Making a gingerbread house from scratch
Christmas time... gingerbread and wine... right?!
Looking for a Christmas baking activity? You could make your own gingerbread house!
Making a gingerbread house from scratch is the ultimate christmas baking activity! The feeling that you have created this cozy masterpiece is like no other! You truly can get everyone involved too.
Wether it will be a date night decorating session, keeping the kids entertained or a girls night! Everyone will want to be involved in decorating your humble abode.
Cutting out your gingerbread house shape
The first step in creating your own gingerbread house is to create your walls! Choose your favourite gingerbread recipe and make your dough.
Pick your gingerbread house cutter.
We have two options on the Vanilla Valley website. You can choose either the WIlton Gingerbread house cutter or the PME Gingerbread house cutter set. These are both new to vanilla valley December 22.
Assembling your gingerbread house
Once you have baked and cooled your gingerbread pieces, you are redy to assemble!
Royal icing is a great option as its easy to apply as it has a paste consistency. You can pipe or spread with a spatula. This is perfect for getting into all of the nooks and crannies to keep the house together. If you are looking for a pre-made icing to use. Renshaw Royal Icing is a great option, it comes in a 400g tub and is ready to go!
If you are looking for a fine tip nozzle to pipe small details of Royal Icing onto your house. You might want to consider a writing nozzle such as the PME Supatube writing nozzle number 2 which is perfect for intricate designs and lettering. PME have a great range of writing nozzles so you can be sure to get the thickness you need.
If you are piping, you will need some piping bags. Some of our most popular are the Cake Star piping bags which come in a handy 12 pack.
Toppings
Assembled your gingerbread house and it's looking steady? Now is the time to shine and let your creative side out! We have tons of decorating options on our website. From Chocolate Drip, to sprinkles to cake toppers and figurines! Here are some of our favourites to get you started:
Cake Star Writing icing is a great option for a simple design. These are also amazing if you are involving the kids!
Firgurines are amazing for adding some life into your creation. If you love Frozen this Olaf Figurine could be perfect for your house! The best part about adding a figurine is that you can keep it as a keepsake or as a gift. Christmas Gonk - Anniversary house would also be an adorable addition to your snowscape.
Making a snowy cozy cottage? Adding some sweet snowflakes will be sure to make your gingerbread house stand out. We love Purple Cupcakes - Let it Snow for its whimsical touch. A little goes a long way with these!
The cutest addition to your gingerbread house has to be a Claydough Figurine. These cute creations come on a handy pick so you can add it straight onto your creations. Our personal favourite is the Claydough cute deer pick how can you resist those antlers?!?
Sugar pipings are a fabulous invention, we love them! Especially the Christmas Gems sugar pipings from Culpitt. Featuring Bells, Red Postbox, Car with Chritsmas Tree and Wreaths. This set would be perfect to add some creature comforts.
Sprinkles
Sprinkles definitley come under the toppings title... however there are so many to choose from. We thought it would be best to have it's own section.
Here are some new Christmas sprinkles for 2023!
A gorgeous gathering of tiny Christmas coloured star sprinkles.
Tiny red and white candy cane shapes.
This one is super fun, a mix of green and white balls, sugar crystals, green strands, red hearts and silver heart confetti.