Gingerbread House

For the gingerbread:

• 300g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1⅔ cups brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• ½ cup treacle
• 3 eggs
• 5 cups plain flour
• 3 teaspoons baking power
• 1½ tablespoons ground ginger
• 3 teaspoons mixed spice

For the icing:

• 4 eggs
• 1½ kg icing mixture or sugar

For the decorations:

• 250g dark chocolate liquorice bullets
• 340g Freckles
• Smarties
• liquorice allsorts
• 170g Orange Crunchy Chocolate Balls (Darrell Lea)
• Party mix (milk bottles, pineapples, ...)
• 100g milk chocolate

Utensils:

• Three 43cm × 29cm baking trays. I use a 28 cm diameter pizza tray as the third baking tray.
• Three lengths of baking paper, 30cm × 50cm, plus an extra length to wrap dough in fridge.
• Three 38cm × 25cm cooling racks.
• 32cm × 43cm plastic serving tray

Method

Preparation:

1. Print the templates (sides, roof) at 100% scale (on an A4 page). Check a dimension on the printout with a ruler to make sure the size is correct. Cut the templates out. Print enough copies that you have 2 roof sections, 2 sides, a front, a back, two chimney sides, a chimney back and a chimney front, three flower boxes and a front step. Be sure to cut the front door opening out of the template for the front wall.

Baking:

2. Preheat oven to 200 °C.
3. Cream the sugar and butter in a mixer until light and fluffy.
4. Add the lemon zest, juice and treacle with the mixer running. Beat until mixed
5. Gradually add the eggs with the mixer running, mixing until combined.
6. Sift the flour, baking soda, ginger and mixed spice into a large mixing bowl. Mix the dry ingredients up a bit with a spoon, making sure they don't go everywhere
7. With a large serving spoon, scoop a spoonful of the combined dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. After each spoonful, mix with a spoon until the newly added dry ingredients are fully mixed in. Repeat scooping and stirring until all the dry ingredients have been added and the mixture is smooth.
8. Flour a surface, and tip the dough onto the floured surface. Flour your hands and knead the mixture lightly.
9. Wrap the mixture in baking paper and place in the fridge for half an hour or so, to make it easier to work.
10. Lay the templates out on the three trays.
11. Lay a 50cm × 30cm length of baking paper on a surface. Place a bit less than half the dough in the centre and roll the dough out to form a sheet, approximately 10mm thick, that can fit all the templates from one tray. Place the templates on the dough and cut around them. A plastic spatula works well for cutting. Remove the dough from between the shapes, returning the removed dough to the ball in the fridge. Leaving the paper templates in place, pick up either end of the baking paper and place the paper and gingerbread shapes on a baking tray. Remove the templates once the pieces are on the tray. For the front wall, before removing the template, scour the outline of the front door by following the edges of the opening in the template.
12. Lay the second 50cm × 30cm length of baking paper on a surface. Using about ⅔ of the remaining dough roll out a sheet and cut out the templates from the second tray. Return the excess dough to the fridge and transfer the baking paper with the gingerbread shapes to the second tray
13. With the remaining dough and baking paper, cut out the template shapes for the final tray. If there is any dough left over, roll it into a sheet and place it on the final tray, in case you want to make any extra gingerbread features on your house.
14. On the front wall, scour the shape of the front door.
15. Lay out three large cooling racks, to take the cooked gingerbread
16. Bake in the oven for approximately 13 minutes, until the gingerbread is beginning to brown.
17. Remove from the oven and allow the gingerbread to harden on the tray for 5 minutes or so, until the gingerbread has enough strength to be moved.
18. Gently lift the gingerbread onto the cooling racks. Smaller pieces can be lifted with a pallet knife. Larger pieces can be moved by lifting the whole sheet of baking paper, holding it taunt so the gingerbread does not bow and crack, and placing the baking paper on the rack. Gently slide the paper out from under the gingerbread.
19. Place a tea towel over each rack of gingerbread and leave it to cool and harden overnight.

Assembly:

20. It is helpful to have a second person to hold parts in position during assembly..
21. Separate the 4 eggs, placing the whites in a bowl of at least 2 litres capacity.
22. Lightly whisk the egg whites.
23. Add about 500g of the icing mixture/sugar and stir with a mixing spoon until smooth.
24. Keep adding sugar and stirring until the icing is thick enough to hold its shape.
25. With a bread and butter knife, put a bead of icing along the bottom of the back wall. Place the back wall centrally on the serving tray, about 3cm in from the edge.
26. Coat the bottom of a side wall and its ends with icing and place next to the back wall. The end of the side wall should be against the back wall. Repeat with the other side wall.
27. Put a bead of icing along the bottom of the front wall and attach it to the two side walls. The ends of the side walls should be against the interior of the front wall.
28. Cover the icing bowl with a damp tea towel to stop the icing from setting, and allow the walls to harden for 2 hours.
29. Cut some lengths of toilet or paper towel roll to the correct length to support the eaves of the roof, to stop the roof sections from sliding down whilst the icing is wet.
30. Cover the top of the walls on one side with icing, and the top edge of a roof section. Place the roof section on the walls, making sure the top edge of the roof is at the apex of the end walls. Support the eaves of the roof with the cardboard rolls to prevent it sliding. Don't worry of the rolls cut a little into the edges of the roof, as you can cover the damage up later.
31. Cover remaining top of the walls with icing, and the top edge of the remaining roof section. Place the roof section on the walls, making sure the top edge of the roof is at the apex of the end walls. Support the eaves of the roof with the cardboard rolls to prevent it sliding. Make sure the roof sections are touching at the ridgeline and put a good layer of icing along the ridgeline.
32. Assemble the chimney, placing it towards the front, a little down from the ridgeline.
33. Leave the house for several hours, or overnight, until the icing has set. Cover the icing in the bowl with a damp tea towel, to keep it usable for decorating.

Decoration:

34. Remove the supporting cardboard rolls.
35. Cover the tray with icing, to look like snow lying on the ground.
36. Place a bead of icing along the roof edges, allowing the icing to drip a bit to form icicles. At this point cover any damage around the eaves due to the cardboard supports.
37. Decorate with lollies. You can use either icing or melted chocolate to stick the lollies on. Chocolate tends to taste nicer. Liquorice bullets can be used for fencing or logs piles. Freckles make good roof tiles. Liquorice allsorts can be cut into window panes. Milk bottles can be placed on the step and pineapples in the garden. Smarties can be used on walls or garden beds.