This Victorian house was inspired by Teresa Layman’s gingerbread book where we got the patterns. I spent two days decorating the outside and three weeks on the inside!
These are the pieces for the Victorian House.
The fireplace pieces were done with a separate batch of gingerbread dough by adding red and brown color gel. The “bricks” are scored prior to baking. More detailed instructions can be found on The Bakery pages.
After the fireplace/chimney pieces are baked and cooled, I rub some white royal icing on them that sticks in the cracks and looks just like bricks.
Since my latest obsession is to create a homey scene inside the gingerbread house, I now add flow icing onto the baked pieces that will look like walls inside the house.
The red curtains and table cloth are made from red fondant.
The little chairs inside and the rocking chair on the front porch were made from pretzels and brown royal icing. I used tweezers to put the pieces in place and built the chair on fondant to hold it in place. The fondant is soft like clay. Once the royal icing has set, I can remove the chair from the fondant.
This part is created with only two walls in place. That makes it easier to place the pieces and take photos.
The plates are Necco wafers, the napkins, cups and mashed potatoes are fondant. The candles are candy – originally little white candy cane candies that I cut off the hook to look like a candle. The fire on the candle is a small candy ball just like the green peas. The flowers are candy.
Here’s the view from the top before I added the roof.
The fireplace mantel is a long piece of Hershey’s chocolate bar (upside down).
The wreath is a green lifesaver with green royal icing added to it.
The fire is white royal icing with yellow, orange and red color gel painted on it to look like a fire.
The red stockings are made from red fondant – the same fondant as the curtains and tablecloth.
The doors are made from a Hershey’s chocolate bar. I’ve added light brown flow icing – doesn’t it look like caramel or peanut butter? It’s not, it’s just icing.
When I add icing to the landscape, I only work on a little at a time. The royal icing will harden pretty fast, so you should only work on what you can finish in a few minutes. You can see how handy those tweezers are to add the tiny candy.
What a mess! Work in progress. I seem to take over the whole kitchen!
The finished house! This was my November project this year because my deadline was December 2. I donated the house as an auction item for the reception after the Chino Hills Holiday Home Tour on December 3. The large box (covered with gingerbread boy wrapping paper) behind me was placed on top of the house and wood platform for transporting the house.