How to Assemble a Stunning (and Sturdy) Gingerbread House

Tomas Kauer - News Moderator Tomas Kauer - News Moderator
How to Assemble a Stunning (and Sturdy) Gingerbread House

Now that you’ve baked all your gingerbread house cookie pieces and made the royal icing, it’s time to build something fun and magical. First off, it’s always fun to turn this into a group project, so grab a buddy or two to join you.

Next, take two walls and pipe thick lines of royal icing along the edges where they meet. The lines should be as thick as a pencil. Press the walls together and hold for about 30 to 60 seconds. To keep the walls up, use mugs, cans, or small jars to prop them. Repeat until you’ve set up all four walls of the house. Two sides of a gingerbread house bring joined on one side with icing.Two sides of a gingerbread house stand upright, being held together with a mug.Hands add icing to a third wall of a gingerbread house.Hands add a fourth gingerbread wall to a house shape.Mug held up to the side of a house to stabilize the wall.

They should be standing and stable, with the royal icing dried before adding the roof piece(s). Sometimes this can take about an hour, and that’s where the pros cheat a little, using caramel instead of royal icing. The caramel will stick to the walls and set more quickly.  Hands icing the edges of gingerbread walls to create a roof.Hands place a rectangular cookie on the roof.Hands ice the other side of the roof.Hands ice the roof of a gingerbread house.

Add lines of frosting along the top of the walls where they will support the roof. Add the roof. If the roof pieces start to slide, which can happen if the icing is too runny or due to gravity, use mugs, utensils, or small bowls to prop them up while they dry. Be patient and let the structure dry for another hour. You can even let the entire structure dry overnight before decorating the house.  

Next comes my favorite part: decorating! Let loose your inner child and chaotic kitchen wizard and adorn to your heart’s content. Practice mise en place and lay out all your decor ingredients. Some personal favorites:

  • Desiccated coconut or confectioners’ sugar for snow
  • Mini and crushed candy canes 
  • Pretzel pieces as roof shingles
  • Pocky sticks
  • Gummy bears, gum drops, and mochi bites 
  • Haw flakes 
  • Sesame seeds 
  • Colorful cereal like Fruity Pebbles 
  • Freeze-dried fruit pieces 
  • Marshmallows
  • Rock sugar or sugar candy
  • Lollipops and gingerbread men
Hands add pretzels to the roof of a piped gingerbread house, with doors, windows, and a wreath on the front.Hands add colorful cereal to a walkway piped with icing.Hands add powdered sugar to the top of a gingerbread house.

Pipe dollops of frosting onto the gingerbread house, or apply it directly before sticking on your decor pieces. Pipe more details, such as window frames, tiles, and icicles, using royal icing. Subtle Baking Asian members also made glass and stained glass using sugar, and added working lights and other decor! 

Let the finished house sit undisturbed overnight so everything sets completely. Display it in a cool, dry area away from sunlight and moisture. It should last several weeks as a beautiful holiday centerpiece. Then, when you’re ready to say goodbye to the house, place it in the compost bin.

Haley Hunt Davis is an Atlanta and L.A.-based food, beverage and product photographer. Styled by Ryan Norton, an Atlanta-based food stylist and macaron maker at La Macaron Guy.

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