Bake a festive gingerbread house with our simple recipe which also includes a design template. A great way to get the kids involved, create some Christmas magic!

Gingerbread houses make great gifts or present at the dinner table during your Christmas celebrations.

Ingredients:

For the gingerbread biscuits:

  • 150ml water
  • 420g dark brown sugar
  • 90ml treacle
  • 90ml golden syrup
  • 3 tsp ground ginger powder
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon powder
  • 500g unsalted butter, cold and diced
  • 2 tbsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1120g plain flour
  • Template to download

For the royal icing:

For the decoration:

Day 1 prep:

  1. Make the gingerbread. Place the water, dark brown sugar, treacle, golden syrup, ginger and cinnamon in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Be sure to be stirring continuously. Once boiling, remove the pan from the heat, using a wooden spoon, carefully stir in the buttle until fully melted. Add the flour and bicarb of sofa, still until all is combined. The mixture will be quite runny.
  2. Double wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or until you think its firm enough.
  3. While the dough is in the fridge, make the decorations for the house. Use red and green sugar paste to make the decorations. Using the red sugarpaste, cut out small hearts. To make candy canes: roll red and green together, the surface should be lightly covered in icing sugar, form a snake about 0.5cm thick. Twist the colours around each other and roll on the surface.
  4. Cut into 4cm long pieces and shape into candy canes. Leave the decorations to dry and firm up overnight.
  5. Once the gingerbread dough is firm or set, separate into 4 equal pieces and knead each piece on a clean surface dusted with plenty of flour. Preheat the oven to 180ᵒc (160ᵒc fan oven, gas mark 4). Grease and line three baking trays.
  6. Roll each piece using a rolling pin dusted with flour until around 3/4 cm in thickness.
  7. Cut out the gingerbread house using our template. Use a small sharp knife. Once all the models are cut, there should be 2x template 1, x2 template 2, x2 template 3 and x1 template 4. 
  8. With the remaining dough cut out different size stars starting at about 10cm and getting smaller. So the stars can be stacked up to make a tree, you will need about 10 stars.
  9. Bake the gingerbread for 15-18 minutes, until the biscuit is firm to touch. While still hot, trim the edges of the house using the template to get straight sharp edges. Allow the gingerbread to cool. 
  10. Dust the work surface with icing sugar. Knead the marzipan until soft and pliable. Roll out to a thickness of approx 0.5cm. Place template 1 (front of the house) onto the marzipan and cut using a sharp knife to the size of the template. Repeat this same method for template 4 (the door)
  11. Once the gingerbread is cool, brush the front of the gingerbread house and door with honey. Place the marzipan onto the gingerbread and smooth into place with the palm of your hand.
  12. Dust the work surface with icing sugar, knead the white sugarpaste. Cut two pieces of the roof shape (template 2) and stick onto the gingerbread using the honey. You can use a paintbrush.
  13. Leave the gingerbread to firm overnight in an airtight container.
  14. Brush the cake board with honey, cover the board with the white sugarpaste, smooth out the icing using the palm of your hand. Or if you have a cake smoother at hand, use that too. Leave to dry and firm up overnight. 

Day 2:

  1. For the royal icing, follow the instructions on the packet. Place the royal icing in a piping bag and cut a small hole (0.5cm)
  2. Gingerbread: stick the sides to the front of the house using a thick line of royal icing, hold it together in place for 40 seconds. Add the back of the house using more royal icing and hold in place for 40 seconds. Add another line of royal icing around the base of the home and place on the cake board. Leave the house to set for about an hour. Then add the roof using royal icing, hold for 40 seconds. 
  3. While the house is setting, make the gingerbread trees. Knead the white sugarpaste until it is soft and pliable. Cut stars shapes out of the sugarpaste, brush the gingerbread with honey and stick the stars on top. 
  4. Start stacking the stars up, largest at the base and smallest at the top. Use a blob of royal icing to stick together. Offset the points of the stars to create a tree effect. Make sure the smallest star is on the top. 
  5. Add the finishing touches by adding marzipan steps and stones. Roll small balls of marzipan and flatten slightly using your thumb. Stick the marzipan steps to the covered board using a little blob of royal icing. 
  6. Stick the candy canes and hearts. Arrange the trees around the house. Dot some royal icing on the cake board, using a palette knife, swirl the royal icing to create a snowy effect. Pipe neatly around the windows and the roof by piping dots of royal icing around the edge. 

Tips:

  • You can also make gingerbread men to decorate around the house.
  • Dust the entire house with icing sugar to give a snowy effect. 
  • Add candy lollipops around the snow patches if you wish.

If you do make it, please don't forget to tag us, we will repost and share :)

Large tiered Christmas cake decorated with gingerbread cookies and a house on top. Tree and garlands in the background.