Huge Gingerbread House!

Hey Guys,

This gingerbread house was probably my favourite thing I made in 2015, It was a monster!

The recipe I used was:

• 1.6kg plain flour
• 500g unsalted flour
• 2 cups of packed dark brown sugar
• 6 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 6 teaspoons of ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups of golden syrup

I mixed the brown sugar and butter together in a stand mixer until pale and fluffy, then added in the eggs, spices and golden syrup and mixed until combined. The flour and salt was sifted and mixed in until just combined. I made the dough into 2 disks, wrapped them in cling film and let them rest for 1 hour. I then rolled out the dough to my desired thickness and began the crazy juggling process! 

I'll try and make this as clear as possible, I preheated the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and began cutting the walls and roof out of the dough, this was done in stages as the kitchen was really warm. E.g. I cut out the two roof pieces then placed them in the fridge to set for 15/30 mins, they were then placed into the oven and I began working on the next two pieces and this rotation kept happening until I had all 8 house pieces and about 20 gingerbread men baked. This was only due to the size of the house I wanted to create! Most people could do this in one or two steps.

Once the pieces had cooled down I made up a batch of royal icing and 'glued' the four wall pieces to the cake board, I then let it set overnight (about 12 hours), filled the house with sweets and then glued the roof and the chimney to the house.

I let this set for 24 hours and the next day I was ready to decorate. I used an assortment of sweets and chocolates that I knew the kids liked and arranged them to my own liking!

I was so pleased in how it turned out, the royal icing covered ice cream cones are a personal favourite. I then turned my attention to the 14 gingerbread men I had to decorate (one for every person in our family) eventually it turned into a royal icing war with my sister but the whole thing was done!

Keep Baking!
~Kat