Gingerbread House Cake

The Gingerbread House Cake. Gingerbread houses, but make it more of a snow dusted, hill top village on a two layer cake!

This idea has been poking at my brain for some time. And when I was finally presented with opportunity perfect for just this cake, I was excited.

Really this tutorial is more picture heavy than recipe instructions because the recipes and designs really are customizable.

I used a 8″ and 6″ pan to create the tiered layers of cake. Any favourite cake recipe or standard sized cake mix will work well.

Use a buttercream of your choice, just ensure it is thick enough to adhere and hold the weight of the cookies. Most buttercream recipes and preferences will work here as long as the frosting is not allowed to crust before the cookies are stuck to the sides.

The gingerbread cookies are best made a day (or even up to week) ahead. Allowing the royal icing 24 hours to harden is a good idea. So making the cake and cookies in steps over a couple of days is best.

I have a row house gingerbread cookie cutter set that I used for the sides, but simple row house gingerbread fronts could be traced or cut freehand as well. Use a piece of parchment wrapped around the cake pan to get an estimate of size, then lay out and repeat cookie cutters along it to get an idea of how many cookies are needed. And of course bake a few extras for mistakes, breakage or snacking.

I used the smaller house fronts for the top tier and the taller ones for the bottom tier. I also used another mini gingerbread house for the centre on top too.

Gingerbread Cookies

Use whatever gingerbread cookie recipe you like to use for your go to gingerbread houses or mix it up and try my sugar cookie house recipe or chocolate cookie house options instead.

Once your cookies are baked and cooled. Decorate with white royal icing for details and snow. I left mine like that. But candy and sanding sugar could definitely be added too. When working with royal icing, I prefer to have one piping bag a bit thicker and and a second piping bag with thinner icing for different details and snow.

Make sure to allow sufficient time for the royal icing to harden.

Obviously the cake can be made ahead and allowed to cool completely before frosting. Do not frost ahead of time, only frost when the cookies are ready to attach. No need to crumb coat the cake, smooth the icing or add colour either, as you want it to resemble drifted snow.

Assembling the Gingerbread House Cake

Once ready to assemble, generously frost the cake. Push the cookies gently against the sides with varying heights to get a pleasing look. Repeat evenly around the cake. Both top and bottom layers. I choose to go with taller houses on the bottom and the smaller, shorter options on the top. As long as you are working gently with the cookie they can be arranged and moved around as needed too.

Once you have a good placement make sure enough of the cookie is in contact and pushed into the frosting that they will stay in place once the icing crusts. When both layers have cookie houses surrounding them, you can add another mini gingerbread house on top like I choose or leave it blank.