Teresa Layman’s Gingerbread for All Seasons
Would love to see pics when you and your mom are done! Feel free to share them on my facebook page please.
Have fun making it!
Marian-
Thank you so much!
my sister and i always took mini pretzels and put them around the border of the yard to make it look like a fence. we alternated between right side up and and upside down. it turned out wicked cute. and we also took these medium sized candy sprinkles and put them on the border of the roof to make it look like colorful christmas lights. very cute
can’t wait for christmas!
WOW!! Your house is absolutely gorgeous!! You should have won first place – in my opinion! Thanks for your wonderful posts – I have found so much inspiration in your work and my cookies have improved so much in a short period of time. THANKS!! xoxo Becky
You are so so incredibly talented, I think I’m in love with your blog!
How do you make it so that you can see inside? Is the roof removeable? I’ve never decorated the inside of mine but I put a light inside that shines out of candy glass panes.
@ Joy: Besides peeking in the windows, I guess you’d have to break/eat the roof to see inside. =)
Sounds like a nice house you made; are any pics on line?
i love this gingerbread house and i’d love to attempt it for christmas this year
do you still have all the measurements for each side?? pleas email me if you do! thank you
@ Donna Morbid: Oh fun! I’m just starting to think about making gingerbread houses too.
I’m sorry, I don’t have the measurements, but I link to the book that I got them from in the post above.
Your local library might have the book if you don’t want to buy it.
Have fun with your house!
@ marian:
I love it when u make the houses. they look like somebody could live in them
these are amazing. love your work.
@ matthew: Aw thanks!
You do amazing work! I just discovered a passion for decorating cupcakes and cookies and your tutorials have great information. Peggy Porchen is one of my favorite cake designers. How were you able to go to her class? Is she also having international classes?
Hi,
Your house is amazing!!! I was wondering what you made the light out of on the front of your house?
@ Lyndsay: Thanks! It is a lemon candy from my local ‘Bulk Barn’ store. (It’s called Bulk Barn in Canada…. it’s just a store with bulk food of all kinds). I can’t remember what the candy was called, sorry. The black part on the top and bottom of the candy is black royal icing.
Hi marian,
Can you give me a size of your wonderful gingerbread house?
I want to try it this year.
What do you Use as base?
Thanks for your answer.
I am from austria and i love your blog!
@ Sophie: I would suggest buying the book I used, if you can find it where you live (the link is in the post). The approximate size of the middle of the building is 6 by 8 inches. The small side attached buildings are approximately 4 by 6 inches.
Have fun!
@ Daniela: Oops, missed this question! She came to Toronto to the Bonnie Gordon College (banner in the sidebar), for guest classes so I definitely took that opportunity as soon as I could!
Check her site, she sometimes offers classes in England as well.
I am participating in a gingerbrea competition for my school. Last year, I entered and won and this year I want to expiriment with some more things. (:
For the trees made from ice cream cones, what else could you use for the pine needles? I don’t know if I would be able to use icing.
Thank you for posting this! Really nice ideas on here.
@ Grace: I’ve seen people colour popcorn green and stick that on ice cream cones. You could also cut fondant with scissors and add layers of that to the cone. Have fun and please share your pics on Facebook if you’d like! xo
Your gingerbread house is beautiful. I’ve always wanted to try my hand at making one, maybe this will be the year. Thanks so much for the inspiration.
All of this work is so incredible, that I believe the best place to work for is Disney in Florida. Only the perfect of perfect are there. LOVE IT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a wonderful house! I made one a few years ago and pushed sliced almonds into the unbaked roof sections so that they looked like shingles when they were baked. It was an interesting variation!
Great job!
What did you use for the pathway?
@ Kelley: Broken grey necco wafers.
Well dang it! I guess I am going to have to make a ginger bread house too! Add that to the list of a gazillion Christmas cookies to make! Who am I kidding I love it.
sir very super
sir very super ginger house
Love all the helpful tips that you give and your work is so amazing!!!!! Merry Christmas to you and yours!
@ Jacqueline:
that pretty good gingerbread hous is si cute and it s so hot gingerbreadhouse
WOW.. I’m speechless.. Amazing work, you should’ve won! How did you make the windows? Did you have to cut them out?
@ kseniya: Easy enough, actually! Small, square cookie cutters. Thanks for visiting. xo
your houses are gorgeous! im having a little trouble with mine and have a question. i put all my houses together a few days ago. today the roof fell off of one of them…the icing/glue is not holding. why? my recipe is 3 egg whites, 3/4 teaspoon cream of tarter and 1 lb powdered sugar. ive used this recipe for many years and have only had this trouble once before. i had to reglue them all. they always last for months but twice now this has happened. what could be causing this? i have 15 kids coming this weekend to decorate…HELP!
@ cheryl: Hmm, I’m thinking the humidity in the room. Do you think it was more humid those two times that happened?
estoes una matravilla de la arquitectura gastronomica , felicidades¡¡¡¡¡ besitos
@ marian:
i thought that the first time but this time its not humid at all…in fact its been pretty dry and i keep the house cool too so it cant be that its too warm. i finished decorating last night and am bringing it to work today for our party….hoping it holds up till its over! i reinforced all my seams last night too! took some pics too and will enter it in the twin cities pioneer press contest. thanx.
Hi, first i wanna say that you’re gingerbread house is amazing! And i want to ask you, what is therecipe for the tree icing, i am from romania and i’ve made yesterday a mixture from tree egs and powdered sugar and it’s not working! the composition slips!
@ cheryl: Interesting! Is it possible the complete opposite is true? So dry, that it doesn’t stick?
@ Iasmina: Thanks! Here is the link to the recipe:
http://sweetopia.net/2011/12/gingerbread-house-royal-icing-video-kitchenaid-7-quart-mixer-giveaway/
just perfect. i like it