Gingerbread House Wedding Cake Recipe
To make the house you will need the gingerbread house template:
To make the size house shown print on A3 paper.
Gingerbread Recipe
To make this house required three batches of dough. This is a beautiful recipe that tastes delicious and is easier to make in large quantities than other recipes I have used in the past.
430g (15.17 ounces) or 2 cups butter, roughly chopped
430g (15.17 ounces) or 2 cups caster (super fine) sugar
250g (8.82 ounces) or 2/3 cup glucose syrup
260g (9.17 ounces) or 3/4 cup molasses
180 mL (6.09 fluid ounces) or 2/3 cup milk (4%)
1195g (42.15 ounces) or 7 1/2 cups plain flour
12g (0.42 ounces) or 2 tsp bicarb soda
20g (0.71 ounces) or 3 Tbsp cinnamon
12g (0.42 ounces) or 2 Tbsp ground cloves
12g (0.42 ounces) or 2 Tbsp ground ginger
Preheat oven to 180ºC (356ºF)
Melt butter in a large saucepan add the glucose syrup, molasses and sugar and heat to 43 degrees to dissolve sugar.
Add the milk, stir then add flour bicarb and spices and stir well. Cook over low heat, stirring continuosly until mixture becomes a very thick paste.
Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to cool.
Divide dough into the number of baking trays required to make the house. Roll out and cut pieces leaving a border on as explained in video. Cut windows and doors but leave in place. Remove the paper template.
Bake for 10 minutes then remove windows and doors and bake for further 5-10 minutes depending on size of piece. Remove form oven and leave to cool, then turn over and check pieces are completely dry, if not place back in the oven for 5 more minutes.
Royal Icing Recipe
3 egg whites or 110g (3.88 ounces) (you can use pasturized egg whites or buy powdered egg whites and add water as per direction on packet)
450g (15.87 ounces) or 3 1/2 cups icing (powdered) sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla essence (or mint flavouring if you prefer)
Using electric beaters combine all ingredients and beat on high speed for about 7 minutes or until stiff.
Place in piping bag (or ziplock bag with a hole in one corner).
Fondant Decorations
Fondant decorations like the bride and groom, white picket fence and football can be made ahead. The window frames and flowers in the garden beds are also made using white fondant. Watch the video for a tutorial on how to make the windows using fondant and gelatin sheets.
You can purchase fondant to make decorations of buy it ready made. You can find the recipe here: rolled fondant recipe
Roof Tiles
Make sure you watch the videos ‘How to temper chocolate’ and ‘what chocolate to use’ before using chocolate to decorate your house.
Tempered white chocolate was also used for the piped decorations on the inside of the house.
The video above will give you a guide to making this gingerbread house wedding cake and there is a summary of the steps below.
1. Design your template
2. Pre-make fondant decorations
3. Bake house pieces
4. Pipe design on inside of house in chocolate
5. Make chocolate roof tiles
6. Cover cake board, add lights, assemble walls using royal icing to glue together and allow to set
7. Cover walls completely in royal icing
8. Make fondant window frames using gelatin sheets as the glass
9. Semi fill house with chocolates to suit number of guests
10. Add the roof and allow to set, use cans to support while setting
11. Add roof tiles
12. Spread dark chocolate on cake board and cover with coconut coloured green with food colour.
13. Add fondant decorations
14. Carefully transport to wedding
15. Smash, eat, enjoy!
Wedding photography by Andrew James an award winning Sydney Photographer used with permission.
You might also enjoy best of the web gingerbread house ideas or the gingerbread house from the UP movie
My Cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.
3tibetan
This looks so lovely, and I’m encouraged by the photos of others who have made this gingerbread house.
Question: Is the recipe here already tripled? Or do we need to triple it ourselves? (21 and a half cups of flour? Surely not, but I want to make sure.) Thanks!
What a brilliant idea
thanks
I make gingerbread houses every Christmas as gifts for family/friends. Our dearest friends especially look say it is the best part of Christmas.. this year I wanted to do something special so I purchased the template and with fingers crossed and your video, this is what I made. ?
Hi Angelam, your house looks gorgeous! I love the fence and shutters.
I want to make a trial batch. However I would like to make a large house for my large family at Christmas. How long ahead of time can I store the finished gingerbread house? Also, how should I store it?
Hi Ariana, Gingerbread houses can last well but they gradually get softer. They are best used within a month.
This is wedding cake is absolutely amazing! Thanks for providing such a detailed tutorial. I’m inspired by your idea and would love to make this for my own wedding this year. A few questions, how did you store and transport the cake to the wedding? Does the house need to be refrigerated? And did you have any supports on the cake when you transported it? How long can you make the house ahead of time? Thanks!
Hi Helen, store at room temp wrapped in thick cellophane – florists often sell it.
To transport it was placed in the boot of the car. Gingerbread houses are pretty sturdy once the icing has dried out.
Hey,
how long can I store the not baked dough? 🙂
Cause I have no time to work with it until tomorrow!
Is there any problem?
Thank you!
I recently promised via youtube to upload a picture of our (none ginger) ginger bread house we made using your template, so here it is 🙂
I done all the making, baking and construction and my 7 year old daughter Ella done all the decorating, we had so much fun!!
Thank you so much for sharing your work and allowing me personally to have new creative ideas to use in bonding time with my daughter, it really means a lot!
Ella can not wait to claim bragging rights when she takes a picture in to school and that makes me chuffed to bits (stoked)
Once again, thank you so much for sharing your awesome work, from the Anderson (half Australian, half British) family here in the UK!
Fantastic job Ella (and mum) I am so glad you had fun making a gingerbread house together, perhaps the start of a new Christmas tradition for you. I like the little dog, do you have a dog? And lovely work making a colourful pattern with the smarties on the roof and the snowmen are really cute. Well done 😀
Yeah we have a dog (Hunter) so the snow people are our family ha ha. I did the dog although it would pass as Ellas age range ha ha. We did have lots of fun and i will most defiantly be adding it to our Christmas tradition list 🙂 thanks so much for your help along the way 🙂
Hi Ann, Love your channel and website!! Always clear, easy and precise!! :))
I wa wandering can i substitute the glucose syrup with honey or something else? I really can’t find it!! Is this recipe good to make gingerbread man cookies as well??
Thank you so much!! ;))
Thanks elisa,
Yes this recipe is good for gingerbread men as well. I have never tried with honey because my hubby is not a fan of the flavour. I would swap for all molasses, honey is thinner so you could try adding less and then a little brown sugar to make the same sugar content.
Thank you do much, i’ll definitely try!! happy Christmas from Italy!! 🙂