This was a special gingerbread “house” (okay, it’s a barn) for my brother because he’s always wanted me to create this barn, located in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. This is usually his first guess when our family plays the Gingerbread Guessing Game. Our family and friends are happy that he no longer needs to guess, “Is it the Steamboat Barn?”
This was the second gingerbread project I did in 2024, so I’m glad this was an easy project – it took less than ten hours from start to finish.
It was worth it just to see my brother so pleased! He and Tricia lived and worked in Steamboat Springs for a while, and it has always had a special place in their heart.
We’ve skied there many times, and this barn is an icon. The photo of the barn is used on the local ski pass (notice the ski runs in the background). Here is the poster from MANY years ago that a lot of people can remember.
My husband and I also love it there! We’ve visited the barn many times just to take photos.
Back to the gingerbread, I started out with a lot of photos to get the look just right. Then I created the pattern pieces.
I cut the pieces from the rolled and refrigerated gingerbread dough. Here are the total pieces.
When we played the Gingerbread Guessing Game, I sent out these first few pieces, to see if anyone could guess what it was going to be. Most of these small pieces were used inside the barn, so it wasn’t obvious until the end that it might be the barn. Here were some of the guesses throughout all the clues: A lighthouse, cathedral, chateau/castle, coffee house, cruise ship, hobbit house, Queen Anne Cottage at the L.A. Arboretum, Yellowstone Ranch, train station, a train, log truck, Mar-a-Lago, polar express, an Oregon trail wagon, McCallister’s house from Home Alone, chapel, Santa’s workshop. All were VERY creative guesses!
This is how I made the icing look like wood without using the wood impression mold. When the thick flow icing was partially dry, I used a toothpick to make the wooden planks.
After the icing was dry, I used the edible color gels and a paint brush to make the wood look weathered, like in the photos.
When I put the pieces together, I made sure there was an area to hide some extra candy.
Inside the barn I used animal cookies instead of creating horse and cow figures. It was fast and easy! Shredded wheat makes great hay in the barn. I also used shredded coconut with some yellow and brown color gel.
Here is the oval piece I used for the sign: “Happy Retirement Randy!” He recently retired from Skywest/United Airlines after working there for ten years. That’s the milestone for complementary flights so now he can travel more.
I made the window in the back of the barn large enough to see the message inside since I didn’t add any interior lights.
No candy on the roof – just snow (royal icing). The cowboys in the snow are not edible – just card stock paper that I cut out.
That’s the end of this story for now! My brother took the Steamboat Barn to his office to display. He may never eat it! We’ll see!
The End!