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. These are supposed to be jube-jubes.
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 recipe.
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
The Sugar Fairy says
Congrats on gettting silver!
I’m making a gingerbread house this year with my kids (found a wilton premade one in a box where you put it together) so can’t wait to make it. The tree idea is awesome and was wondering what food colour you used for the green.
Marian says
Thanks The Sugar Fairy! I used Forest Green by Americolor and added a touch of black to darken it a bit more.
Shawna says
Ok that is seriously the cutest house I have ever seen! I love it! My sisters and I are going to try to “recreate” it on Christmas with the nieces and nephew, we’ll see how that goes! Thank you SO much for the great ideas!
kim - mommyknows says
I love your gingerbread house.
My daughter and I did a log-cabin version this year. It’s always so much fun.
Molly says
Your gingerbread house is amazing! It looks absolutely perfect!
matcass says
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.
Marian says
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 [email protected]
Larry says
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.
sweet corner says
wow, I don`t have words, beautiful, amazing….wow:)
Lego Party SLC says
We’re making gingerbread houses today and got good inspiration from you. Thanks for sharing!
Waffelrezept says
Flavourful! ;-). Thanks for the share
Jacqueline says
LOVE the trees <3….where do you teach sweetopia?
Marian says
Thanks everyone! Jacqueline, I teach in the Greater Toronto, Canada area.
marian says
p.s. Thank you Larry for the link and for all of your comments everyone!
chantal says
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!!
marian says
Hi Chantal,
Yes, I used Teresa Layman’s Gingerbread for All Seasons has the exact template.
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!
Chantal says
Marian-
Thank you so much!
jenny says
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!
Becky says
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
Pudding Pie Lane says
You are so so incredibly talented, I think I’m in love with your blog! 🙂
Joy says
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.
marian says
@ 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?
Donna Morbid says
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
marian says
@ 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!
matthew says
@ marian:
I love it when u make the houses. they look like somebody could live in them
matthew says
these are amazing. love your work.
marian says
@ matthew: Aw thanks!
Daniela says
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?
Lyndsay says
Hi,
Your house is amazing!!! I was wondering what you made the light out of on the front of your house?
marian says
@ 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.
Sophie says
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!
marian says
@ 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!
marian says
@ 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.
Grace says
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. 😀
marian says
@ 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
Kathy says
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.
Lisabeth says
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!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lesley says
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!
Kelley says
Great job!
What did you use for the pathway?
marian says
@ Kelley: Broken grey necco wafers.