The Gingerbread Casa

 

Tada! Our gingerbread mansion in situ on the mantelpiece. It looks so much better all assembled than the separate pieces on the counter top. For a while there my front of the building looked more like the work of a five year old due to a way too narrow piping tip but with some touch-ups with the wider thingy it worked out well in the end.

 

 

Gelatin leaves for the windows, a string light and some additional icing in the joints and we have ourselves a deliciously smelling gingerbread casa.

Comments

[wienerdoglove]

Nice job! Looks way better than the graham cracker ones I slapped together in school! lol

[Jo]

I love the way you've managed to light it from the inside.. and the pearl strings on the fireplace look fabulous.. so simple, but so effective.
Jo xx

[Nolwenn]

It looks fantastic! Clever idea to use gelatine for the windows, it looks really nice with the light from inside :)
Jo, I was so focused on the house (must taste very good, mmmhhhh!) that I didn't even see the pearl strings :) But they indeed look great, simple, WHITE and festive! :)

[Machen und Tun]

wow, a mansion it is! very beautiful, great job you two!!
claudia

[Monica B]

Underbart! Hoppas att maken och barnen sätter fart på sitt pepparkakshusbakande snart...

[Jessica]

Gorgeous! Love it!

[Sevi]

It's crazy that your cats leave the gingerbread house alone... Or is the glass candle holder protecting it from paws and claws?

[judith b]

What a wonderful collaboration - it's perfect!
Is that a new (antique) armchair I spy next to the fireplace? Charming!

[Ylva]

helt underbart!! i år slog vi till på stort och gjorde ett funkishus med platt tak. Inte riktigt i samma klass som ditt (och inte heller klart...) men rätt coolt blev det :)

[Petra from NL]

Gelatine leaves, so clever!

[Tina]

Darn it, now I´ll never dare to do one of these myself - would be hard to get up to this standard! :-D

[corinne]

super beau travail !! belle journee :)

[Peta]

Una casa bellissima!!!!

Well done.

[Carlos]

They don't seem interested in the house luckily, It may have been a different story if the house wasn't on that narrow mantel though. There's not a whole lot of room for cat there :).

[Carlos]

The chair is the chair that stood at my craft desk but I did a bit of rearranging so at the desk there's now a cube stool. I still haven't had a chance to go look for any chairs for the dining table yet. Maybe I'll have a couple of seconds en between Christmas and New Years if I'm lucky.

[Carlos]

I saw that in the book Martha Stewart's Christmas which I bought in 1990 and it's such a great idea because they look just like leaded windows.

[Robyn]

Looks fantastic!!

I don't think I would be able to keep looking at it and not have a nibble ;-) Aren't you tempted?

[Miss VanDroo]

It's beautiful!

[Barbi D.]

Gorgeous!!

[Sevi]

Love the clock detail by the way :)

[Carlos]

Not at all actually. The smell in itself is more than enough :).

[erin lang norris]

Wow! It turned out great! I love the windows. My husband and I are making our first gingerbread house this year. Hopfully next week!

My boy cat helps himself to food in the cabinets if he gets mad at us (a recent habit of his that i hope to resolve with door magnets this weekend) so I will have to make a special shelf just for ours. He'll definitely eat the chimney off!

[louisabellissima]

Wow, it looks so elegant! The clock is a really nice detail and I love the proportions of the house.

[Leena]

Looks nice! I like it's proportions.
One could also make the windows from melted candy, like in here:
http://www.gingerbread-house-heaven.com/gingerbread-house-windows.html

But you have to make them before you bake the pieces, so this can't be applied to the Larsson mansion, but if someone is still thinking of making one.

[Leena]

Oh, sorry I lied, you can bake the pieces of the house first.

[Carlos]

Speaking of chimney, ours turned out so huge and ugly that we ended up not adding it to the finished house. No Santa visit this year... :).

[cali rezo]

wow, very beautiful !

[erika]

Do you have the recipe for the icing?

[Michelle of Montreal]

How long do you keep the gingerbread house? Is there a ritual "house-breaking" later when the pieces get taken apart and eaten, or it is just for show?

[r8chel]

I've never heard of gelatin leaves, but it looks awesome!

[Jennifer S.]

I wish I could smell it!

[chelsea]

I am totally loving yours! I especially love the little clock and curlicue flourishes near the doorway.

I can't wait to get to Norway and make some with the kids. Our holiday is starting rather late this year but we are saving up all the holiday goodness for our trip.

[Carlos]

I used two egg whites with 1 lb of powdered sugar and a few drops of vinegar essence for the whole house.

[Carlos]

It's just for fun and show. Neither Wille nor I am interested in eating it after it's been out in the open for a few weeks :). I think we'll just toss it in the compost when we take the holiday decorations down.

[Annika]

Oh, this is so great. I´m definitely going to make this one of my projects this month. I had become quite bored with the ´usual´ looking gingerbread house, so this just sparked my creative thinking. I have to come up with a really cool design, though:-)
Thanks for the inspiration and a great blog.

Hälsningar
Annika

[Jessica]

Holy cow! That looks beautiful AND delicious! I wish all home decor could be so yummy...

[Nancy in Canada]

I love your casa with the simplicity of just the icing. Did you have a particular house in mind when you were designing the pattern? I think my kids would feel cheated if our gingerbread house wasn't covered in candy! lol

[brittany]

Looks fabulous! Just love it!

[Alicia Parsons]

Holy moly, that's amazing! I suck at baking biscuits so I'm just impressed with myself when I manage to peel the dough off the counter without it falling apart.

[christine]

ohhhhh... lovely! thanks for sharing. So, is Willie seeking a career in Architecture? or design? will he be following in your footsteps?

[Bonnie]

Benita,

Have you read Rue magazine? I just discovered it and I think you will really like it!

http://www.ruemag.com/issues/issue-two/

PS. No this is not an automated ad...haha...

[Noga]

Wow!!!!! I'm glad that my kids didn't see what THIS mama has made..

[Carlos]

The trick is to roll the dough out onto baking paper and then lift the whole thing onto your baking sheet :).

[Carlos]

Love it! Thank you so much for the tip!

[Carlos]

He wants to be an engineer. Not sure yet in which field though. I think he'd like to know and do everything the Mythbusers do :).

[Carlos]

No particular house, just one we drew :)

[Fröken Fräken]

Jag är sjukt taggad att sätta igång att bygga ett eget pepparkakshus. Hur klistrade du ihop ditt? Det traditionella tycks vara att använda sig av smält socker, vilket dock verkar kladdigt och risk för brännskador, så jag funderar på limpistol? Mitt ska bara stå och se snyggt ut (är förhoppningen...) jag har inte tänkt äta av det.

[Carlos]

Vi monterade med just smält socker. Lite läskigt att doppa hela gaveln i stekpannan men väldigt effektivt. Men limpicka låter som en bra ide, värd att testa. Du kan ju testa på två köpepepparkakor innan du bakar ett helt hus :).

[Phyl]

Beautiful! That's the perfect Christmas mantel decoration and I wish I had done it, too. I think I'll make a note of this and try my hand at a gingerbread house next year.
Thanks for your fun blog and Merry Christmas!

[jja]

Wow!

[jiye]

It looks great! I love the pearls over your fireplace! Very elegant!

jiye
pearlsandgreentea.blogspot.com

[Amy Herbst (Herbst Handmade)]

OOhh, ahhh. I love how it turned out. Are you lighting it with a candle inside?

[Carlos]

There's a string light inside.

[Joanna]

Love it ! What did you put in it to light it?

[Carlos]

There's a string light inside.