How do I get the b@stard gingerbread house to stick together?

[Feetupteashot]

Another lovely Xmas activity not working! Why won't the icing sugar stick!!!

Sbaitso :o

We made a gingerbread house the other day, instructions said to whisk an egg white, and gradually add in icing sugar. It worked and it stuck like concrete.

Yeah, just don't bother 😂

DD (12) tried doing a sleigh for a competition at school.... the gingerbread was like crumbly biscuit, managed to add some milk and get it to some kind of rolling-out consistency. That was difficult enough, but of god, trying to get the feckin' thing to stick together.... DD eventually got thr glue gun out, even that didn't work. Saw the winning entries in this week's newsletter. I genuinely have no idea how they made theirs look so impressive!

Royal icing. It's fantastic. But special icing sugar or make your own using egg white.
Then you prop it up using cans of food etc - whatever fits and supports it - until it's properly set. It goes rock hard and is great. I even took my finished house to work on the train and it survived!

I still get flashes of panic whenever I see those kits in the shops. Never. Again.

Awwww I've come over all misty eyed. Years ago when DS was about 6 he had a friend over after school and we made gingerbread houses . I made all the pieces so they just had to assemble and decorate. You need royal icing sugar. Make it up to a thick consistency and it sets like concrete. DS is 16 now and would think I'd lost my mind if I suggested this as an activity.

@tiredanddangerous

Don't even go there is my advice. Dump the whole lot in the bin and have a gin.

Haha, great advice there!

@DrSbaitso

On the plus side, there's a user on here whose office would really appreciate a picture of it looking shit.

😂

Leave it in bits and call it "deconstructed Gingerbread house" a la masterchef

For flat roof, biscuits inside to hold edges together until it dries (and leave them in there as it will probably collapse) decorate and always sprinkle icing in a sieve over the top.

(don’t take the biscuits out unless you really need to)

Pitch roof 🍷

*stack of biscuits

Edible glue from Flying Tiger

Melted marshmallows! Use them every time - they're fairly spreadable while they're hot and stick solidly once they've cooled down.

Just make sure you pick the pink ones out first if it's being applied anywhere visible because a pink and white mix can go a slightly funny colour once melted and cooled.

@tiredanddangerous

Don't even go there is my advice. Dump the whole lot in the bin and have a gin.

*bottle of gin

Bought a kit from Morrisons and stuck it in the fridge to set for 3 hours after assembly before decorating last time. This time have a pre assembled from aldis.

I don't know if us Swedes do it differently than the rest of the world but we just melt sugar in a frying pan, dip the side that we want to glue in the melted sugar, put the two pieces together for a few seconds and then it sticks like superglue.

my gingerbread house making party has been cancelled or postboned,
thay'll be fun at Easter.

I was going to suggest egg white, but can see PP already has.

Royal icing. Along the base too - pipe a good thick outline and stick the walls into it. Build and dry the the walls first - prop them up inside to keep them standing. Leave overnight. When the icing is dry and hard (next morning should do) you can then stick the roof on.

Happy times.

(I’m banned from making gingerbread houses - last year I ended up so stressed with it because for whatever reason even though I think everyone else makes the most beautiful, charming gingerbread houses, no matter how wonky or imperfect they might be, I can’t allow myself that same generosity. 🙄🙄 )

This was the first year ours worked perfectly, I’ve always been a bit scared to do the egg white and icing sugar but the kids are a bit older now so did that one and it was set in seconds. You do need to make it really thick.

Also make sure you pipe a line on the bottom of each piece to make it stick to your board, we don’t have a proper board just used tin foil lined thick card.

Use a shedload of tins and cans to prop the bits up against each other with. Don't use packets of flour even if they are taller. Just don't

Melted sugar caramel - becomes rock hard

Just to make you aware, be very careful if you’re doing this with children. Don’t let them near the molten sugar as it gets extremely hard and sticks to your skin so is a huge burn/scalding risk.

Sorry, extremely HOT is what that should’ve said.

Another vote for the glue gun! Once you do it that way you'll never go back. You can still eat the sweets and the icing!

Make your icing properly and then I do it in stages. Sides propped up candles then wait until they dry. Then do the roof.