Cake nineten - Santa's House 2013 edition

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It’s been long since I first attempted to make a gingerbread house but every year I’m as thrilled as the first time I made it and I note down some little changes to make the next time. This time I used  a sugarless dough for the house external walls, the trees and sleigh and it really proved very good to look at but quite weak to bear the weight of the roof. So we had to make other walls with the old style (I mean the one we’ve always used) dough and stick two walls together - one made with the new dough and one with the old using some brownish icing as glue. Another new thing was to bake the roof in two parts and bake them twice so that they become harder. 

Sugarless gingerbread dough
200 g butter 
500 g honey
2 tsp ginger, pepper, cinnamon and muscat nut
15 g cocoa
1200 g flour
1 packet baking powder
1 pinch salt
2 eggs
same proceeding as in Cake nineteen
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2013/03/cake-nineteen-father-xmass-house.html

for ‘old style’ gingerbread dough see link above

for assembling advice see:

http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2013/03/cake-nineteen-father-xmass-house-making.html


http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2013/03/cake-nineteen-father-xmass-house_10.html

 House details:
1. House grounds and trees

2. Front wall, window with flowers and wreath

 3. Side walls and window 

4. Inside wall with door and Santa Claus

5. Inside the house 

6. Sides and back

 7. ready!

 also visit http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2013/12/cake-nineteen-2013-edition.html

Cake nineteen - Father Xmas's House - Assembling the house

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Step 4: Assembling the house  
This is in my opinion the most difficult and delicate phase. You need not to hasten to assemble the house all at once and wait the necessary time until the icing has stuck the various parts together. 

Doors and windows
You need some glacé icing (white, green and red), fish glue sheets and sugar decorations to your taste. 
Glacé icing 125 g icing sugarfood colours to your taste2 teaspoons water

Mix sugar and water well, then add some drops of colour until you reach the shade you want.

Decorate doors and window shutters with icing and sugar decorations as shown in photos. Wait until icing is well dry. In the meantime place the walls with holes for the windows upside down onto some parchment paper. Pipe some icing at the corners of the windows, put a fish glue sheet (the window glass)

over the hole and press it very well so that the icing can make the ‘glass’ stick to the wall. When icing is dry, place decorated shutters at each side of windows. Don’t forget to hang your Xmas wreath above the door!

House 
You need a big quantity of royal icing (four egg whites)
Royal icing 
1 egg white 
220 g icing sugar

Beat egg white in a bowl with an electric mixer, add icing sugar, a tablespoon at a time. Beat until icing reaches firm peaks. 

Now take the biggest rectlangle and put it onto a big tray, the tray should be of about 1m x 50/60 cm. Use some icing to draw the perimeter of the house in the middle of the rectangle. Pipe some icing along the side walls of the front wall and one side wall. Place side and front wall onto the corresponding side along the perimeter. Press them together and wait until icing is dry. Then do the same with the back and the other side wall. Now position the inside wall in the middle of the house. Always use some icing as glue. 
Wait until icing is well dry. In the meantime put the door in the right place and build the fence. Now cut the rectangle for the roof in two, and position the two parts onto the hosue walls. Always use enough icing as glue. When icing is dry, stick the 20 bricks onto the front and back walls and the chimney onto the roof. Cover the house with snow.

Park
Make your trees look white with snow. Then put some of them at the back of the house and some in the front. Put reindeer in the front garden. Cover the park with some snow. 

also visit:
http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2013/01/cake-nineteen.html