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Gingerbread House Royal Icing {Video} & KitchenAid 7-Quart Mixer {Giveaway!}

pink-gingerbread-house

6 batches of my gingerbread recipe…

4 batches or 4 kg of royal icing…

and goodness knows how much candy later…

is what it took to make the 7 simple and whimsical gingerbread houses & gingerbread dollhouse facade I had planned to make this year.

I’m so happy I just managed to get them all done!

They’re why I haven’t posted in a while, but I wouldn’t have managed to even make them as fast as I did without my new, 7-quart bowl-lift KitchenAid mixer.

Sigh. It is a thing of beauty.

Not only is it pretty to look at, it’s pretty powerful too. It had no problem mixing the 6 batches of gingerbread I mentioned earlier. Amount-wise, with this mixer, I only had to make the dough twice! (3 batches at a time). For the royal icing, I only had to make 2 double-batches and still have leftover icing which I’ll use for decorated cookies.

To show you how I made the icing in my new mixer, I finally made another video – here’s a how-to on making royal icing for your gingerbread houses:

{Video} How to Make Royal Icing for Gingerbread Houses

Click here if you can’t see the video.

If you’d like to make royal icing for your gingerbread house(s), and would like printable recipes, I’ve included a single and double batch recipe here for you, as well as a classic royal icing recipe made with egg-whites especially for those of you who can’t find meringue powder. The first two recipes listed here are adapted from cakecentral.com’s user Antonia74. The recipe made with egg whites is adapted from the author of Gingerbread for All Seasons, Teresa Layman.

You can find a template for a gingerbread house and a video on how I put the house together, HERE.

I bought most of my candy at Old Thyme Confections HERE.

Royal Icing Recipe for Gingerbread Houses (One or Two Batches)

Click here for the Printable Recipe

Royal Icing Recipe Made with Egg-Whites

Click here for the Printable Recipe  THE PRINTABLE RECIPE HAS A TYPO! IT SHOULD SAY 1 KILOGRAM (KG) ICING SUGAR, NOT 1 pound (lb).

Classic Royal Icing Made with Egg Whites Sweetopia

A quick note about royal icing – if you’d like more information on how to store it, how long it lasts etc., please click here and for a video on find royal icing consistency for decorating cookies, please click here.

It was completely worth the one hour’s drive to Toronto to buy the mixer (I had to drive there to get one as it’s a new model and the residential model is exclusively available to Williams-Sonoma right now. The NSF commercial mixer is more readily available. You can find it on Amazon here), as the amount of icing I went through for the houses and the facade was really something!

You might be wondering by now what a ” gingerbread dollhouse facade” is. In fact, I didn’t know what to call it, so I just kind of made the name up. I know you’re not supposed to play with your food, but I couldn’t resist making a little gingerbread “house” that our H-banana could play with this Christmas. Truth be told I had wanted to make an all edible interior too, but time-wise, that was just not going to happen. I can’t wait to see how she reacts.

And another confession, I’m not sure who’s going to enjoy her gift more, her or I. Lol. I think I’ve fallen in love with miniatures.

I mean, really. Those little cookies are barely 1 cm long.

And oh my goodness, a little sieve and whisk! I want to try sifting flour with it! (No, haven’t done it yet… stress the yet).

By the way, there’s a tiny version of something in the ‘gingerbread dollhouse facade’ that I’ll possibly be giving you for Christmas – except it will be adult size.  Can you guess what it is? Chances are, if you’ve read the title of this post, you already know 😉 .

You got it!

Ultimate 7-Quart KitchenAid Mixer Giveaway!

To celebrate the Holiday season and help you with your Christmas baking, I am hosting a giveaway for TWO 7-quart Ultimate KitchenAid Mixers!

You’ll be able to chose from the following available colours:

I am so excited and thankful that KitchenAid is sponsoring this giveaway for you! Good luck!

Here’s how to enter:

You have at least five chances of winning – each option below gives you one chance, and you’re about to see how there are even more possibilities.

Either use Facebook or your name and email to enter the contest below.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

The contest is not running on Facebook and although I appreciate your comments on my Facebook page, those comments will not be entered into the draw. Again, you must leave your comments here.

*

Announcing the Winner of the *TWO* 7-Quart KitchenAid Mixers!

First of all, thank you to all of you who entered; I was delighted and touched by your sweet, funny and passionate responses.

I really WISH I could give away as many mixers as there were entries; you dedicated bakers and sweet-tooths deserve it!

There is one winning comment number though, and it is:

Congratulations!!

The winner is Nicole Irwin Cross, entry #16,754!

Please contact me with the best way to reach you so that you can claim your prizes.

Thank you to ALL of you how entered! Blessings to you this holiday season!

xo,

Marian

Don’t miss out!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. That’s a fabulous prize…thanks for share amazing recipes!! I hope i could win and that way make soo many Christmas cookies!! Thanks and good luck to all the participants!

  3. Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is the Kitchen Aid Ultimate 7-Quart Mixer….and maybe some natural talent like Marian! Thanks so much. Margot

  4. Wonderful gingerbread house, beautiful colors.
    And also wonderful contest. I would love be the winner … Kisses and thanks for your constant inspiration

  5. I’m just starting a new little business and this puppy would be such a blessing! Come on lucky number 199!

  8. you site has been ever so helpful to me! i’ve followed many great tips from this site and have recieved so many compliments! thx to this site! i couldn’t have done it without you! i looove this website and would loooove to win a stand mixer since i can’t afford one!.

  10. I do the cooking for a very small daycare, and would love to put this wonderful mixer to good use!

  14. Those gingerbread house are gorgeous! My favorite is the pastel one, so pretty.

    As for the giveaway, so awesome! I would love to win, I use my Kitchen Aid almost daily and I’ve been looking to get a new one so I can run them at the same time. lol

  15. this is the perfect gift for christmas Marian! i’ve been using a handmixer eversince i started baking last year since kitchenaid’s quite expensive here in dubai.. i definitely would love to have one! ^.^

  16. I would love to win this mixer! I’ve always wanted a kitchenaid mixer, and the red is my favorite color!

  18. Oh how I would LOVE to win one of these mixers! I have been wanting one but I just can’t bring myself to buy one for myself. Fingers crossed. 😉

  24. I would live to win this! I have never made a gingerbread house (so I am sure that I will need a lot of practice dough :D).

  31. The gingerbread houses are darling. You are amazingly talented. I absolutely adore the dollhouse with the miniature gingerbread house and cookies and all the little cooking equipment. Gorgeous!! And of course loving the tiny mixer. A Kitchenaid is my dream kitchen accessory. Would LOVE to win one!

  33. What an awesome contest! I’d love to win this! And what lovely Gingerbread houses! The detail in the kitchen is amazing..

  34. Wow! These are truly amazing!!! I’m crossing my fingers, winning one of these would make my kitchen endeavors so much easier and would brighten this holiday more than anything!!!

  35. I need one of those… Can we enter the giveaway even if we live in Europe??? You are awesome!!!

  39. I would love to win this beautiful Kitchenaid Mixer! I bake as a hobby and have a wicked case of nonhealing tennis elbow. This Kitchenaid Mixer would give me a chance to heal. Thank you Sweetopia & Kitchenaid for the chance to win this beautiful Kitchenaid Mixer. PICK ME!!!

  40. OOOOOOOOOh ! this would be the perfect Christmast present ! Love the red one ! fingers crossed….and I love your gingerbread houses, simply perfect (as always….)!

  44. i’ve been wanting a kitchen aid mixer FOR.EH.VER!!!! 😀 thanks for hosting this giveaway!

  46. Forgot to mention one of the main reasons I enter!!! Love the Gingerbread houses!!! In my house we always have a contest of who makes the prettiest and we post it on facebook so family & friends can vote! Great job! Now back on with the mixer I TRULY WANT IT!!!!!!! Thanks!!! =0)

  47. And just when my mixer has died the red kitchenaid mixer would breathe life into my kitchen again just in time for Christmas!

  48. Dear Sweetopia!
    I come from a Croatian.
    Have accelerated my answer when I saw this beautiful kitchen aid. You plan for some time to write. It all began exactly a year ago. I came upon your blog, seeing it I remained amazed and immediately threw our job. I started to learn about decorating cookies. I have purchased molds, of course, in the United States because here in Croatia there is no mold for purchase. Decoration of me going and I was successful at it. Soon I will start isvoj blog about what you will be notified. So we just lack the Kitchen Aid, which I adore. So my red kitchen aid is welcome. With nastrpljenjem expect every one of your post. lily of the Valley

  49. I have wanted one of these for the last two years. I really, really want to win this prize. Thank you

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