Did your Gingerbread House fall apart?

Question

I bought a gingerbread house kit to assemble with my child. It was a nightmare. There was icing everywhere and when we finally got the last piece of candy on, the shingles slid off, and the house collapsed, and everything was messed up. It was a disaster, yet the instructions showed a kid doing it. Am I just not cut out for building gingerbread houses, or does it take practice? I certainly didn't create a good holiday memory.

Answer 1

YOU NEED ROYAL ICING to make Gingerbread Houses:
1 lb. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
3 egg whites (room temp.), unbeaten (U can buy Meringue Powder instead of the egg whites. Wilton sell that too) follow the instructions on the label for the Royal Icing
1/2 tsp of flavoring if desired.
Beat on low speed until well blended, then beat on high speed until light and fluffy. This takes several minutes for it to get to the right consistency. This should be thick and stand on its own in peaks. Pipe it (Wilton.com for piping bags or tips) or Michaels Craft Store, grocery store has the plastic icing bags and tips. The icing needs to set up on the edges sometimes before you put it together, sort of dry just a bit, then it acts like glue. And for the roof let that set up too before you lay on the heavier items.
To make houses, put graham crackers together with icing, them make windows, doors, roof, shrubbery, etc. out of candies and decorate the houses.

You can also add gel color to small amounts of icing, for shrubs, and a little goes along way...I use a toothpick dip in the gel color, and stir it with the toothpick until I get the shade I want. Royal Icing keeps almost indefinately air tight in the fridge. This makes a small batch of icing and I always double it. Don't give up....try it again...
These are fun to do every year, and your first year may just need some practice, so dont be discouraged, try it again and use the Royal Icing....it does work wonders.

Another tip: Use noodles instead of candies and just don't eat the noodles. To color noodles, use Rubbing Alcohol mixed with liquid food coloring, dip the noodles in let soak up the color and use slotted spoon to remove them to drain and dry on either paper towels or brown paper bags. I like deep red and dark blue for my roofs. This is what pasta is colored in for class projects for Mommy necklaces etc....At school. Or used to be.....

Answer 2

Gingerbread House Roofs

Answer 3

We made a house from scratch for a holiday fund raiser. This was the second year. All sorts of craziness can happen. If your house is to humid the gingerbread gets soft and won't stay, the icing has to be just stiff enough to act like glue. Even though it's all sugar nothing taste good. As with so many things it does take practice.

This year my daughter's memory of this project is, things done with others is more fun then by your self, and she did her best. It didn't turn out at all like the picture in her mind, but she knew it was the best she could do.

Try it again, just remember your "do over" might make for a better memory.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

Gingerbread houses are very difficult to assemble, especially with a child. Next time, try not to create a beautiful masterpiece, but just spend fun time with your child. Even if it falls apart, didn't s/he have fun anyway? You want to make a memory, don't you, not just a table piece for the holiday? sure its pretty for a few days but thats not the point. If it was, it wouldn't be made out of candy!!

Answer 6

While warm I used flat headed straight pins to hold together-Put pin all the way through one piece than push next piece into pin-I used Betty Crocker gingerbread cookie mix -worked a lot of flour into dough-cut out a little thick-baked longer-left in warm oven till hard but not burned-I made a train-pinned a piece at right angle to back of trees and other cut outs so they would stand

Answer 7

the thing about ginger bread houses is you need a support or something to hold it up. like put two or one food cans inside of the house as you build :) if you do that everything should stay in place. and as for the candy and everything maybe try buying an already made icing. the icing the supply you with normally is poor in using as a foundation. and it tastes horrible. :P hope this helps
happy holidays!

Answer 8

i agree the houses r very hard to put together. last year we had one and we got sick of trying to use icing for the roof so we broke out the superglue. try getting the gingerbread tree or even the train. the roof on the house is to slanted so gravity takes over. mine fell apart too the last two years i did them

Answer 9

Gonger bread houses to take some practice, but it sounds like your houses issue was too much wet frosting. Use smaller amounts and let it sit a moment before adding candy. Not long enough to be hard, but if it is still soft and liquidy everything will slide off.

Answer 10

Lol I tried to make one once and the gingerbread was too soft it all just crumbled and the icing ran everywhere. a real mess. We just sat down and made ourselves feel sick eating the crumbled up, icing-covered gingerbread, lol!