Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Past Gingerbread Houses






Past Gingerbread Houses
As I write this post I am currently trying to decide what this years Gingerbread house theme should be! The last few years I have picked a theme for my gingerbread houses, because I find it challenging working within a theme. As of now on my facebook page I have had a few requests...and guess what has come up more than once??? Frozen. Hum coulda guessed that one, not only did every girl including my daughter dress up as Frozen...now they (Adults) want a gingerbread house. Well that may be too advanced for me! 
The first gingerbread house I attempted to construct was in college with my roommates in 2004, we may have been going to a Culinary Arts College but not one of us had a clue what we were doing...so the end result was not pretty and sorta ended up in a heap on the tray. The second house I made turned out better, but still not perfect. Six Gingerbread houses later and I am still not perfect at it, but practice makes perfect, so perhaps one of these years the gingerbread house I make will be perfect in every detail, but I may be 50 by then!! 

Gingerbread House #2


I like to think of this gingerbread house as my dream home...I love the look of log or wood sided homes, I find them very comfy, cozy and they give you a sense of relaxation. So for my Second house that actually stood. I went with a cabin kinda look. I make all my own templates, but for this house I think I eyeballed it. That may be why it is leaning. I don't have pictures of the first house I ever made that stayed constructed as its on film.

I love using all edible ingredients with my gingerbread houses! and lots of royal icing.


I cannot remember if I used fondant or royal icing for the siding on this house, It may have been fondant, and I painted with food coloring to get the wooden look. The roof is made up of tootsie rolls I warmed up in the microwave and flattened by hand.

Gingerbread House #3



I accidently labeled this house number 2 too, so as you look at the pictures each house now has the wrong number on the photo...lol oops thats what I get for forgetting how many gingerbread houses I have made over the years. I did skip a few years here and there..ran out of time! These things take forever!
 I really have no idea what I was thinking when I decorated this gingerbread house, may have been short on time again!
 


The Dr. Seuss Gingerbread House #4
 This had to be my most creative gingerbread house! I was so very proud of it. I may create another on this theme as my skills advance.




It's just soo cute!!! 






































Since I made the houses so narrow I had no idea how to make them any different at the time, I used gum for the shingles,lots of piping and made a funny Grinch made out of gumpaste.





                                 I will be making another Dr. Seuss themed house in the future!


















The Big Red Barn Gingerbread House #5
I had fun doing this one. It was huge!! The board I had it on barely fit through the door!
I used royal icing and dented it to get the crackled paint look, I then used my daughter,Lily's toy animals.
Here's a picture of the back, I didn't have a good quality camera years ago, so they may be grainy images.

Jack Frost Gingerbread House # 6
This is last years gingerbread house, my sister Anna helped with this one. She piped Jack Frost out of royal icing and let him dry a few days then painted with food coloring. Is'nt he the cutest thing?! 
We had no idea what kind of house Jack Frost might have lived in, since he is a fairy tale. So we made him a blue house.

I loved that it's so different from the others I have created. I just wish there was a master class to take in perfecting the constructing process...because no matter how much I measure and cut it still comes out crooked.

You see Jack Frost?

I really wanted to do more of a landscape on this gingerbread house, but so far the houses have all been the focal point..this year I am hoping to make a beautiful landscape to go with it.

I tried to create a sense of depth in the blue...but I should have used a darker blue...instead of black.


My favorite part of this gingerbread house is the roof. Since I had no idea on how to create a curved roof we piped our version of snowflakes for the ceiling. Loved it!
Hope you enjoyed looking at my past gingerbread house, feel free to comment on your favorite or ask me any questions on them and I am always looking to improve on my skills so if you have any suggestions on how to make a detail better please feel free to share.
Thanks for viewing my gingerbread houses,
~Esther~