As I mentioned before, in 2015, when I created The Bakery, that’s when I realized it was an obsession because that was the first year I created a scene inside the gingerbread house. Every year since then, I’ve continued to develop an edible scene inside, just like a doll house.
This was the first year I was thinking of NOT creating a gingerbread house and when I mentioned it to my son, he said, “Mom! We can’t let our family down! We have to make a gingerbread house!” So we looked through a few books for ideas and I chose a small easy project, but he chose this big bakery. I’ve always wanted to create this one, so I agreed to build the big bakery.
Remember, this is the week or two right before Christmas when the gingerbread building begins. I’ll have to admit, everything else was put on hold that year – even my Christmas cards went out late! But we finished The Bakery by our imposed deadline, which was when our family came over to celebrate Christmas. Here’s how it happened…
First, I created a brick-colored dough for the main structure that would be the bricks. Next, I cut the dough pieces and made “brick” markings with a ruler and a flat head screwdriver. Eventually, they cake decorating companies created stamp templates that can be used for this, but in 2015, I made it by hand.
After the dough is scored, it’s ready to be baked.
There were so many pieces for this project, I couldn’t fit them in one photo.
After the pieces are baked and cooled, it’s time to create the mortar between the bricks using royal icing and wiping off the excess with a paper towel. Looks pretty realistic!
Because the gingerbread house is so large, I needed to stabilize it with 1/4 inch wooden dowels (not edible) drilled into the wood base (under the aluminum foil). The dowels will be in the corners of the building and “glued” to the gingerbread with royal icing.
All the little bakery items are created with edible candies and edible gel coloring. The little houses are made from caramels. The cake is Shape-N-Amaze.
The back wall of the bakery is iced to the dowels and the shelves, light and interior furniture are created.
The cake and other pastry items are place so you can view them from the front of the bakery.
This is the inside view from the top before the roof goes on.
More photos to come…