"Is it edible?"

That is the most frequently asked question my housemates and I get, when people see the gingerbread houses (or photos of them). Even my friends outside of Canada ask me this question when they see the photos I send them.

The answer is: Yes, for the most part. If you really want to, you can eat the gingerbread pieces, the marzipan (with food coloring, mind you), the royal icing (with food coloring too), the sugar paste, the pretzels, the candies (e.g. jelly beans), and so on. I wouldn't recommend eating the Christmas lights, the battery pack, and the wires though. ;)

Frankly, the gingerbread houses we built weren't really meant for eating. They are works of art! When they are dry, the gingerbread houses are rock hard and can be preserved in an airtight container (or encased in perspex) for years.

Here is a recap:
Our First Gingerbread House: based on The Nightmare before Christmas
This gingerbread house won first prize at the CMHC 7th Annual Gingerbread House Competition on 21 November 2008 (the day we had our Le Cordon Bleu graduation ceremony).

Halloween Town (photo courtesy of the project leader)


Christmas Town

Our Second Gingerbread House: based on Shrek the Halls
This gingerbread house was delivered to the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's residence on 4 December 2008 (the day the Governor General agreed to suspend parliament).

The outside of the gingerbread house (photo courtesy of the project leader; photo taken at Salle Cointreau, at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa)


The inside of the gingerbread house

Our Third Gingerbread House: Wilbrod Tree House
This gingerbread house was featured on a local radio program All in a Day (CBC 91.5FM, 12 December 2008) when they were doing a live broadcast at Carlingwood Mall. It is now back in Wilbrod House.

Front view of the tree house


Side view of the tree house. Note that you can see what is inside the house from this side of the house. (both photos courtesy of the project leader and designer of the gingerbread tree house)

So, to the person who bid on and won our first gingerbread house, to the Canadian Prime Minister's family (who have the second gingerbread house), to all who live (and will live) in Wilbrod House (where the third gingerbread house will stay), please, please preserve our works of art!!! Thank you!

Gingerbread Tree House: How It was Made

Here are photos of the third gingerbread house one of my housemates built. It is a tree house. I only helped with a couple of items, the rest of it was made by my housemate in about 5 days.

My housemate was interviewed by a local radio station. He was asked by the radio station to build a gingerbread house in front of a live audience in a local shopping mall, using a gingerbread house kit. He bought the gingerbread house kit and then proceeded to turn it into a tree house.


Gingerbread house kit from the local supermarket (Loblaws)


The semi-finished tree house displayed at the local shopping mall, where the radio station was doing its live broadcast.


This was what local shoppers who walked past the gingerbread house saw. Many were children, and they were fascinated by it.


Some of the handmade marzipan characters.

The following photos show what you can achieve if you pay attention to details. Little things are added or piped onto the house to make it more interesting.










Top view of the tree house. You can see stylized coloured leaves on the tree.


Below you can see how the bits and pieces were created before the whole gingerbread house was assembled:


The tree trunk was made using gingerbread pieces that have been cut out with cookie cutters, baked and stacked up. A layer of marzipan went around the stacked gingerbread pieces, and food colouring was used to paint the marzipan.


Miniature paintings that are inside the house.


Details added around the tree trunk.


Gingerbread pieces from a kit have been modified to look like panels on a tree house. My housemate scored the gingerbread pieces with a serrated knife, and painted them with a dark brown food colouring (to give it a wood-grain finish). Looks realistic, doesn't it?


A dining table that fits inside the tree house. It is actually two battery-operated Christmas lights stuck together, and covered with white sugar paste, then decorated to look like a dining table.


Anyway, we hope the children who saw the gingerbread tree house at the local shopping mall were inspired to create something wonderful with the gingerbread house kits their parents got them.

The Construction of a Gingerbread House: Photographic Evidence

In this post, I am including some photos of how the "Shrek the Halls" gingerbread house was built.

As you can see from the photos below, we gradually built up the gingerbread house by making all the individual pieces (many of which are made of marzipan) first and then adding them to the "shell" (or basic gingerbread structure).

Along the way, royal icing (= egg whites + icing sugar) was piped onto the front of the display to create the impression of snow. We also used royal icing to stick many of the marzipan pieces or items to the board or onto the gingerbread house.


This was when the baked gingerbread pieces were glued to the board to form the basic "shell". By the way, the curved pieces were baked on a metal bowl and a wine bottle in the oven. The gingerbread dough had to be cut to size and shaped before baking.


The white parts of the structure are made of marzipan, which was used to make it look like tree roots.


These were some of the first individual marzipan pieces we produced. They had to be shaped, painted with food colourings and then air-dried.


More marzipan work. You can see the unpainted Shrek there in the top left corner.


The basic structure of Shrek's house is taking shape. The tree roots are painted with brown and green food colourings.


This is the interior of the house, decorated with piped garlands and holly candy.


These are the miniature mosaic paintings I made. I glued some store-bought candy onto pieces of gingerbread (thumbnail size: 2.5cmx2.5cm) that have been covered in royal icing and made to look like miniature picture frames. I made four of these to represent each of the seasons: spring (flower), summer (sailing boat), autumn (maple leaf) and winter (snowflake).


I made the anchor (with marzipan), while my housemates made the ladder (with marzipan and pretzels) and dining table (with gingerbread, fondant/sugar paste and royal icing).


Royal icing is piped onto the roof of the house, and more marzipan objects added to the roof.


On the reverse side of the house, more details are gradually added.


The front of the gingerbread house is covered with piped royal icing. It is starting to look like a winter landscape now.


More things are added to the front of the house.


This is the lovely bookshelf one of my housemates built with gingerbread pieces. I made the opened book on top of the bookshelf and wrote the words "Once upon a time ..." onto the marzipan.


This is the "Christmas tree" the project leader made. It has tiny Christmas lights hidden in the trunk of the tree. Instead of making a traditional Christmas tree, he made the tree look like something Shrek would have found in the swamp. I personally thought it was a very clever idea.


This is a photo of the almost-finished gingerbread house. It is simply missing the "Smelly Christmas" sign at the front.


An almost-finished version of the interior of the house.


The finished version, with a red ribbon stuck to the edges of the board to make it look neat and presentable.

Voila! Our second gingerbread house is complete.

Here is an amateur video of the gingerbread house, taken by me but posted on YouTube by the project leader: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJQ93Tc4o_Q

PS. We are working on a third gingerbread house. More details later.

Our Second Gingerbread House: "Shrek the Halls"

Our second gingerbread house was delivered to the Prime Minister's residence today. The theme for this gingerbread house is "Shrek the Halls" (based on the short film of the same title).

Six of us living in Wilbrod House worked on the gingerbread house for about a week (evenings and weekends), and this is what we made:

(Note:You can click on the photos below to see larger versions.)


Front view of the gingerbread house


Puss-in-boots, pretending to be a snowman


Donkey, peering out from the WC


Shrek, with the sign "Smelly Christmas", and the three blind mice


Back view of the gingerbread house


Close-up of the chimney


Close-up of the intricate work with marzipan figures and various household objects


Close-up of the chandelier (which took one of my housemates hours to make)


Close-up of the dining table


Close-up of the "Shrek the Halls" rug I made with sugar paste

All in all, it was another fun experience.

Gingerbread House, part 3

Here is a link to a YouTube video of the double gingerbread house:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr-whysyS0k

In the video, you can see both the entries submitted by Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa. One is the Campus Team (Chef H's team) and the other is Wilbrod Team (our team).

The following amateur video of the double gingerbread house was taken by me, but posted on YouTube by the project leader (who is featured at the beginning of the video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPBZnMyUbk4


Here's an article about the double gingerbread house in OttawaCitizen.com:
http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/blogs/omnivore/archive/2008/11/22/citizen-team-excells-at-gingerbread-house-competition-well-sort-of-maybe-er.aspx

Gingerbread House, part 2

Well, some good news. The Wilbrod Team came first in the gingerbread house competition. Which means we were presented with the $1000 prize. It was announced at a ceremony at the Rideau Centre yesterday. My housemates and I went there at noon (just before our graduation ceremony at the Marriott at 2:30pm) to accept the prize. The media and some important government dignitaries were there. It was a real buzz.





Firstly, we have to reimburse the School for sponsoring us. After that, I think we will be left with $600. The project leader plans to use the remaining prize money to take us all out to lunch/dinner, or something like that. It will be fun!

The double gingerbread house is now to be auctioned off to raise funds for a charitable project (Habitat for Humanity).

The Prime Minister's chef (who was at our graduation ceremony yesterday) asked if we could build a gingerbread house for the Prime Minister's family by early December. So it looks like we will be spending part of our holidays working on another gingerbread house... but I don't mind at all. It gives us the opportunity to hone our skills (e.g. marzipan work, and piping practice)

PS. I passed Basic Pastry. Yay!!! I'm going on to take Intermediate Pastry in January, so stay tuned.

Gingerbread House, part 1

This year LCB Ottawa is entering two gingerbread houses in a local competition (to raise money for charity). Chef H assembled a team of students to help with his project. Those of us living in Wilbrod House decided to enter the gingerbread house competition as well, so the School sponsored us.

The double gingerbread house the Wilbrod Team (as LCB Ottawa is calling us) came up with is based on the movie The Nightmare before Christmas. One of my housemates was the project leader, and the rest of us volunteered our time to help out. We made Halloween Town and Christmas Town out of gingerbread, marzipan, and lots and lots of of royal icing. It's what we have been working on for a while (in our spare time). Basically, this is what one talented project leader and eleven other culinary students came up with, on a 60cmx60cm piece of board:


Halloween Town


Halloween Town


Christmas Town


Christmas Town, from another angle

This gingerbread house and the one Chef H made will be on display at a local shopping complex (the Rideau Centre) this weekend. We hope they raise lots of money for charity.